Why are they so gross?

[mstricer]

A lot of the pics I see on here of CX set ups look nice and grassy. Is it for real. I have 23 FR and 10 Cx's all at 4 weeks old. They have no feathers on their a** and they all have pulsating red butts that squirt poo every few inches. I have to move the tractor everyday and the smell is shall I say YUCK. Am I the only one having this problem or are they like this. I also made the mistake and order 25 more just after they were 2 weeks old. I now have 22, 1 week olds.(I lost 4 due to too much heat from lamp they didn't need.) How does everyone feed them. In the tractor or outside it. Water in or out. How much food should 33 birds eat in one day. They act like they are staving even though there is plenty of bugs and grass in between feeds. I've been trying to go 12 on 12 off. I feed them at night and just today I found that they had eaten everything by 8 am. Is 17 lbs a day enough or not. I kinda confused everyone is putting on weight. So please tell me how you do it? Thank you Michele

 

[TimG]

Yes, they eat and poop a lot. How messy the space they are kept in will get depends upon how much space they have, even then they wont take advantage of all the space provided to them, preferring not to move too far from the food. They will eat feed in preference to foraging for grass or bugs whenever the feed is nearby and will wait for the feed to arrive because they are conditioned to eat the feed. There is almost nothing you can do to prevent them from getting excited when new food is presented. In this regard, they're not really much different from any other chicken -- my layers are always interested when I fill the feeder or toss out some kitchen scraps even though they have access to food 24/7.

 

[mstricer]

So Tim is 17 lbs a day for the 33 enough?

 

[scubaforlife]

My CXs in a tractor basically cap over the grass they are on in 24 hours. 3 weeks later the grass is about up to my armpits.

They are very gross, I don't feel bad when I process CXs. Freedom Rangers are less gross but still offer similar waste production.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
This year, my Rangers when through a bit less than 25 lbs of feed each in their first 11 weeks. That's about 1/3 pound per day, though they obviously did not consume that evenly over their lifespan. Mine ate about 1/2 lb per day in their 5th week, less before that, more after that.