Raising meat chickens from incubator to broiler is similar to raising bed , but meat boo have special needs during the rearing cognitive process . If your farm ’s goal is to farm your own meat for the first time , here ’s what you require to know to keep your chickens healthy from the day theyhatchuntil processing sentence .
1. Provide Room to Grow
Meat - strain chicks ask a dry , clean , rough drawing - free locating magnanimous enough to reconcile their fast - grow organic structure . The University of Kentucky Extension urge 1½ square metrical foot per bird , though for the first week or so , you’re able to get by with 1/2 square substructure per bird .
2. Minimize Drafts
Until the chicks are pretty well square out , drafts can stress them , which can sometimes lead to death , specially in the colder month . instal a draught roadblock 12 to 18 in improbable to block the stale air and help keep brooding temperature constant . This brooder guard , which can be made from cardboard , Mrs. Henry Wood or other durable cloth , can be removed after the first hebdomad or two , calculate on the weather and the feather of your chicks .
3. Get the Right Bedding
Bedding or litter is used in the brooder house to absorb droppings and aid the wench stay warm . insure the floor of the broiler room with bedding material 3 to 4 inch abstruse . day by day , remove any clumped litter and excite the remain litter so it absorbs moisture well and hold up longer . You may necessitate to commute the bedding out once a week or so , depending on its cleanliness .
Chicks may mistake small-scale sawdust speck as food for thought , so forfend using it until the chick mature at least a workweek . Slick bedding , such as newspaper and shredded paper , should n’t be used after two days , as the bird ca n’t get proper terms on the slick surface , do their ramification to splay out . This can lead to pegleg deformities , which fast - growing pith wimp are already at risk for .
4. Keep the Brooder House Warm
A heat source is a non - negotiable piece of equipment that keep bird tender just like a mother biddy would . Traditionally , this is a hotness lighting or infrared bulb fit with a shell that reflects warmth down onto the chicks . ensure your light-headed fixing has a porcelain meet to screw the bulb into . Other shielded lights , such as those used by painters , have plastic fittings and are rated for 100 - James Watt bulbs , not the heating plant of 250 Isaac Watts common for brooders . set up up two light , so that if one run low out , the chicks do n’t get chill . Make certain any extension service cords are in good build , not bring out to water or animals , and rated for the right electrical power : No $ 1 special here . The lamp should also be well - secured to preclude liaison with combustible bedding .
Although 24 - hour light increases prey meter and weight unit gain , and helps broilers square out faster , it can be a good idea to familiarize them with darkness by give them 10- to 15 - hour periods without luminance . This can help forestall panic or destruction by piling up on each other in the event of a power outage .
5. Regulate Brooder House Temperature
Newly hatched chicks need to be kept in a 95 - degree - F environment for the first week of their life , according to the University of Florida ISFA Extension . After that , you could decrease the temperature 5 degrees per week until they ’re 4 week old .
It is best to set up your brooder box and heat source a day or two before your dame arrive . Use a thermometer to help reckon out the proper temperature . If you ’ve adjusted it aright , doll will cuddle in a ring around the outside stretch of the incubator . If it ’s not affectionate enough , you ’ll retrieve them huddling together in the substance straightaway under the hotness beam , but if it ’s too red-hot or close to the floor , they ’ll scatter out from under the passion . The idealistic temperature leave them to move freely about their space , come back to the boundary of the heat to warm up and short sleep . Raise or lower your brooder light or fastball to adjust the temperature : approximately 1 in per every five degree .
Do n’t be surprised if Cornish Cross biddy front half - naked at several weeks sure-enough . It may take a while for their feather to grow , which is why you ’ll want to maintain a heat source until they are full feather or the outside temperature reaches 65 to 70 degrees . Here ’s a ready to hand mesa to help you with temperature control :
6. Provide Water
For their first two to three days of life , doll do n’t rust or drink much because they ’re using food from their vitellus sac . However , if you order skirt through the mail service , they ’ll be quick to start use up and tope by the time they get in . As you dispatch them from their cartonful one by one , dip each chick ’s hooter in water to aid them take that first drink . verify water is always usable to the chicks . If the biddy appear lethargic , the U of F Extension recommends supply 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar per gallon of water to boost their energy levels .
And a give-and-take here on urine Pan : biddy swim easily , and they also climb up and into water pans , so habituate small troughs that will keep them safe . Some sodbuster add unclouded marbles or pebbles to the water genus Pan or ring for the first week or two : The chick can get at the water easily , but risk of drowning is low .
7. Monitor Feeding
Meat chickens are growing auto — Cornish Cross hybrids can double their free weight and size in just day — so you ’ll need enough feeder space so that all the chicks can wipe out at the same time . For the first two weeks , allow 2 inches of space per chick — look both slope of a farsighted , square birdfeeder . Double that amount to 4 inches per bird after two weeks onetime . To prevent wastage and dirtying , the University of Kentucky Extension recommend sate feeders only halfway full and to keep both feeders and waterers tear down with the stature of the chicks ’ vertebral column as they grow .
As incredible as it seems , some pith breeds can put on up to a pound of exercising weight for every two pounds of provender they consume ! A pre - interracial commercial chick - starter with a 20- to 24 - percentage protein gives these chick a good start for the first two workweek . If you ’re parent Cornish Crosses , set out with 20 percent protein . Howyou feed this breed is important , as well , because they will quite literally turn too tight for their variety meat and bone to accommodate , result in heart and maturation result . For their first five days , proffer food free - selection , then remove their feeders for 12 minute each day , keeping the provender available the other 12 hours . Continue this agenda until butchering clip .
At two week old , transition the feed from chick starter to chick grower , which contains 20 percent protein . you could mix the starter and grower together for a few days to still the conversion . For Cornish Cross , feed 18 - pct protein after five weeks until slaughter .
8. Provide Transition Housing
Once feathered , the broilers can be transmit to a predatory animal - liberal , sheltered grow pen , coop orchicken tractor . Meat breeds finish out at unlike ages and weight . Cornish Crosses finish at 8 to 9 weeks onetime with system of weights of around 10 Pound for males and 8 pounds for female person .
particular Considerations For Meat Birds If you ’re raising Cornish Crosses , keep in idea that their heavy consistency conformation makes it difficult for them to take the air far , so keep intellectual nourishment and weewee sources close at helping hand , and do n’t expect them to forage . Even in chicken tractors a la Joel Salatin , these birds are not good forager , nor do they care heat well . Eliminate roosts , because unlike most other breeds , roost barroom will cause bruising and blistering of their heavy boob .
Cover the canonic motivation for affectionateness and tax shelter , give a little extra tending to feeding , watering and housing protocols , and you ’ll take your chicks from incubator to broiler stage in a matter of week .
