let me start by saying we are doing our first batch of meat production birds, and they are scary. at one month, you can clearly see the oversized breast growth, like no other birrd i have ever raised. this might be the last, i might just go back to the slow growing duel purpose birds....time will tell. one of the workers sugested raising the feeder so that the need to stretch to reach (and eat). he says this mkaes them growout faster. has anyone heard of this?
Hi there, I have raised meat bird for the past two years with my family. We did 12 last year and 25 this year. I too agree at what a strange bird to grow so incredibly fast. They are always hungry and will eat as much fun as they can at any opportunity. I think key is monitoring how much feed you give them so as they don't develop so fast that they literally have a heart attack.....and yes this happens. That being said, I would never just leave food out to let them self feed. I fed in the morning when I let all the chickens out of the coop and around 4 or 5 pm. I also have wooden logs and perches set up in their run, so they have placed to hop up on things and keep their interest from just food. You just have to remember that they are a differed breed entirely than a dual purpose, which I raise as well. They are developed purely for large breast size and a fast rate. We processed all of our meat birds ourselves and I love knowing exactly where my food came from. We processes half at 10 weeks, and the next half between 11 and 12 weeks. They were leaps and bounds tastier than a store bought chicken. There is something wonderful about having that relationship with your food instead of the dis-association that most of us have with the food industry today. The protein has lasted us all year and I'm proud to say that we've bought NO chicken from the grocery store this year. I will do the process all over again next year. Yes they are strange, grow freakishly fast, are a mess in the coop, but I know that my food was treated with respect and will nourish my family. Hope the rest of raising the meat birds goes well for you.
So they grow so fast it weird s you out...but, you want to do something that a friend says makes them grow faster! Not sure what you are asking.
Hi.. There are lots of us that raise the CX's fast growing meat birds. I personally have raised two bunches this past summer. I raised the first ones extremely fast and processed them at 40 days. The meat was great, but growing them that fast I lost some to heart attacks, leg problems and other things. The second batch I grew very slow with lots of free range. They grew slower, The birds were not dirty at all. I had no health problems and raised every bird without a loss to health problems. I have even kept 4 of the birds for breeding next spring. I love them. They have such great personalities. We had a chicken for thanksgiving because he was larger than my heritage turkeys. The one we ate was 11 pounds! (dressed). We have a thread on here all about these birds and how we raise them. However, this time of the year we mainly visit with each other, but people there will help you. I will edit this and add a link to the thread. BTW moving the waterer and the feed as far as possible helps keep them healthy as they cannot just sit and eat. Here is the link https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...at-birds-and-super-excited/1060#post_14413436 Are you sure you want to speed the growth up?
i am happy with the current rate of growth, just seeing if others have heard of raising the feeder "trick". they are lazy birds. they have access to a run, but i have not seen more that 10% outside at a time. when do they start laying eggs? how many hens would i have to keep to incubate 50 eggs/week?
I would never call them lazy.. It all depends on how they are raised. I thought my first batch was lazy horrible birds. They would sit in their own poop and eat and drink and hardly move. My second batch was the most active birds I have ever seen... I have never heard of raising the water to get them to grow faster. I would raise the water to make them stand to drink and stay dryer/cleaner. I am hoping to get 18-20 eggs a week from my 3 hens.
I sure understand what you mean. I rescued some Cobb 500 layers from a hatchery that was culling. I didn't realize that they were fed a few trickles of feed at a time. I put out a good serving of fermented feed 2 x a day and within 10 days it looked like they had gained a lb or more. I really had to back off on the feed. They are adjusting well but I really have to watch them. They are grown (14 mo old) and don't have leg problems like a youngster would. But, yes, by feeding 2x a day and keeping feed separate and raised, you force the CX's to get on their feed and get a little exercise. They aren't lazy if fed accordingly. Treat them like chickens. Make them get out and exercise. Maybe not this batch, but next batch start young. Mine will be out and moving at 10 days. I live in the south so no snow.