Question: Our show broilers are 12 days old. In the first seven days of receiving them, we have noticed that some are experiencing leg problems. What causes this and how can we prevent this from happening to more of them?
Answer: Donna,
Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this one and one that requires much more explanation than I can type into an e-mail.
There are several factors that affect early skeleton (including leg) development problems.
Some of the possibilities are:
Genetics, Early House/Brood Temperature, Nutrition, Social Stresses, Over use of Vitamins/Electrolytes, Bacterial Infections, etc
I will need to visit with you to determine your specific problems and how to correct them.
Question: We have several 8 x 8 foot coops. How many broilers do you recommend to go in each coop. My daughter has been feeding Purina products to all of her broiler projects and we are getting close to the winners circle but are thinking of changing the environment a bit.
Answer: Maryann,
The available space for your broiler chickens is the first consideration that needs to be given when raising these birds (especially for show). The recommendation for placing broilers is two square feet per bird placed at one day of age. The other piece of this equation is that you need to account for the floor space that the feeders and watering units take (as this takes away from the available space for your birds).
If your pen is 8 X 8 feet this equals 64 square ft. We will estimate that you will have three feeders and three watering units in the pen for your birds for optimal feed and water space. The total square footage for equipment is 12 ft.2 if you give each unit (3 feeders & 3 waterers) two square feet value.
Now subtract the 12 square feet from the 64 square feet and that leaves you 52 ft.2. This remaining amount of floor space in your 8 X 8 foot pen will comfortably grow 25 broilers started at one day of age.
I also invite you to read some of the other question/answers on the website. These may help you think of other ideas to bring you closer to the Winners Circle!!
I hope this helps to answer your question and gets you started in the right direction!
Question: I would like more information concerning the Oasis feed. This is our first year to show broiler chickens. The chickens just don’t seem to be putting on weight. We are currently feeding them the Purina Show Chow. We have adequate lighting and ventilation. The chicken pen is 10 X 12 ft. We are about 2 weeks to show. Is it too late to start the oasis feeding?
Answer: Leonard,
It is not too late to begin the Oasis product.
This product works in three ways for the benefit of your birds:
1) The product is green in color. Green attracts birds and makes them want to eat
2) The product has 25% moisture. The moisture helps the birds moisture content and conformation
3) The product reduces the pH value of the GI Tract. This provides for better nutrient absorption of your feed products which produce bigger birds.
I have attached the feeding recommendations for you to review. The attachment also includes my feeding recommendation for Show Chow Products and my step-down temperature guidelines.
The product is in Kingwood, TX (just down the road from you about 10 minutes).
Contact me by cell phone if you are interested and want to pick some up.
Question: How much light do show chickens need? My chicken house is 16 by 20 feet and we have 4 drop lamps. There are windows on all sides. The drop lamps can either be adjusted up and down and either heat lamps or regular 100 watt bulbs. The walls are plywood color. I didnt have a chance to paint them white before the birds arrived. This is the first year for chickens in this new house and it is a work in progress. Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks for all of your time.
Answer: Wade,
Your house lights should provide adequate lighting throughout the facility and eliminating all dark spots. I am not sure if 4 drop-lights are enough for a 16 X 20 building. You may consider hanging 4 to 5 of the 4-6 feet fluorescent lights fixtures (shop lights) in the house to provide the light that is needed.
The wattage of your house lights should not exceed 40 Watts. Anything in excess of 40 Watts will cause Ascites in your birds. Ascites is a syndrome that causes the birds to accumulate abdominal fluid and ultimately kills your birds.
Your heat lamps should be 250 Watt Red Pet Lamps. This provides the heat that you need without the “light stress” that causes Ascites.
Painting the wall of your house is not that important, however the lighting is extremely important. White walls will help to brighten up the facility.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to e-mail or call (numbers below).
Question: I am getting baby chicks what is the best feed to start them out on? I was sold Parina Flock Feeder but is that for new born chicks? Thank you much!
Answer: Kathy - are the baby chicks show broilers or are they pullets for future laying?
Purina Mills Flock Raiser SunFresh Recipe (I think that is what you’re referring to) is a 20% protein feed and would be an excellent choice for broilers, heavier meat birds, ducks, geese and turkey after 8 weeks of age. This can be fed from hatch until market, or until 18 weeks of age if they are layers.
Purina Mills Start & Grow SunFresh Recipe would be the BEST choice for baby chicks that will be future layers. This 18% protein diet should be fed from hatch until 18 weeks of age.
