Let’s talk about heat and light for a moment. Broilers will eat themselves into oblivion. Selecting the perfect light source is so important. Not only for heating but also for their eating cycle! In our opinion brooder plates are a HARD NO with broilers. Brooder plates do not spread heat out over a wide surface area. This can cause the broilers to pile under the brooder plate, causing suffocation, brain damage and loss of life. 

Red heat lamps are the way to go. Why?

Clear bulbs act as daylight. At night time when the broilers should be sleeping, the clear bulbs will keep them awake and they will continue to eat! Red bulbs are dark enough that when it gets dark out, the broilers will go to sleep. By not having them eat all night and all day, their body’s will grow at a more reasonable rate. 

Remember to keep them warm!!!! Any draft is detrimental to a broiler. Ventilation is super important but no draft!!

Why is this so important?? Again broilers will eat them selves into oblivion. Put their food and water on separate ends of the pen. Why??

This forces them to walk from the food to water, thus strengthening their joints and leg muscles leading to far less leg issues and more stable growth. Having their food and water close together, they will lay on the ground infront of them and eat them selves to death!!!

Here is our fool proof feed schedule. 

Week 1:  free feed medicated chick starter

Week 2: 12 hours of feed, 12 hours without feed (this allows the broilers joints and muscles to catch up with their fast developing body)

Week 3-4 free feed medicated chick starter

Week 4-5 start to transition from starter to grower by slowly adding grower to the feed until the starter is no longer present. Much easier on the chicks gut health

Week 5-butcher: free feed grower, veggies, table scraps etc!

Many people say free feeding is not the way to do it and this is simply not true!! By limiting their feed as they are growing it creates gorging on food leading to several health complications. Let the birds eat!!

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                Food and water

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Let’s talk about food and water, which is essential to the proper development of a broiler! I know many people want to feed as natural as possible so they opt to go for local feed mills, which there is nothing wrong with that!!

However, chicken starter is very important and medicated chick starter is even more important! 

Medicated chicken starter has Amprolium. Amprolium is a coccidiostat formulated to reduce the growth of the coccidia oocysts, allowing the young chick to develop an immunity to coccidiosis as they grow into adulthood. Just because you feed medicated starter does not mean your finished product will be medicated. Once you switch to the grower, you can feed what ever you want! 

Please make sure the feed you are feeding has the proper nutrition requirements for a growing broiler. Not every back yard mill knows the specific requirements needed. 

Same goes for chick starter, if you do choose to go non medicated, make sure you are getting a complete balanced diet starter. Those first few weeks are so important to a growing broiler!!!

Water is pretty simple!

Give them room temp water for the first few weeks. The ice cold well water can cause shock to the system and lead to heart attack. Room temp water is also a good way to prevent pasty butt!!

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