Withholding Feed For 12 Hours For Meaties

[jenikay63]

Do all of you take the feed trays away for 12 hours at 5 days old? I have read this somewhere and wonder if it is accurate to do this. I have 51 Cornish Rocks that are 2 weeks old and I've been feeding them all the time. Should I start taking away their food?

 

[cassie]

Welp (welphatchery.com) says to start taking the feed away at 5 days. Some people wait to ten days to two weeks. Since Welp specializes in Cornish X I am inclined to think they know what they are talking about.

 

[cw]

i believe the answer depends on what you are feedin,
i raised up 50 on a sdiet me and the feed store came up with from local grown grains, and what a diet it was, those birds were in no trouble of a heart attack, but they also lacked in weight as what they wouldve on the commercial stuff, after bein behind in weight at 6 weeks i fed them free choice feed, and they gained weight nicly,

 

[card5640]

I started removing feed at 2 weeks and made sure they had to stand for feeding. I think this helps leg strength. They are now 8 weeks and do not eat like a freak anymore so I leave feed in most of the time.

 

[jaku]

I withhold for 12 starting at two weeks.

 

[quercus21]

For the first week, they have food 24/7. At the beginning of the second week, they have food for only 12hrs in a 24 hr cycle. During the third, they go out to the tractor were they can snack on grass and such.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

It really depends on the strain, but two weeks is a good guidline to go by.

I'm under the impression that Welp owns their own broiler lines. Meaning they control the parent stock. Not sure about the gp stock but this means they have more control over their broilers. Most likely they are more consistant with weights between batches of birds. They claim to have a strain that is extremely rapid in growth.... kinda like the "42 day wonder post earlier this year". So slowing them down would be required at 5 days.

Ever have broilers that vary from the same hatchery... some weeks they are small... than others you get huge ones? With Welp you shouldn't have this if they own their own lines... you will get the same cross over and over again all season long.

Also to mention all of their stock is MG clean making them a responsible hatchery that one could trust. Despite the prices, it makes it worth it when you know your not bringing anything into your flock.

So to answer your question... unless you ordered from Welp I would go with two weeks.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
Same here.

 

[UncleHoot]

Some of us fill 'em up in the morning (and afternoon if necessary), and don't do any more than that. If they are outside, they will stop eating at night regardless, because it's dark and they're huddled-up. So, worst case, in the middle of summer, they're only going to sleep about 7 hours.

Out of my last batch of 150, I think I lost 5 after the age of 4 weeks. Others report better results with the 12/12 schedule, so I don't have anything against it, I'm just not sure that it has much effect unless you're raising them with lights 24/7, especially as we head into the Fall.

As for my Colored Rangers, I haven't lost any since the first couple days.