We got our broilers as one-day-old chicks on June 12th. They were teensy tiny little things then but they've grown tremendously in the nearly 10 weeks since. For the first few weeks they lived in an old, cracked water trough meant for the mammals.
From there I put them in one of the lambing jugs in the barn until they grew feathers. At the point it was warm enough outside to move them into the purpose built chicken tractor. Following our friend Brendan's recommendations we fed them a mix of broiler grower and poultry grower and gave them as much as they could eat in 45 minutes, twice per day. Then we watched them grow, and grow, and grow!
The chicken tractor was perfect for these guys and gals. It has been easy to move each day and the wheeled feed trough was terrific. It allowed me to quickly get these birds their food each day while minimizing escapees and providing feed evenly amongst the flock.
The watering system needs tweaking for next season. No matter what I did the threads on the automatic waterer always leaked and drained the bucket of water too quickly. The birds weren't happy about it and it's crucial that they have as much water as they need. So eventually I switched back to the good old fountain waterers, which worked fine but were a pain as they need a level place to sit.
So next weekend we face the grim task of slaughtering these birds and filling the freezer with chicken. My neighbour Scott has volunteered to help out, in exchange for a hand with butchering his pigs later in the fall - a good trade.
At this point I'm not sure what the total cost of keeping this flock has been but we will surely enjoy having the chicken all winter. 28 birds should last us a while.
