Soy Free Feed/Goat Milk Trial Batch - Week 7 Update

[bigredfeather]

I have begun my soy free feed/goat milk batch of meaties. I received 50 CX cockeral chicks from Eagle Nest Poultry on Thursday. They had a pre warmed 5'x9' brooder waiting for them. Had one chick DOA and lost a second one after day one, since then no losses and I don't see any chicks that look weak. For the first week I am going to give them 3 pounds of soy free feed mixed with 1 pint of a combination of goat milk and raw milk Kefir per day. So far chicks are very active. At the end of each week I am going to get an average weight and log it. I am also logging the amount of feed and milk I give each day. By next weekend I hope to have them in the tractor out on the pasture. I am very anxious to see how these birds grow and also if they have a different taste on this feed regiment.

I will get some week one pics taken tonight, and post them soon.

 

[scubaforlife]

Without hardening them off, I think your schedule to get them on pasture is a bit aggressive. I would caution you that you might have a bunch of Pneumonia and lose a high percentage.

I am interested to see how your soy free project goes.

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
Why would they get pneumonia? I plan to put my meaties out as soon as possible. Its pretty warm in Ohio.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Do you know the milk fat content of the milk you are giving them? That would worry me if it was on the high side.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
I have started to harden them off already. I turn the heat lamp off around noon, and check them every couple hours to see if the are huddled up or moving about the brooder. Last night it was nearly dark outside before I turned it back on. With feeding the milk, I anticipate they will feather out a little quicker, and also, cutting their heat source encourages quicker feathering. I want to get them out there as soon as possible so they can eat up all the good green stuff.

 

[bigredfeather]

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I do not know the fat content of out milk. I would guess it to be between 4-5%. I am wondering how much extra fat they will have compared to my usually lean pasture birds. That is the reason I am logging my feedings. If they do turn out excessively fatty, I will need to cut back the milk on future batches. This is all new to me, so I'm not sure what the outcome will be.

 

[ChooksChick]

What are you using for soy-free feed? Do you have it made by a local mill? I'd love to see the ingredients- our mills are all very blase about producing a soy-free feed, and I'd like to show them what others have.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
Yes I have it made from my local mill. The protein sources are corn, alfalfa meal, distiller's grain, fish meal, linseed meal, and Canadian peas. It also has kelp, a vitamin booster, and Calcium. My mill has six different recipies for a soy free ration. This one contains all the things I wanted to see in a broiler mix. It feeds like a 19% protein feed, but not exactly sure what the total protein level is with the milk.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Very interesting, I like the goat milk be sure to keep us informed.
I think the worry of them getting pneumonia is really non existant I put mine out at one week in much colder temps with no issues.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Are you offering kefir and milk in separate containers or mixing it with the feed?