[kentishlad]

Hi,
I'm planning on getting some day old meat birds soon and was wondering how old do you let your meat birds get before dispatching? I hear supermarkets free range are just 70 days, yet I hear others say they keep their's till six months.
My reason for asking is two-fold, firstly we keep hens anyway so we need to consider whether we can allow a flock of young birds to mix with them and at what age; I have a book that suggests not mixing young birds with old ones till 18 weeks. If this is the case then in addition to the broody coop I have set up, I can see I really need two separate areas and hen houses. Also, bearing in mind that the chicks are on heat till 5 or 6 weeks then may be another two weeks inside and off heat, that's not very long outside if only being kept till 70 days, so I'd love to know what everyone else does so I can get an idea.

My second reason is food cost, if we keep them till six months the food consumed would be rather high wouldn't it?

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

[Bodger]

Supermarket chickens are actually 'done' much earlier than 70 days, infact quite often before 40.
The answer to your question, is when they feel ready. If they feel as though they have some meat on them, then try one and see. Its no use keeping them any longer than you have to.

[kimT]

Our free range Hubbard meat bird are due to be culled between 14/16 wks old.

[pushrod]

As bodger says super market birds are much younger than 70 days. I personally kept mine separate from the layers.

When they feather up at about 3 weeks they will probs be able to go outside at this time of year but they will still be very small and liable to be picked on by other bigger birds. Plus when they come off the crumb you will want to feed them growers pellets which can't be fed to layers.
 
If you have a lot  i would start doing them in 2s or 3s  from about 8 weeks even though they will not be full weight at that age. On the principle that to start with you can say 2 for the table and one for the freezer. As they get bigger you can do one for the table and one or two for the freezer.