Show Broilers should be fed a very exact diet…which can be found under “Poultry Articles” on our www.BetterAnimalsShowSeries.com site.
Please contact us with any other questions or refer to our main Poultry site at www.PoultryNutrition.com
Question: I am getting baby chicks. What is the best feed to start them out on? I was sold Purina Flock Feeder Is that for new born chicks? Thank you so much.
Answer: Kathy,
The most common product that Purina has for baby chicks is the Purina Sun Fresh Recipe Start & Grow. If these chicks are going to be for backyard purposes, future egg layers or meat type birds that you will raise for consumption, then the before mentioned feed is the ideal product for you.
If you are raising these baby chicks for a market poultry show (ie: 4-H and/or FFA Livestock Show), then you will need to consider a different line of products that Purina offers: Show Chow Broiler Complete & Show Chow Turkey Starter.
Please reply and let me know your intentions for the baby chicks and I can more precisely direct you with product offerings. Contact me at the numbers below or reply directly to this e-mail.
Question: If you continue to feed the Turkey starter to your show broilers through the entire 6 weeks, does the high protein not contribute to a hard solid breast to the touch of the judge? I guess my question is why do you drop the protein ration in the feed? I would also like to know more about the Oasis product. Can it be purchased from our local dealer?
Answer: Pam,
You raise an excellent question regarding the turkey starter fed at 100% rate throughout the grow-out. It has been done by some exhibitors that I have known but results are not what you would assume them to be. The protein level is higher and the method of building muscle is by means of protein, however there needs to be a greater amount of energy made available to the birds as they increase in size and weight. The balance of protein to energy needs to be within certain targets or the birds will not perform as you would want them to.
Some people respond that they will feed turkey starter all the way through and add a liquid fat to the feed to raise the energy. If you do not know the current fat/energy level then how do you intend on hitting the target level by adding liquid fat to turkey starter. This is where Purina Mills has the expertise through research and performance trials to determine that perfect balance for all of the essential nutrients in our products.
Another note to confirm the products and feeding program: Broilers, Turkeys and Layers eat to satisfy their energy requirement. All essential nutrients are balanced to the energy values that we have determined to be optimal for our feed products. If someone adds fat or oils to their feed, they are raising the energy value in the diet BUT they are not increasing the other essential nutrients that are needed for optimal skeletal and muscle development. The key is maintaining ‘BALANCE’ as you mix and blend products into the feed.
I hope this helps you as you consider your feeding program. If you have additional questions, feel free to contact me directly.
Oasis is a product that has three modes of action for your birds:
1) The product contains 25% moisture which helps to provide supplemental moisture to the bird as the stand at the feeder.
2) The color is a teal green: Green is an attractant color that encourages feed consumption.
3) The product contains Citric Acid, Sorbic Acid and Propionic Acid: this works to reduce the pH level of the bird’s GI tract and allow for better feed utilization which obviously produces more muscle on the carcass.
The product is available only through me. You will need one bag of product for each pen of broilers raised for a given show that are 7 weeks or younger on the show date. Contact me for pricing and shipping information.
Question: My son received his chicks for our county show 6 days ago. We thought we were doing everything right–walking them 5-6 times/day, vitamins in water, clean water, abundance of food, etc. But, today we saw a friend’s chicks and his smallest bird in the bunch is the same size as our largest. How can we fix what we’re doing wrong? The temperature under the lamps (on the floor) is 85-93 degrees, but the room temperature around the walls is around 68 degrees. Our birds are in a barn stall with two walls (North and East) and chicken wire on the other two sides. We have curtains that we can raise and lower over the chicken wire, which is covered since the weather is cooler. Ventilation is not a problem.
Before today we had them penned in a 4×4 corner of the room with 1 heat lamp, 1 regular light, and a heater. We opened them up to full house today (10×12) and added another heat lamp. We also added a fan up high because there was so much moisture in the air. What would you suggest?
Also, half of the birds have really dirty butts. Another thing I’m concerned about is even though we were stirring the shavings, the undersides of the birds seemed damp and the feathers are clumped together. Please let me know what we can do to get back on track, hopefully it’s not too late!!
Answer: Jennifer,
There is not just one thing that can be changed to remedy a flock of birds from getting off to a slow start.
Let me suggest that you read through the attached program and look at the attached photo for some ideas on how to have your house set up for feeding and watering birds.
After you look through the information, I suggest that you give me a call and we can visit about your particular situation. There are several questions that I need to ask before I can offer any suggestions.
