Meat chickens

[Trinktrink]

Going to be raising some broilers, Cornish cross most likely, this spring/summer in a chicken tractor, that I still need to build. Planning on moving daily on “pasture.”

Wondering if anyone is doing this on here and willing to offer any advice? Have you had any predation problems from diggers? Which breed are you raising and do you have any good feed recommendations?

Thanks, appreciate any thoughts/advise.

 

[Fryguy]

I've raised several batches in the past but always in a barn. Been wanting to build a tractor myself. Super easy to raise once feathered out. Need to keep them warm and out of the wind when chick's. Keep em supplied with plenty of water and feed and in 7 or 8 weeks they're done. And they do eat. Although being in grass that might back em off the commercial feed a bit

 

[Fryguy]

You can usually find some meatbird crumbles at a local tsc or rural king. I feed em that for a couple weeks then go to a regular crumble feed with lower protein. They can actually grow so fast on high protein where heart attacks can happen and go lame because they get heavier than their legs can support. You can also raise the feeders in the evening to where there on feed for 12 and off for 12

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I am planning on getting chickens this spring, but I can’t help you out with any breeds. Growing up my grandparents had chickens, and I helped with them.

 

[Baker]

I raise a batch every year on pasture. Here is a video I did that might be helpful

 

[westonwhitetail]

We are going to do our first batch of meat birds this spring too. We hatched some chickens for layers last spring and they were out in tractors during the day then back to the coup at night. We lost a couple when they were free ranged for a while but in the tractor they were fine. I get fox and coyote on camera by the coop at night but they haven’t dug under yet.

Our laying chickens loved oats in our food plot last year. So I plan to plant the food plot behind the house with a variety of oats, buckwheat, clover, sunflowers and some other things early spring. Then the meat chickens will be rotated over than till they are ready. Also we will have feeders in the tractor as well, but the more they can forage, the better healthier product I believe it will be. Also they are great at composting. I’m guessing with the meat birds we may need to move them more than once a day towards the end to keep them on fresh pasture/plot

 

[Trinktrink]

I appreciate the posts guys. I am planning on having a small food plot for the chickens as well and harvesting the seeds. Also will be getting some egg layers but probably will do the deep mulch system with them and have them fenced in.

 

[homerj1]

My wife raises Cornish cross hens every year. 56-60 days from chicks to the freezer. Average dressed weight right around 6.5-7 lbs. She only allows them access to food for 12 hours a day. They're fenced in with 6' woven wire in about a 20x30' pen. We run 3' of chicken wire around the bottom, with about a foot on the ground and 2' up the other fencing. If we didn't, critters would get under the 6' fence. Also run a hot wire on a solar charger up about 3'. We still lost some birds now and then to bobcats. My wife got an old wire dog kennel and put it in the pen. She locks the birds up in there at night now. That solved the bobcat problem.

 

[Trinktrink]

I luckily don’t have to worry about bobcats just a lot of foxes and raccoons around.

Roughly how many pounds of feed are you guys feeding per bird, start to finish? I’ve heard around 10 lbs per bird.

 

[homerj1]

Roughly how many pounds of feed are you guys feeding per bird, start to finish? I’ve heard around 10 lbs per bird.

I really don't know. I do know it seems like I'm buying 40 lb bags of broiler food all the time, but I have never really kept track.

 

[chucker66]

We have raised them before. The only problem we ever had was a young bear got into the chicken tractor when it was right outside my son's bedroom. He came into our room about 3 am and said there was a bear outside his window and the chickens were going crazy. I went out with a shotgun and spooked it away. It got one bird but never came back again. We really enjoyed raising them and would take them to the local Amish who would butcher them for $2 per bird. I did it myself the first year but for $2 a bird I could hardly pass that up. They left them whole and I quartered the birds up and vacuum sealed them. I saved the backs and all the bones and made chicken broth and canned it. It was a bit of work but I would do it again. Make sure you move your tractor often or it they will kill your grass in about 2 days.

