They're not as big as I imagined them to be...

[Moochie]

If I give them more stuff to eat to increase the protein will it give them more muscle or fat/grease? We don't want fat or grease. I'm new to broilers and honestly I feel bad that they're going to be killed in a few weeks or so.. They're the kindest chickens I've raised so far, so laid-back, just a bunch of gentle giants. My mom told me not to befriend them but I can't help myself.. Mom bought them when they were only a couple days old and I can't resist yellow fluffy butts.

 

[CGinJCMO]

It depends a little bit on how much exercise they are getting . Like humans, if you eat and sit around all day, you'll get more fat than you'll get muscle. If your birds are scratching around looking for bugs/worms and such, then you might get less fat than the sitters.

Good luck, it know it is hard not to fall in love with babies (weather it be cats or chickens) but just keep in mind what their purpose is, don't name them, and hopefully it won't be too emotionally difficult to process them.

CG

 

[enel 1]

It seems like you are arguing with the people on here that are telling you that your feeding them the wrong thing after you asked why your birds were small,but fact is YOUR FEEDING THEM THE WRONG THING! If you want your birds to be to weight then you have to feed them a higher protein diet. IF finances are tight then you probably shouldn't raise more chickens then you can afford. broiler chickens require different nutritional needs then your laying hens,basically your starving your broilers and its affecting there growth.If your gonna be a responsible animal owner then do the right thing and make sure you can afford to raise them before you get them.

 

[beanmcnulty]

I have a feeling it might be the strain of broiler that is the issue. I feed my ranger broilers (and layers and turkeys and ducks) an 18% feed from the mill, and the strain I usually get does wonderful on it. I had gotten 20 of a different strain of rangers last batch and they were puny. They just didnt want to eat, they had food all the time just like the others, but were a LOT smaller.

 

[Cedarknob]

JMO, but based on my own experience, they will eventually get to be big broilers and be more flavorful though firmer textured and less fatty table birds. The only problem you might run into is some of your birds might get crowded out from getting fed if they don't get enough feed. [Also,I have read turkeys can get blackhead disease from chickens.]

 

[beanmcnulty]

I have had turkeys and chickens for 2 years and no blackhead. I read it's endemic to some areas, but I have not dug around to find out if it's in mine, I wouldnt know where to ask, my county extension appears to not know all that much

Anyway this is all OT sorry!

 

[daleeper]

They are going to grow slower because you have reduced the amount of protein they need to grow as fast as their genetics will allow. Besides the laying pellets being the wrong feed, when you add grains to it, then you are reducing the protein levels even more.

Many people on this forum intentionally slow the growth of their cornish cross chickens when they put them in a tractor, give them exercise, and reduce their feed intake of a complete broiler ration. Those chickens will usually have less fat and a they will they have a different flavor/texture than those fed a complete broiler ration and little exercise, in a confined space, and it will normally take a few more weeks to get them to the same butcher size.

 

[chicken pickin]

Just curious how a tractor slows down the growth of the CX? Im new to raising them so I dont know a lot about them but mine are 6weeks and 1day old today and are definitely not slow growing.

 

[daleeper]

Read the complete sentence. I didn't say that putting them in a tractor slowed the growth. This is what I said: "Many people on this forum intentionally slow the growth of their cornish cross chickens when they put them in a tractor, give them exercise, and reduce their feed intake of a complete broiler ration."

What is growing fast or growing slow anyway? It can mean different things to different people. We have been raising broilers in a building with somewhat limited space, feeding pretty much full broiler ration, and will butcher 5-7 lb. dressed weight birds in 6-8 weeks. I don't think that most birds in a tractor will be that big in 6-8 weeks, more like 8-10 weeks or more. I'm not 100% satisfied with my system, but have not seen a tractor design that will solve all my fears of wind and rain, vermin issues, and longer feeding times. We had friends that used a tractor, and pretty much fed full feed, and at 8 weeks the birds were not much more than 4-5 lbs.

Nothing wrong with the tractor if it meats your goals.

 

[Moochie]

It seems like you are arguing with the people on here that are telling you that your feeding them the wrong thing after you asked why your birds were small,but fact is YOUR FEEDING THEM THE WRONG THING! If you want your birds to be to weight then you have to feed them a higher protein diet. IF finances are tight then you probably shouldn't raise more chickens then you can afford. broiler chickens require different nutritional needs then your laying hens,basically your starving your broilers and its affecting there growth.If your gonna be a responsible animal owner then do the right thing and make sure you can afford to raise them before you get them.

I'm not arguing with anyone. You think I'm not being responsible? Well excuse me, but do I know you? Do you know me? The answer would be no to both questions. Really you have no room to judge. Never judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes.
My broilers will get hefty in time. They have more room than most other people keep them in also. Oh please, my birds aren't starving. Just because they're not as fat as your birds doesn't mean they're starving, it means they're healthy

Also my dad was alive when we got them, we just don't buy something we can't afford like someone with a compulsive buying problem. But did we know my dad and my mom's husband was gonna die from a heart attack 4 weeks later? NO we didn't. Alot of the money we got each month came from his veteran benefits and social security. And he never told us about his medical issues because he didn't want us worrying. If we would of known he was going to pass away 4 weeks after we bought chickens to eat and to replace our old layers, we wouldn't have bought them. There's alot of things we can't do like we used to ever since he passed away, so don't you dare get snippy with me.