The Meat Chickens at 4 Weeks

We have been learning a great deal about meat chickens in the last few weeks. Two things we have learned is they eat a LOT and they drink a LOT. We have 42 birds and they are eating about 100 lbs of feed per week. And we were giving them water two to three times a day. Until we got this little number Bell-Matic Poultry Waterer.

It hooks to a 5 gallon bucket and continuously supplies water to the birds as long as there is water in the bucket. This contraption is saving us a lot of trips to the chicken tractor.

The chicken tractor itself is working out great. We use a dolly under the front and just pull the tractor one space each day. The chicks have learned to move along with the tractor but in the beginning we would beat on the metal on the back side of the tractor and they would scoot away from the noise.

We were told that meat chicks really wouldn't forage but they do. Not as much as other chicks but as soon as they get to new ground they start eating the grass and looking for bugs and worms.


They really do a number on the ground though. After just one day the grass is all beaten down with lots of poop on it. We are hoping that that is a good thing. I will be posting pictures this weekend of us moving the tractor and how the ground looks after 24 hours.

Have a great day!
Mae

Linking to the Homestead Barn Hop