Chuck

 

[Bill Loser]

Been raising meats and layers for years.
Deffinately do not free feed meat birds. They will literally eat themselves to death if allowed.
The biggest predation you have to worry about it sounds like is coons. If your tractor is not tight to the ground they will reach under and pull legs, wings or heads off. I found this iut the hard way. Come out and the find 4 birds without 1 leg or wing.
Cornish cross will not in my experience scratch, they will only eat the feed. My last batch i tried to supplement with veggies and they didnt touch it.if you want free range type bird that will scavenge and scratch get red rangers. Imo better meat on those than the cross also.
Water is huge, always make sure they have plenty of clean fresh water it makes all the difference.
If you have a wooded area put them there, gives cover from hawks, and for the reds, plenty of extra food in bugs seeds etc for the reds anyway.
Find a butcher and schedule the day you get your chicks otherwise you will never get them in. Unless you do it yourself,in which case i suggest getting a plucker. Plucking chickens sucks.

 

[Fryguy]

I luckily don’t have to worry about bobcats just a lot of foxes and raccoons around.

Roughly how many pounds of feed are you guys feeding per bird, start to finish? I’ve heard around 10 lbs per bird.

Believe I have kept track in the past and that sounds about right.

 

[homerj1]

Water is huge, always make sure they have plenty of clean fresh water it makes all the difference.

Great point. I haven't seen anybody else mention water, but it is indeed incredibly important.

 

[westonwhitetail]

Been raising meats and layers for years.
Deffinately do not free feed meat birds. They will literally eat themselves to death if allowed.
The biggest predation you have to worry about it sounds like is coons. If your tractor is not tight to the ground they will reach under and pull legs, wings or heads off. I found this iut the hard way. Come out and the find 4 birds without 1 leg or wing.
Cornish cross will not in my experience scratch, they will only eat the feed. My last batch i tried to supplement with veggies and they didnt touch it.if you want free range type bird that will scavenge and scratch get red rangers. Imo better meat on those than the cross also.
Water is huge, always make sure they have plenty of clean fresh water it makes all the difference.
If you have a wooded area put them there, gives cover from hawks, and for the reds, plenty of extra food in bugs seeds etc for the reds anyway.
Find a butcher and schedule the day you get your chicks otherwise you will never get them in. Unless you do it yourself,in which case i suggest getting a plucker. Plucking chickens sucks.

Thanks for the tip on the red rangers. I was leaning towards the reds because they said they were good foragers but was not aware the Cornish didn’t forage well at all. The reds take longer to finish but that’s ok if they fit the set up we are planning better.

 

[Bill Loser]

The reds are actually a dual purpose bird they are supposed to be a halfway decent layer also. I never tried it though, got enough good layers.
As far as food, i personally stsy away from the branded stuff. My advice check your local coop or elevator/feed mill and see if they grind their own. We are lucky here, the west bend elevator makes a great chicken feed, layer and broiler that ive been feeding for years. No or very few fillers and a couple bucks a bag cheaper to boot.
In the past i have tried (against advice) to stagger butchering only to see how big the birds could get and tbe affect on the overall meat quality. I let some go 10 to 13 weeks, the biggest got to around 12 to 13 lbs dressed, and the meat was just as good as the smaller ones. 2 problems, the roi with the food at that point probably isnt worth it and by the time i butchered them they couldnt hardly walk and one actually broke a leg trying to walk. These were cornish, never tried it with reds. I probably wouldnt do it again, i dont think it would be pleasant for the bird..

 

[westonwhitetail]

If your raising meat for yourself and time isn’t an issue, which kind has the best quality meat? Red ranger?

 

[Bill Loser]

Quality wise I dont recall noticing any difference. The cornish were slightly larger in the breast, the rangers would be more "organic " if thats what you are looking for.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

For me broilers blew away the reds in both size and taste.

Also took 3 less week. Will not be going back to reds. Didnt see much grazing out of either.

My layers on the other hand are ruthless, they have part of the garden planted to swiss chard just for them.

 

[Bill Loser]

For me broilers blew away the reds in both size and taste.

Also took 3 less week. Will not be going back to reds. Didnt see much grazing out of either.

My layers on the other hand are ruthless, they have part of the garden planted to swiss chard just for them.

Your reds didnt forage? The ones we had did quite a bit. But they were raised from chicks with the layer chicks that year, the cornish were seperated, that may have been the difference.