Raising chicks for dual purpose

[Lovinmomma]

Hello! I'm a brand newbie getting ready for my first hatch in May. I've decided that we would like Brahmas. We will probably keep some for laying/companionship and slaughter the rest. So, I guess I'm looking for some specific information on raising chicks that may be slaughtered in the future. Do I do anything differently if I'm not sure they will be slaughtered? Do I feed them differently? I've used the search button and just haven't been able to find exactly what I wanted. I also looked in the meat bird section, but I mostly just saw stuff about how to slaughter. Any help or pointing me in the right direction would be awesome! Thanks!

 

[chickerdoodle]

from Oregon! My chickens will only be pampered pets who donate breakfast via eggs so I do not know about raising for meat. I would imagine since they are dual purpose not too much needs to be done differently except they will need to grow longer. Cornish X Rock Broilers do need a special feed.

 

[FreedomLover]

I will preface this by saying I don't have chickens yet ! However, I've been reading this forum for a while now and from what I understand there is no need to feed different types of feed.

Personally, I plan on seperating out my "meat" chickens gradually as I determine which ones I want to keep and which ones I don't. It will go faster with the roosters (of course) because they won't be laying eggs! The hens may be a bit more difficult for me to decide. Depends on how well they are laying.

Good place for feeding information is the Feeding & Watering section. Lots of good info there.