What should I add to my feed mix for meat birds?

[momto6Ls]

I am using a mix that says it is not for meat birds...so what is it missing? And what can I add that is not soy or corn??

4 parts Soft white wheat
3 parts Hard red wheat
2 parts Black Oil Sunflower seeds
1 part Millet
1 part Barley
1 part Oats
1 part Split peas
1 part Alfalfa powder
1/2 part Flax seed

They are getting this half fermented and half dry...I can't keep up with fermenting enough. LOL AND I'm trying not to rust my feeders.
They get grit and oyster shell.
They get very few table scraps, but lots of cuttings from preparing meals. Mostly greens/veggies, banana peels and watermelon rinds
They are free range all day (over our 2 acres) and cooped at night.
They were also getting sourdough - just the starter straight out of the jar, but I have not given that in a while...I need to get back to that - they LOVE it.

I have kelp meal and fish meal that I was putting in for the chicks, but stopped when they got to 8 weeks and went outside - partly for cost, and partly because I figured they would get the greens and protein they needed from free ranging.

any thoughts? We are down to processing the roosters in about a week for the first ones. We have some younger ones that are about a month out. Any tips for fattening would be helpful!

My other problem is that they are all together. Anything the roosters get, the hens that are laying will get as well. We don't have any way to separate them. Thoughts on that as well? I'm not sure that is a problem, except maybe in cost.

THANKS SO MUCH!!

 

[Weston N]

Well to fatten them up just give them scratch you can get it from Lintons or even Walmart. I just make sure that they always have some on the ground. Then also have some laying pellets inside mixed with oyster shells to strengthen the egg shells. You can by oyster shells at Lintons too. It would also help if you made two runs and put the roosters in one and the hens in the other. I have four chickens that are not yet a year and weigh a little over 5 lbs I use the method I explained above.

 

[donrae]

What type of meat birds are you raising?

I'm thinking your feed is shy of protein, just from what I can see. do you know what % it is?

 

[Weston N]

See the article "the best way to feed" it's great

 

[momto6Ls]

Weston N...I'm pretty sure everything at Walmart has corn. I do not feed my chickens corn or soy. Looking for alternatives. Thanks for the article!! I will go find it right now.

Donrae - LOL What type of birds would be good to know! I posted two different questions yesterday, and evidently only put that in the other post. They are red sexlinks. The hens we will keep for laying and the roosters will all be meat birds. We have 25 roosters, at the moment, and 20 hens. Of course the hens will become meat birds in a year or two, I expect.

YES - I am thinking it is probably shy of protein...just trying to find options to add. Don't know what the % is. The alfalfa was not in the original recipe, but I also eliminated fish meal because I felt they were getting the protein from bugs etc free ranging. Fish meal is VERY expensive and I can't find anywhere local to buy it.

Sigh. I know separating them would be a good idea, but I think that will have to wait for another batch of chickens. We have what we have at the moment. The good thing is they all free range all day. I am surprised that the roosters are not more aggressive. They are 5 months old now. Is it because they are sexlinks and sterile?

THANKS AGAIN!!

 

[donrae]

Sex links aren't sterile, they're as fertile as any other bird. They're simply a mixed breed, not a hybrid of two breeds like say a mule.

I don't think you necessarily need to separate them, I feed all my birds the same thing (an all-in one feed) and am reasonably happy with my cockerel's carcass weights, for what I'm starting with. With sex links, you're not going to get a ton of meat no matter what you feed them, they're bred to be a bit smaller and not eat so much.

There are several threads here about mixing your own feed with recipes. I'm not sure what they use in place of soy, but you can research.

How many bugs and how much protein your birds get from free ranging can vary quite a bit depending on your environment. Where are you located and what type of land do your birds range on?

for most dual purpose breeds, your cockerels are at the optimal age to process right now. Much after 6 months, and you're just pouring feed into them to maintain weight, you're not getting any gain from it.

 

[momto6Ls]

I have a chicken breed magazine that says they are sterile. If they are not, it could get interesting. The hens are starting to lay, and I am not sure we are finding all the eggs since they free range all day. But from what I have read, the chances of a sex link setting is pretty low.

I am still shocked that these roosters aren't trying to kill each other. They pick on the hens more than they do each other.

GREAT information. I had no idea they were meant to be smaller. I didn't do my homework beforehand because these were free roosters for the taking...so we did. :0) There was no breast meat to speak of.

Bugs - we are in central Utah. 2 acres, lawn, pasture, and sort of in between. LOL 1/2 acre pasture, 1/4 acre garden plot that didn't get planted. a compost pile that they raid constantly, a large yard - they have pretty much destroyed the flower beds (they are always sending the wood chips flying to get at the bugs) and a fenced yard where we have a "goat shed" and the chicken coop. It is not all grass, but we keep it cut...mostly. LOL They frequent all of it.

thanks for your help.

Momto6Ls

 

[JayJo]

See the article "the best way to feed" it's great

I can't figure out where to find this article. I've looked through all the articles in the learning center and don't see it. And Ive searched. How do I find it?

 

[donrae]

I don't know what type of magazine would say they're sterile. folks breed second generation sex links all the time, I've done it myself. I agree they're quite unlikely to set, though....but if one does, you'll simply have a self-sustaining flock

 

[KayTee]

Everyone says that sex-links tend not to go broody, but I had one that went broody three times in two years! Twice I managed to break her brood, but the third time she just wouldn't quit, so she ended up raising me three lovely chicks.

The problem with sex-links isn't that they are sterile, but that the chicks won't necessarily have the sex-link colouring that makes them identifiable as male or female at hatching. There's a lot of genetic stuff that I don't claim to understand, but basically certain breeds (such as Bielefelders) will always hatch chicks that can be identified as male / female, all the way down the generations, whilst other sex-linked birds lose the sex-link gene when they breed, so the chicks they hatch are no longer identifiable at hatching.