WEBVTT
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Welcome to the Poultry Keepers podcast.
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Today we're focusing on one of the most important but often overlooked stages of poultry keeping, and that's the grow out phase.
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From the moment chicks leave the brooder until they reach maturity, every sign, behavior and growth milestone is telling you something.
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Are you listening?
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In this episode, we'll explore how to observe, document, and interpret what your growing birds are communicating and how that guides you to your flock's future success.
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And joining me here is John and Mandelyn Hey guys.
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Welcome.
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Good to see you again.
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Haven't talked to you in a while.
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Morning.
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Glad to be back at it.
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I hope things are going.
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Just Jim Dandy fine up your way.
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Yay.
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We're a little soggy, April showers bring April mud.
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We may mud
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and may and June.
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Mud it We're pretty
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muddy too in Ohio.
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It's the wet season here.
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It's time to go get a couple more bales of hay and straw and throw'em around the run.
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Keep the chicken's feet.
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Dry.
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I wish it was a wet season here.
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It's been so dry.
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Yeah.
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But
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it's mixed blessing during grow out season.
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'cause when you're growing the young birds, they might be a little sensitive to that added moisture and might come with some added care needs to keep'em dry and safe.
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Sure.
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But we do get a lot of extra protein with all the earthworms and bug larvae and stuff popping up.
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They're loving it.
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Oh yeah.
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They creep up to the surface to hide from that extra water and the birds just scoop'em right up.
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I'll tell you what, there's a silver lining to every cloud isn't there?
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You betcha.
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Most of them.
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Let's kick this off.
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Why the grow out phase matters and, we've bred the birds, we've hatched the eggs, we've Brooded the chicks, and then we come to this grow out phase.
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A lot of folks, I think, look at it as a.
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Wait and see stage, but there's really a lot going on with our birds, and instead of just looking at it as a growth stage, look at it this way, growth equals their genetic potential and.
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Plus nutrition plus management.
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Now, if you're overlooking the stage, can lead to lost productivity or poor breeding decisions, and it can lead to lost productivity, especially as the birds start to mature.
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How has early growth indicators shaped how has early growth indicators shaped your long-term flock goals?
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Since I'm doing the dual purpose thing, and since I'm monitoring growth rate, and since I have a preferred window of harvest between 14 and 16 weeks old, I have a lot I need to pay attention to from five weeks to 12 weeks.
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So they're out of the brooder, they're feathered, and on the one hand I can just drop'em in a grow pen and.
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Check on'em in 16 weeks, or I can monitor what they're doing week by week to find those birds that are growing the best, to find the ones who filled out, who gained their flushing and then maintained it for the duration.
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'cause when they are growing, there's several different growth rates they can have.
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They might be a little speedy, they might be a little in between.
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They might be super fast.
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And that is gonna closely tie into the sort of bird they're supposed to become.
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And the bone structure, the height, all of that happens at different rates for different breeds, for different bloodlines.
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So during the grow out phase, you wanna get in there with them and monitor and check and figure out what you have and how it's best to work with them.
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Yep.
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I like to as you all know, I'm a data-driven breeder, and I put most of my focus and energy straight into those first three weeks when they're in the, I.
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Bruter doing my daily weight checks.
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'cause I get a really strong indicator of later growth by capturing that very early growth potential.
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And then once they hit the ground at three weeks, I'm pretty much just confirming everything and going, yep, you can go.
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Pretty much by that time, I've got my eyes on just a few keepers and everybody else, I'm just growing out for harvest or for sale.
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That happened to me yesterday actually.
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We had a group of cockerels to process and one of those Cockerels I had in with my turkeys'cause he was being full of himself early.
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And they hit the grill pin at about five weeks.
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But I already made a pick for a male.
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It's I think it's gonna be this one based on early growth in those first three weeks.
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Yeah.
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So yesterday when I was going through'em who's getting processed today and who gets the reprieve to show me some more about'em.
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My original pick held up, so that was neat.
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He's still a Turkey out there doing his little bird thing
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and he is probably benefiting from some of that extra protein in the Turkey feed.
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Yeah, probably.
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Yeah.
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And he ranges competition and lack of competition by other of his own breed.
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He's basically king of the turkeys now.
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There's one male Turkey that gives him a run for his money and keeps him in check.
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But he's cool.
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We'll see how he pans out.
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He is 15 weeks now.
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Okay I'm just starting my Turkey journey.
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I've got some pulses at just coming up on a week old and they've they've stolen my heart.
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They're wonderful little chicks, but we'll probably loop her back around to them later.
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Yeah, probably.
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It sounds like you guys do something that I do as I try to look at this grow out phase as.
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An opportunity to show me who the potential breeder candidates are for next year.
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Yes,
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for real.
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That's it.
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Everybody else is either freezer or layer.
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Exactly.
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You can learn so much.
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It goes back to what.
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The individual who's got the flock what their goals are, what's their long term goals.
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And then you try to use those to sort back and go through those birds.
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Okay, this bird helped me reach this goal.
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No.
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What about this bird over here?
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Maybe, but what about this bird over here?
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Oh, yeah.
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He'll do it.
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It can help in your decision making process
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well, and it gives you a pretty clear indication of what you're breeding too, because watching that grow out phase is giving you everything you need to know about the birds you put together and hatched from to get those results.
