How to Keep Meat Chickens Growing Strong

Now that you’ve picked your breed, it’s time to talk about the two things that make or break meat birds: feed and water. You can mess around with a lot of farm projects, but if you get these wrong, you’ll either have dead birds or skinny ones.

Here’s a feed we’ve trusted on the homestead for decades
Texas Natural Feeds comes from right here in Texas, made without soy or GMO ingredients. We’ve fed it to our flock for years with great results; all the chickens stay healthy, and we don’t worry about additives. When it’s time to switch to meat bird rations, this feed gives us confidence from the start.

Feeding Schedule

• Starter feed, 20 to 22 percent protein, from day one through three weeks

• Grower feed, 18 to 20 percent protein, from three weeks until butcher

• Some folks use a finisher ration the last week or two, but you don’t have to if you’re rotating pasture

• Limit feed overnight after the first week with Cornish Cross. Otherwise, they will sit there eating until their hearts give out. Literally

Watering

• Always keep water clean and full. Birds grow fast, and they need it constantly

• Put the water up on a brick or small block so they don’t scratch bedding into it

• On hot days, swap the water out often to keep it cool

Bonus Tip
If you raise Cornish Cross, plan on giving them short exercise. Move the feeder or waterer a few feet away so they have to waddle over. Keeps legs stronger and birds healthier.

Fun Fact
Meat chickens eat about twice their body weight in feed to reach butcher weight. Raise fifty Cornish Cross and you’ll be moving half a ton of feed through them in six weeks.

Tool I Recommend
Keeping water clean is always a chore. This is one of the best waterers I’ve found for meat birds:
Durable Hanging Chicken Waterer
It holds enough water for a good batch of birds, keeps it off the ground, and cuts down on the mess. Using this link is the best way to support the work I’m doing here.

Next week, we’ll get into chicken tractors. How to set them up, move them, and keep birds on fresh grass without losing your sanity.

— Tim Parker
Start My Homestead