wondering about feed

[chixrus]

hi everyone! just to make it clear, i do not have meat birds yet. I will get them in early april. anyway, i need to know on average, how much feed does one cornish rock x eat in a span of eight weeks? (in lbs.) i need to know i order to figure out how much to charge my costumers. Thanks!!

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Here is a good link to let you know what to expect. Scroll all the way to the bottom.


http://www.kentfeeds.com/getdoc/1b8c50c1-1c74-40a3-97c5-c7ddad81791d/3313-pdf.aspx

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
The feed chart says for broilers NOT for Cornish X. They are eating and weight gaining and pooping machines ! My birds ( as well as most of the others that raise them at home in containment, meaning not free range) weigh several pounds more than what is listed for 8 weeks of age, live weight as well as dressed, so they consume more than what is listed. You also should limit their feed consumtion by taking feed away from them for about 12 hours a day starting about 3-4 weeks of age or they will start to have health problems due to their extreame rate of growth and you will suffer some losses. Check with the hatchery for their recomendations for feeding and housing for optimal gains. The hatcheries where you purchase your chicks will also depend on their rate of gain and feed usage. Those that have their own laying flocks are of the strains that were first developed in the 1950's and are sometimes called slow Cornish or similar names. The rest of the hatcheries will get their hatching eggs from only a couple of modern layer flock sources. These chicks were developed and are meant to be raised in optimal dense housing conditions with climate and lighting control and minimal movement of no more than 10 feet from feed trough to water source. They in turn have several male parent strains and several female parent strains. Which specific strain crosses that you get will give you similar rates of gain and feed conversion rates but will depend on the care that you provide their offspring as well as weather to age and time of butchering . Remember the old saying " the eye of the master fattens the cattle".

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Broilers and Cornish x's are the same bird. I raise the same birds and buy from the same hatcheries as everyone else. The chart is extremely close to our "meat chickens" we raise here on our farm.

 

[silkiechicken]

I find that chart to be pretty accurate for broilers. At least mine. Broilers and cornish x are pretty much the same thing. I use one 50 lb bag per 4 meat chicks to get them to 8 weeks. And that is with suppmental treats and scraps, but with some free range. So with their 54lb estimate on 4 birds, it's pretty close, given treats is more input, and freerange burns energy.

 

[Bossroo]

It has come to my attention that a certain prominant member of this forum that raises chickens in the hundreds, states that when butchering RIR birds, that one can expect it to dress out at 3 lbs. at 16 weeks of age. Any of the dual purpose breed chicks just will not perform in the feed to meat conversion department as the Cornish X in 42 days or even in 8 weeks. The broilers of yesteryear have taken a seat waaaay back of the buss in the commercial meat production since they have recently been selected more for egg production . When your competion sells their chicken for $0.99 a pound at the grocery store at 42 days of age, and you produce one in 116 days , that is 74 days longer. Your competition produces 3 crops in 126 days. Time is MONEY... To stay in business you have to raise your prices and hope that it sells if you raise a dual purpose chicken. Now, when pinching pennies in today's economy which do you think that the prudent Mommy in suburbia will choose ? Choosing the right fryer/broiler and raising it properly in a manner that it was genetically intended DOES make a world of difference.

 

[bigredfeather]

I went through 365 pounds of feed in 7 weeks. I started with 26 chicks, lost one at 3 weeks, one at 5 weeks, and one two days short of 7 weeks. The calculated Feed Conversion Rate was about 2.6 pounds of feed per 1 pound live weight. This number can vary tremendously if you start to lose birds close to the end. I have incorporated loss in my FCR.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

All of ours are butchered at 42 days. We raise the cornish cross broilers, and we do 1200 at a time. What makes mine different than the ones of my competitors?

We average about 6.14 lbs of feed per broiler at 6 weeks of age. With feed cost at $0.15 / lb that is $0.921 per bird. Each chick cost us $0.25 / chick.

Total cost of chick to butcher weight $1.171 / bird. With an average dressed weight of 3.5 lbs / bird.

This doesn't include processing, which is done by us. The faster I process, the more profit I make.

No overhead for heating the broilers we have free gas on the farm.

Everyone wants to raise 10 lbs chickens but they don't realize how much cheaper it is to process them at 6 weeks instead of 12 weeks. The price per pound goes up every week after 6 weeks drastically. Which is why commercial producers raise theirs to 42 days and process. You make the most profit at 6 weeks of age.

 

[Bossroo]

Hey Jeff, can you please post photos of all of your 1200 chickens in their tractors out on the grass pastures ( not just a closeup of one as on your web site)?

 

[willheveland]

Quote:
I guess that would depend on if you were selling or raising for your own use.We would rather roast 1 large bird for dinner instead of two or three 3.5 lb.ers to get the same meal.Some processers charge $2 flat rate per bird reguardless of weight.So 1 ten pounder costs $4 less than three 3pounders.One processor I use says he likes the bigger birds because he can get his hands in better to work.JMHO Will