Switching to Meat Birds (Ideal's Black or Red Broilers)

[kdt_ntexas]

So ... I am wanting to switch to meat birds. I would like to be able to kill one per week or so. I have heard great things about Ideal in Cameron, Texas, and that's the vendor I am leaning towards, with either their black or red broilers. I am avoiding the Cornish varieties because they are not listed as being very heat tolerant.

I currently have egg birds (mix of easter egger & barred rocks). I have eaten a couple of them and they did not turn out well at all. I have found a new home for them, and would like to move fairly quickly.

The plan is to have about 50 or so birds, with a ratio of about 1 rooster per 10 hens, and eat one per week. Any extras would be bagged and given to friends. If I start a brood of a dozen eggs about every 2 weeks, assuming 50% of them make it, I should be able to sustain this for some time. I can always back off if I get too many or go more often if the flock gets low. And with 50 birds I should have plenty of eggs to eat/share/sell.

I had planned to start with 40-50 chicks.

Do I just give them all grower feed?

Thoughts/Advice?

Thanks
--kdt

 

[Molpet]

I currently have egg birds (mix of easter egger & barred rocks). I have eaten a couple of them and they did not turn out well at all.

What was wrong?
Age determines cooking methods.

Also when I didn't rest in the refrigerator or cooler until rigor mortis has passed, it was like trying to eat rubber bands.
I just had a meat mutt mixed cockerel hatched last summer in the refrigerator for a week before he loosen up. Usually a day or two. Not sure why he took so long but he was great roasted.

 

[FunClucks]

Yes, you would give them all grower feed. I like to use 20% protein chick stater / all flock feed. Or you can use meat bird feed (~23-24% protein for part or all of their growing cycle to get larger weights. For broilers, are these 3 month broilers? The only reason to limit # of roos is so they don't over-mate the hens, and is mainly a concern for eggers. When growing out meat birds, you can intermingle hens and any number of roos, and it's not an issue until the roos start to reach maturity. I grew out some Production Red x roos, and about 3 months was when the crowing began, and they began to be a pain, although they really needed to grow out for 5 months to be any decent size, since they were an egger breed.

If you're doing meat birds, you want to keep and process as many roos as possible, because they are the ones that really pack on the meat. Females are always smaller for the same length of time growing. One way to do this is to separate the hens and roos into separate flocks. This will keep the roos from fighting each other over the females, and eliminate much of the issues with cohabiting roos. Look up bachelor flocks or bachelor pens. It's a rooster only flock, and a number of folks have good success with them. Note that they work until they don't. If you're eating them anyway, just eat the roos as they become a problem. Your hens will lay whether or not they're fertilized, and for tenderness, you usually want to eat them around 5 months or less, so you should probably set aside a few of the best hens and the best roo to give fertile eggs (they won't lay until 5-6 months, and will take a few months to get up to adult egg size), and eat everyone else as they get to the 3 month mark.