Well the first 15 layers arrived and after a few months in the brooder and they're feathered out I'll be getting a few dozen meat birds.

Dogfish-----How many birds (meat) did you do up last year? I couldn't find your post so I apologize for starting a new one.

No apologies needed. We did about 60 birds last year. Not doing many at all this year. Might only do a dozen or so. Concentrating on turkeys and pheasants.

If you need any pointers, send me a PM. One thing I found last year was that I had a much better survival rate overall when I started the birds on a 27% protein feed for the first two weeks. After that I switched over to 18% all purpose. The brand I used was "Payback turkey & pheasant starter" for the 27%. Dell's all purpose and Payback all purpose were their maintenance feeds.

Expect a loss of 10-20% of your birds if you go with a lower protein amount for a first timer. They are fragile birds.

Thanks Andy. I'll be in touch via PM...

The layers need to finish and get into the coop before I do the Cornish X Rocks. As I recall you built your plucker? I'm gonna rent it from the AG co-op this year but I need to build up my (Fowl) slaughter equipment.