Thanks and hopefully we can get you on the right track!
Question: My family and I attended two of the Purina work shops in Houston with Mr. Staggs. We got a lot of good information from the classes. We follow the feed program that was given to us at the work shop. I also hear a lot about using a top dress on the feed to get the birds ready for show. I would like to know if it’s a good practice? If it is, what should we use? Thanks.
Answer: Kevin,
Glad to hear that you have received helpful information for your broiler projects!
I am not a proponent of ‘finish’ feeding (top dressing). Usually when this is done, the nutritional balance for the birds altered and they do not receive the proper ratio of nutrients that they need for optimal performance.
Below is my response to a similar question from another inquiry on the Better Animals Show Series website:
It is my recommendation not to do a wet feed program for your birds.
‘Finish’ feeding is a practice that was passed down from the 4-legged show animals (cattle, sheep, swine, etc.). When feeding these animals, you need a certain amount of fat distributed throughout the carcass so the animal shows and exhibits marble throughout the carcass.
We do not need any fat or marble on the carcass of a broiler/turkey for show or processing. We need MUSCLE! Fat does not convert to muscle. We (as people) burn energy to make muscle but FAT DOES NOT MAKE MUSCLE.
Birds (broiler, layers & turkeys) eat to meet their energy requirement. Energy comes from fat. If you add fat to the birds diet (above what is in the feed sack and balanced to the other nutrients), you run the risk of suppressing the overall nutrient intake for those birds.
The addition of corn reduces the overall protein content of the feed. Corn chops average 7.5-9.0% protein. The protein guarantee of Show Chow Broiler Complete is 22.5%. If corn is added to the birds’ diet, the birds will pick out the corn and their protein intake for that feeding is greatly reduced.
The inclusion of corn gluten meal drastically increases the protein and energy of the diet and throws the diet out of balance for the other beneficial nutrients.
It is my recommendation that you stay away from the ‘Finish’ feed recipes (there are thousands of them out there) and stick with the basics of managing your flock of birds, feeding them according to the program that we offer on our website, and properly cull the flock throughout the grow-out to minimize stress, remove the smaller birds and provide greater floor space to the quality birds in the pen.
I hope this information helps you and that you do well with your birds.
Colin: My chickens constantly come up to the house, away from their food sources in the henhouse and the orchard. The (rural) house is surrounded by concrete, stones and gravel. Why are they doing it and can I train them to not do it?
Keith Staggs: What type of birds are they and what is their age? How much time do you spend with the birds? Is this the house that you live in? I am thinking that you have spent a considerable amount of time with the birds in the past and that they have imprinted on you. They are aware that you come and go from this house and therefore they are hanging out around the house (just like your friends do). The only way to restrict their mobility to the ‘hen house’ (where their feed & orchard is located) is to confine them to that area for an extended period of time. However they will still have a tendency to follow you back to your house once you release them.
Unfortunately, there is no easy answer or solution to your issue. Take care and continue to visit our website for helpful information.
Colin: Thanks for the reply. Yes, I think they might have bonded with me. They are our first birds, and they are in a mobile run so I handle them a bit. Feed them each morning, and they hang around us in the orchard and around the (enclosed) vegetable garden.
They are Isa Browns, only been laying since mid-January at about age 21 weeks - in fact, we got three eggs for the first time today, from four hens.
It is the house I live in, yes.
A neighbor suggested they would “move on” from hanging around the house. What do you think? I’ve started approaching the hen house from a different direction (from behind a water tank). Do you think I will fool them after a while?
Keith Staggs: Your approach is well worth the try!! Most likely, since the birds have imprinted on you, they will continue to consider you a ‘friend’ and follow you around.
The eggs that you are getting…are the birds laying them in the nest boxes or are you picking them up off of the ground?
Take care and tell your ISA Browns that I said, ‘Hello!’
Colin: One of the birds - the boss chook - certainly hangs around. She stands at my feet if I stop moving! They are laying in the nest box. The third one to come on to lay did her first in the nest, but it was shell-less. The next three, soft-shelled, were outside, then another, very small, in the nest. Today there were three eggs in the box, all strong-shelled, so she seems to have got the idea.
Keith Staggs: Sounds like your egg production is coming on well! Enjoy the fresh eggs and the pleasure that your laying hens bring you by watching and interacting with them. Where are you located?
Colin: I live on a 20-acre property in southern NSW, Australia. We are just over the border from the Australian Capital Territory (our equivalent of District of Columbia).
