what type broilers

[sugarbush]

I feed 24/7 the full 8-10 weeks, but I don't feed the high protein starter grower. I switch to grower/finisher which is about 16-18% protein after a week to ten days. (I prefer the 16%, but it is not always available)

If you feed 20-24% starter/grower 24/7 they will start dropping dead at about 7 weeks of age or start retaining water in the chest cavity which makes it hard for them to breath. Many people treat this problem by feeding only 12 hrs a day....to me that makes no sence when I can just use lower protein diet and let them have feed 24 hrs a day. They don't grow any slower....

Given the amount of land you have available I would buy electric poultry netting and move them around on it that way. The beauty of a broiler is that once they are large enough that they cannot squeeze through the fence they also cannot fly over it. It is a cheap safe way to keep them contained and most preditors out.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

If you feed 20-24% starter/grower 24/7 they will start dropping dead at about 7 weeks of age or start retaining water in the chest cavity which makes it hard for them to breath. Many people treat this problem by feeding only 12 hrs a day....to me that makes no sence when I can just use lower protein diet and let them have feed 24 hrs a day. They don't grow any slower....

There is a couple of reasons why we don't feed 24/7... as you said they don't do well when you feed them high protein 24/7. But the main reason for doing this is the fact of running electic to the pens to let them eat at night they do fine on a daylight schedule and don't need the extra lighting.

Secondly cornish need the rest, like anything else, alot of the growth takes place when they are asleep or in a resting state. They eat more feed with 24/7... with the same results, higher electric bill, and higher chance of flip.

But this is just our experiences with 24/7 lighting.....​

 

[sugarbush]

Do you keep your feeders full 24/7 or do you only feed enough so that at the end of the day the feeders are empty?

When I say 24/7 feeding I am talking about full feeders so that they are not waiting for feed in the morning when the sun comes up. I don't run lights at night, I agree that they need that rest.