Slow broilers! should I change their feed?

[maggiemooscluckers]

Thanks for the information. I don't have a scale either but will probably go to Wally World and see if I can get one that will work. All of my meaties are doing fine except for one that they all decided to peck on. She had lost some of her neck feathers. About the size of a dime. I took her out of the pen for a couple days then put some ointment on it that is make to stop pecking. Rooster something, can't remember the name. They seem to be leaving her alone now. Mine also seem pretty active at least at this point. I try to put things in the run to keep them busy. I hang corn cobs from the roof for them to peck on, roost to climb on and a box full of dusting dirt. They sure like to poop. That is really my only issue with them right now and I know it will only get worse. I guess what is a little poo in order to have a freezer full of meat! Looking forward to your reply about your first rooster being butchered. Good luck!
Julie

 

[terri9630]

I have the fast broilers from Whelp. At 8, almost 9 wks the roos are between 8-10 lbs and the hens are between 7 1/2 and 9lbs. I've been feeding them the Hi Pro turkey and gamebird starter. They have food 24-7 and the sun/moon are their only light so they eat/sleep in what I guess is the normal way.

 

[EricH]

he really seems a lot scrawnier now that hes out of the tractor. i think i may let the other ones go a few weeks still at least.... i like as much meat as i can get and im gonna crock pot it anyways so i dont care if its a lil older.

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

Thanks for the pics. I took some pics of the broilers last night. I will work on getting them on here today. Computers are not my forte.

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

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Sounds like you will be butchering soon!Do you butcher yourself or do you send them out?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I'm confused. I don't see anything on Welp's website about slow vs. fast broilers. What are y'all talking about?

 

[EricH]

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im saying this just from memory - but when you go to "meat birds" its only the fast CX - when you go to "rare birds" haha, right... it gives you red broiler/ black broiler/ slow cornish/ dark cornish/ buff cornish i believe

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

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I didn't see the slow broilers either. I learned about them by talking to one of the people at Welp. I was wanting to order a total of 25, 8 mixed hens and 17 cornish X. I wasn't able to get the mix I wanted because the cornish x came from a different plant than the hens. They wouldn't ship 25 from two different plants. It had to be 25 from either or both plants. I had to either get 25 hens and 25 cornish x or go with the slow broilers which came from the same plant as the hens. I hope this is not too confussing. I didn't want and couldn't house 50 chickens so I went with the slow broilers. They are working out fine for me. They don't look like mutants like pictures of the cornish x do. They just take a little longer to mature. 9-12 weeks instead of 6-8.Takes a little more feed but I haven't lost any and they are all doing well. So far very active at 5 weeks.

 

[terri9630]

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I don't know about the web site. I called my order in to make sure the ship dates were right because these were for the fair and they asked if I wanted fast or slow broilers.

 

[terri9630]

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Sounds like you will be butchering soon!Do you butcher yourself or do you send them out?

We do them ourselves. No one anywhere near here does them. The livestock inspector said the closest place is about 200 miles from us. I'm not going that far to have a chicken butchered.