Rhodes85
Posts: 445
Joined: 11/15/2008
From: Nova Scotia, Canada
Status: offline
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'Rhodes, what's with the 35-44 pound chickens? Did you mean 3.4-4.4 pound chickens? '
No, that wasn't a typo. I meant 35-44 pound chickens. These things are big and I mean big. Though they do have a tendency to die easily from heart attacks or hot weather as they start getting that large. I can raise about 80 or so birds with the setup I have and on average lose about 6 from those factors. Theres also a large problem with them getting too heavy to support their own weight. I had three of them that ended up with broken legs simply because they were too heavy for their legs to support them.
'Rhodes...i raise chickens and want to know just what the hell you fed them. '
Sure thing. I buy them as day old chicks and start them off with basic medicated chick feed (and incidently that is the only medicated food I give them) I always ensure there is a constant supply of food at all times at this point. The key is to fatten them up as soon as possible. Once they start getting their feathers I move them into an enclosed coop for about two weeks and feed them a mix of 1/3 parts pure ground corn feed (unmedicated) and 2/3 parts high protein vegetable grain (also unmedicated) and no scraps or other foods at this point. This lasts for about 1.5 to 2 weeks depending on how well they are growing. After that I open up the coop and have a caged outdoor run for them and I keep it planted yearly with tall grasses and clover for them when they first start eating greens. Once outside I switch their diet to 1/5 parts greens - mainly grasses, clover and a little wheat that grows all around my yard (its a 170 acre former farm so there is a limitless supply of grass and wheat for them), 2/5 parts pure ground corn feed (the same feed as before) and 2/5 parts of the vegetable grain feed. the grains are mixed evenly and fed in three large steel automac gravity fed feeders and is always kept topped off. The greens are given as what is in their run and what I gather up around the yard and throw into their run. I feed them this mix for about two weeks. By this time they'll be starting to fill out quite a bit. After two weeks of feeding I switch their food mix to 2/3 ground corn feed and 1/3 vegetable grain feed. I also at this point add another feeder in a sectioned off part of the indoor coop with a light that is left on 24 hours a day so they can (and will feed) off and on during the night. I also add a feeder to the outdoor coop and keep it topped off at all times. In addition to the outdoor feeder, during the day i'll take a few buckets of food and sprinkle it along the sides of the outdoor fence and around the entire ground. This is to get the birds to move around a bit while they eat and keep their meat as lean as possible, while also reducing the risk of them sitting there and dropping dead from eating till they die. I keep this setup till the late sixth or early seventh week, by which time they are quite filled out (around here farmers tell you to butcher them at about 5 weeks) but this is the crucial time if you are trying to get them as large as possible. At this point I switch their food mix to nothing but the ground corn mix in their feeders and a bucket or two of grain feed sprinkled outside on the ground to keep them moving and keep building up their protein. I also keep the lighting in the coop on 24 hours a day at this point. You want them to eat and eat and eat, and thats what they will be doing at this point. Keep their food topped off at all times, supplement their feed with as much greens as you can get your hands on (I also toss in whatever tomatoes, beans and apples I have, depending on the time of year) and let them eat as much of the corn mix as they can. By 8 to 8.5 (at the *most*) weeks they should be at least 30 pounds. But my average overall has been about 32 pounds or so, with a very good batch last year. Once they've reached that 8 week mark they should be ready to butcher. Around this time you will probably start to lose them to heart attacks, broken legs and related injuries. This is the sign that you've taken them as far as they're going to grow without dying off. Incidently the chickens that reached the 40 pound mark were all males. So try to get a decent mix of male and female chicks.
Also I have to point out that it is very very important that you take them to the 7 week mark and keep up their feeding. Even if you lose a couple. This is the period where their breasts start to develop and fill out. If you want good breast meat give them the time to develop. Yes you will probably lose a few but the rest will be larger and provide much better meat. You'll also get a decent sized (and very fatty) heart and a liver the size of a mans fist off of each one. Just keep in mind its nothing to go through up to 2 large bags of feed a day at the end.
So, follow that, starting off with a good, healthy batch of day old chickens and you shouldn't have any problem with getting them to the 30+ pound mark. A few things to watch out for though are heat - especially in the last couple weeks. This can kill them off real quick, as at this point their hearts are already in pretty bad shape (you'll understand if you get the butcher to save them for you) so be careful there. Also, on this diet they will drink massive amounts of water. I usually have to refill all their containers five to six times a day. Particularly toward butchering time.
I know, its alot of work and on average it costs me $700+ a batch in food. Though I do sell off most of the birds to cover some of that. The end result is more than worth it. I've seen turkeys that were smaller than most of my chickens. The meat is not stringy at all suprisingly, each bird has about 1/4+ inch of yellow fat under its skin and doesn't seem to be greasy at all after its cooked. Even the skin is far better than the store bought. I've noticed the gravy made with it is quite good too, even if I do make it with all of the fat added to it.
Overall its worth it to do at least once. You'll never find a better bird in any store. Hell everyone around here keeps bugging me about getting a few birds off me from each batch. Its nothing to get $50 a bird, at least around here.
Oh and i'm not sure if it makes any difference but the company I get my feed from is 'Shur-Gain' based out of Montreal. I don't know if theres any difference in the brand of feed used.
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RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars... - 
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