Trials And Tribulations Of Suburban Meat Bird Production

[Birdinhand]

Slaughtered some cockerels this week and found a rather large chunk of wood in one's gizzard, was barely smaller in diameter than a #2 pencil and about an inch long. Wonder if this affected his feeding as he was obviously smaller than his 'twin'.

thanks, I'll keep an eye out for that. I have not had issues with that the last couple batches I've done.

 

[biophiliac]

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these photos are from two days ago, day 22. things are going quite smoothly at this point. I can't say enough about how much better The
cheery Chick "Chicken Cooler" is than others I have tried. as you can see, there is some dampness below it but not tons of water like the others. for some reason, this waterer must use a better nipple... so I got a second one and it too works this well!View attachment 1136862
this here is a happy and relatively clean CX, growing, growing and growing with each day. It makes me happy that my efforts to improve their day to day life seem to be working, they are staying clean and active!View attachment 1136863
this never gets old, here they are enjoying the autumn evening sun. I really do value the creature comforts, there is no question that they have the capacity to be happy or miserable.

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I can barely keep up with their growth when it comes to raising the Mother Heating Pad, it's been working wonderfully. it's getting down into the low 50's upper 40's at night and what's amazing is that some of them are choosing to sleep away from the heating pad with a couple buddies. these birds feather out so fast and make lots of heat!
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Ok, so sorry for the picture of the poop but lets talk about poop for a second. CX get a bad rap, mainly because of the extraordinary amount of poop that they can produce and the fact that with super high protein food the contents of their bowels often go hypertonic, meaning they draw a lot of water from the intestinal walls, causing diarrhea and it doesn't take long for that to stink up a repulsive storm. It is my observation that this is the main thing that ends up disgusting keepers, since it gets on their feathers and can make them seem like smelly slobs. lets be clear, they don't like being covered by their own poop and with some care, it's possible to see tremendous growth without them having diarrhea! There are a couple of things I have stumbled upon to help with this and I have been pretty successful through to about week 5-6, at which point we are in the home stretch and they still get messy. But during these early weeks when they still have lots of get up and go and can run around, there is a significant improvement in their quality of life if you keep an eye on the consistency of their poop and make adjustments. One of the main things I've done is that I switched to a partially composted wood chip. what ends up at the surface is quite course and helps keep them dry and creates a lot of surface area for drying. keeping things dry is so important, if for no other reason than to reduce volatile ammonia levels in the air, which can be very hard on their sinuses and lungs. I have had good luck in the past with cutting back a bit on the protein when I see them get "the squirts". I also have a hunch that the partially composted chips come with their own "pro-biotics" that improve gut health and perhaps the bits of broken down wood also add fiber, which seems to allow me to maintain a higher protein count for longer in the grow out. I feel like I still have a lot to learn on this front but I think I'm on to something! So far, these guys are producing nice firm poops with minimal water, which makes keeping things dry, much easier... that and not having water going all over the place, the nipple water I'm using is hugely helpful!

Excellent post!! and wonderful illustrations!
You like that the heating pad doesn't attract attention at night, did you mention how much healthier for the chicks to have a natural dark/rest period and a break from their appetites?

 

[Birdinhand]

Excellent post!! and wonderful illustrations!
You like that the heating pad doesn't attract attention at night, did you mention how much healthier for the chicks to have a natural dark/rest period and a break from their appetites?

I think I mentioned that at some point, but it bears mention again and again! I have yet to change to a 12 hour on 12 hour off feeding schedule and I'm closely watching for signs that their weight gain is out pacing their ability to move. so far, so good! I suspect that at some point I will need to start rationing food but for now, they really do seem to be doing well with the break they have to take to sleep and no more herd of frantic elephants in the morning when I check on them.

 

[aart]

I have yet to change to a 12 hour on 12 hour off feeding schedule and I'm closely watching for signs that their weight gain is out pacing their ability to move.

Could be because it's fall and days are shorter, 12on12off might be more necessary at other times of the year?

 

[Birdinhand]

Could be because it's fall and days are shorter, 12on12off might be more necessary at other times of the year?

Yeah, the nights are getting longer, but when I've done this in the spring with the same number of hours and using a heat lamp, the chicks would feed on and off all night long. If I were to do this closer to summer solstice, I might still need to restrict food. I am very curious to see how this MHP plays out for the CX in terms of their eating and weight gain and mobility.

 

[Lookin4GoodLife]

if enough of the birds start going hypertonic, I'll throw in some egg layer formula or other lower protein feed.

Dang, the layer feed I use is 22% protein. It's what I've used since they came off starter about a year and a half ago. I forget, what did you say back in the thread your feed protein is?

 

[Lookin4GoodLife]

I haven't played around with it enough to have any sort of regime to recommend, but as I like to say, it's like sailing, "keep tacking!"

And oh yeah..... I think you're definitely on the right track. Big Ag didn't get where they are without the "scientific method". Not saying you're headed towards "Big Ag", but you're refining your process and getting it better and better. And it's appreciated that you're reporting it all here.

Edit: And one last thought and I'll shut up.... I think it's great that one of the main components you're considering is your chickens' overall happiness. I'm not some big "tree hugger" type, but as I've stated many times before, it depresses me no end when I see a chicken truck jammed full of half live and many dead chickens rolling through our town to Cagle or Koch. That your chickens thrive, enjoy each other's company, the sunlight, etc is awesome and I think a data point very well worth considering in their overall growth and meat production. I think we can be successful producing meat and other animal by-products at a profit and still provide a decent quality of life for our animals for the short time they're on this Earth.

 

[Birdinhand]

... I think we can be successful producing meat and other animal by-products at a profit and still provide a decent quality of life for our animals for the short time they're on this Earth.

Amen to that!!!

 

[Birdinhand]

Dang, the layer feed I use is 22% protein. It's what I've used since they came off starter about a year and a half ago. I forget, what did you say back in the thread your feed protein is?

I'm using CHS Payback Organic Fryer Ration, which is 22%. the layer formula is Modesto Organic. certainly some of what gives them the runs is microbial. switching to nipple style waterers has certainly cut down on some of that. Maybe with better microbial control, sticking with higher protein longer will be possible. to really do this right, I'd need several coops and batches of birds to compare apples to apples.

 

[Lookin4GoodLife]

Ah, it's probably because it's "organic"...... anything "good" for me jacks up my stomach as well. LOL