Teach Me How To Raise Meat Birds

[duckduck_goose]

Hello!

I have been raising a flock of laying ducks and geese for almost a year now. It has been rewarding, and I wouldn't trade any of my birds for the world. This year, I showed a few of my ducks in the county fair, and I watched the small livestock auction take place. I had been thinking about doing meat birds for a while, but have now decided I'm going to actively pursue my dream.

I'm thinking of either raising Freedom Rangers or CX. I only saw CX in the fair, and though the guidebook doesn't state against showing other birds, I would like to raise CX for show and auction. However, I wouldn't be against raising both and deciding what I like.

(Note: I'm also wanting to raise meat rabbits in a colony, so any advice about meat rabbits/colonies would be greatly appreciated)

Does anyone have any knowledge about showing CX?
What should I feed them, besides the commerical starter/grower/finisher feed?
Any horror stories/good stories so I can be prepared for raising meat birds?
How do you give your meat birds the best quality of life?
What does your coop look like?
What does your timeline (hatching/buying to culling) look like?

Any help would be much appreciated --- I'm a complete beginner, and know meat chickens are far different from ducks. I cannot wait though, and already have so many plans for my birds! Thank you!

 

[Tex452]

When we showed meat birds we would start with 50, feed one bag of high protein turkey starter, then finisher all over the way to the end.
We made a wet feed we fed them daily, we had a special trough for that, and leave it in for a limited amount of time and then take it out.
It’s important to keep them moving, every time they move, they eat.
Clean water daily, we used electrolytes in the water.
The wet feed formula was part feed,corn gluten, butter and pet milk, I don’t remember the amounts anymore it’s been so long ago.
Things have changed raising broiler’s since the late 80’s , early 90’s, but we use to do pretty well at the county fair.
Maybe someone that knows more can chime in.
I hope this helps.