Any of you guys have any tips on raising broilers? My daughter has been doing it for 5 years now. Have finished as high as reserve champion at the county show, but looking for a few new tips or secrets anybody is willing to share.
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After having a Son compete for a few years raising broilers. There is one undisputable fact concerning tips for raising Grand Champion Chickens. Here it is....
Fact: Getting anyone to help you with tips, advice and direction regarding show chickens is about as likely as Obama coming on the news tonight and saying "You know, the Republicans really could do a better job than me, I'm just gonna step down and let them run the show"
But seriously, when you do everything right and have worked your tail off day and night to grow great birds. Then "1" group consistently shows up with birds who look twice as big, you gotta ask yourself...what the heck? -
well hell. If Obama dont hav the answers, nobody does!Comment
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Inject air into their breasts, right before the show. Make sure you inject the same amount of air pressure into all 3 of the broilers that you are going to show. You want them to be a uniform breast, and all 3 to look the same...
LOL!
I am sure, you know, but dont do that. We had some people do that when I was showing and they got caught, but they did win the show.
What we did was change water twice per day and gave them high protein food twice per day. We also separated them into 2 or 3 pens, so they were not all bunched up and had room to run. Once they got bigger, we put them into 3 different pens. We had a timer on the light, so it would come on about 2-3 times during the night. Once the light came on, the broilers would get up and eat. They would eat during the day and a couple of times at night. They got pretty big and uniform. We also cleaned out the poop and pee and changed the sawdust twice per day. Give them a good soft bed, so when they lay down, they are on soft material and dont bruise the breasts. We also separated the better ones from the runts. The runts were butchered and sold and the better ones were kept for show. I dont know if that particular thing made a difference, but it felt like we always had better broilers when we did this. We did all of the same stuff with our show turkeys as well. We also had a place where they turkeys and broilers could stay warm when it got cold and could be outside when it was a nice day (almost like a lamb run, where they could run around outside and then come back inside).
Hope this helps.Comment
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Buddy of mines daughter raises them every year for our fair and they do well with them.Last year she won Grand and Reserve Grand with them.He keeps them in an A/C controlled room ,best feed he can get,clean water and wakes them up about every two hours to get them eating.Comment
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We do VERY well at county shows.
First is fresh water 100% of the time, we use small dish auto waters
Always have feed out never let it go empty.
Have plenty of stations. Do not overcrowd
Temperature is extremely important follows the A&M recommendations.
We feed turkey starter 31% for the first 3 weeks switching to finisher 25% a week till 100%. We do use a supplement (pm me). Top with bacon grease and coconut oil last 10 days or so.
I have a deer feeder set to go off into a metal bucket every hour , but I rotate times so they don't get used to it.
100% bright lights 24 hours a day.
Run a fan to keep fresh air circulated.
Cull at 2 weeks and 4 weeks
We get 75 birds to pick 2 pens. Lots of times that second pen is much smaller. For Houston I would get 150 to pick 6.
The more time you are in the barn the better.
Our GC 41 day birds this year which is a week young. Were all over 10# and closer to 11.
I'll answer any questions you have.Comment
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I know of a person that does really well at Houston every year. They actually have a miniature walker type set up that has rags tied to a line that drags through the pen at set intervals to stir the chickens to get them to eat .Comment
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Keep the birds moving. A lot. Tried a setup with rods and flagging tied to it on a small motor on a timer. Kind of like a deer feeder but upside down and a good motor that won't burn out.
Clean water a couple times a day with electrolytes. Even freeze the waterers in a deep freeze if it is warm that part of the year keeps the water cold and the birds like it better.
A mash mix of corn meal bacon grease some type of oil and butter milk twice a day last two weeks just put on top whatever you are feeding them.
Fans are important to keep the birds cool and moving.
Lights at night on a timer if possible.
If birds aren't keeping up cull them into a different pen.Comment
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