5 Amazing Tips for Raising Meat Chickens
Did you know that humans consume roughly 65 billion chickens every year? It’s hard to even conceive such an astronomical amount of meat. Unfortunately, to meet this intense demand the meat industry often cuts corners when it comes to health and sanitation.
So how do you know that the chicken you're eating is safe? One solution is raising meat chickens by yourself.
While this task may sound daunting, it can be a fun and enlightening experience. In this article, we’ll give you some chicken raising tips so you can start eating healthier and more sustainable meat.
5 Quick Tips for Raising Meat Chickens the Right Way
If you aren’t careful, then you can end up accidentally killing a lot of chickens when trying to raise them. No one likes losing money or causing suffering, so make sure to do your research before diving in. These five tips are a great place to start!
1. Regulate Temperature With a Heat Lamp
Unfortunately, baby chicks aren’t good at regulating their body heat. Because of this, their shelters must be kept at a warm 95 degree Fahrenheit for their first week. After the first week, you can continue to take 5 degrees off with each passing week.
Some people live in a climate that naturally supports this temperature. However, most people will need to invest in a heat lamp.
2. Watch Out for Medical Conditions Like Pasty Butt
Pasty butt occurs when poop gets stuck to the feathers near a chick’s vent. This condition blocks the chick’s digestive tract and can result in its death. The best solution is to half a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into a gallon of their drinking water.
3. Build the Right Kind of Shelter
Baby chicks need protection from predators and the cold. We believe the best solution for this is a chicken tractor.
This fenced structure can easily be moved around your yard. This provides the chickens with a new clean environment and fresh bug supply every day.
4. Provide Them With Organic Food
What you feed your chickens will determine their size and taste. Because of this, you should go with an organic brand, preferably without a lot of GMOs. We recommend Organic Chicken Feed if you need a brand recommendation.
We also recommend free-feeding your chickens all day. Then, take the food away at night time. Otherwise, they may get too big too quickly. Make sure to also supply them with fresh water.
5. Give Them Space
Once your chickens are three weeks old, they can survive outside of a coop shelter. If you have a fenced-in option, then we highly recommend letting them roam free-range.
This will provide them with more exercise and bugs in their diet. Not only is it more humane, but it also leads to a better tasting bird.
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We hope this article helped you learn some helpful tips for raising meat chickens. Do you want more information on pursuing a healthy and sustainable lifestyle? Trans4mind offers a nearly endless selection of topics to choose from. Keep reading to expand your thinking today.