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So what did they give you?
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What?
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What do you see from that prior generation that.
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The grow outs are showing you in their growth.
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Was there consistency?
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Was there good utility, was the feather growth correct for your environment and climate?
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Did you see any changes from how those parents grew out or the parents before them?
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Think about the whole line up to that point for as long as you had'em, and if you're seeing better, similar, or worse results than you saw before.
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And I think that goes back to keeping good records because I'm, I, let's face it, I'm getting older and I get quite forgetful, but I can go back and refer to those notes and say, okay, now last year at this time, my birds were averaging.
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Being at this point.
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Now, this year they may be, are they a little bit ahead of that?
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Are they right on target for that or are they dragging along getting there, but not quite there?
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So again, keep good records.
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Keep really good records.
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These daily weights as chicks is so empowering and I'm always trying to get people to, to do this.
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I got two hens back that I hatched out and tracked before they were sold off.
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And then they've been passed around the neighborhood and I actually got'em back and I'm hatching eggs from them now.
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And I was able to go back into my records and look at their development data for the first three weeks of their life and.
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And the looking at the charts against the eggs that are developing now from them.
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Ooh, it there.
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There's some powerful stuff there.
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I'm you're a great aunt of this bird and you're the mother of this bird, and I can see some very strong familial ties in those lines.
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That's what I like about line breeding is that you can hit a point with your line breeding.
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Where you start to see uniformity of the flock overall, but uniformity of different lines and how they grow and how they develop.
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And you can look at a bird and say, oh, I had a bird that looked like you three or four years ago.
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Uhhuh and it's amazing.
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I love it.
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Yeah.
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Oh yeah.
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Something pops up.
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It's oh, I remember your mother.
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What's fascinating in my grow outs this year is I'm into the F two part of my little project where I'm using my American breast with some of John's chant heckler genetics, and I only used one male, but the backside of that bird is stamped on the every single offspring I've gotten so far the way the tail is, the shape, the angle.
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That's hanging in there strong.
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It's amazing how some of that stuff breeds forward, isn't it?
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Sure, yeah.
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And how does that, because I've interrupted it a lot, what does that do
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to the body capacity and overall structure of the breast for you?
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Are you finding it beneficial to the structure or, oh, it's all over the place.
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They're the biggest, they're the smallest.
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They're tall, they're short, they're wide.
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They're everything.
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Oh, yeah.
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You, you got a whole lot of genetic cp.
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Yeah, I'm already in the suit for the next several generations, but,
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I think Mandy thrives on the genetic soup stuff.
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She gets off on that.
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I
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Fascinating.
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Every single bird we processed yesterday was different.
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So one got reprieve and there were eight others that were not, and every single one of'em was different.
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I've had birds upside down in the cone and I just put my hand in their vent area.
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As I'm getting ready to do the deed and I've gone, oh whoa.
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Wait a minute.
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No, you need to come back on out.
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Because I just felt some structure that I'm like, oh, that, that structure is just great.
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I need that in my hands.
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Mr.
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Rooster, you just got a reprieve.
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You're not barbecue.
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Maybe at least not this week.
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But that comes to, also knowing your breeds.
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If you have individual line within that lines, within that breed.
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Knowing them, you, some people have the luxury of having the space and capacity to handle, a dedicated meat versus egg line.
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I'm splitting it right down the middle.
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I'll compromise a little bit of egg production and a little bit of meat production to get good overall meat and egg productions.
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Lemme ask you both a question and Mandy, I, we'll start with you, but.
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What do you find your grow outs are really telling you?
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Has and has that changed over the years?
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They're really good at telling me if they need more space, if I need to upsize the water drinker, if I need to adjust the feed quantity.
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If I notice, like for example, bickering coming at 8, 9, 10 weeks old.
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I'll look at my stocking rate and go, oh yeah, they are a little tight.
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I should fix that.
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So I'll split the group up and give'em a lot more space.
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And all that flock drama went away.
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But if I had ignored the symptoms and it would've, gotten worse and worse, as that stuff tends to do, if you're paying attention and you're listening to them, they're gonna tell you every step of the way if they need something more.
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And as they gain in size and as they gain in confidence, and as they.
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Start showing more about themselves.
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You can start looking at who has the most vigor?
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Who's developing the right sort of temperament or the incorrect sort of temperament?
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And if you're seeing incorrect temperaments it's a good time to check on your husbandry and your stocking rate and all that to make sure it's not your fault, so that you're getting a more clear representation of what the birds are naturally doing, when all of your methods are in line with what they need.
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Awesome.
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John, same question for you.
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What do you find your grow outs are really telling you?
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Whether or not I'm doing my job correctly.
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Pretty much.
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Yeah.
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That,
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that's for sure.
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Honestly that, that is a pretty strong indicator.
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You can't hide flaws are gonna be flaws.
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Yeah, exactly.
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I'm taking the good notes on growth and knowing what the line can do that's gonna let you know if your feed changes are working.
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Because let's say for example, you have two or three generations of really good growth and then you changed your feed, you get into another generation, and now the growth is different.
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Did you have enough notes to tell you it was different?
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Do you even know it's different?
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'cause if you're not still in there weighing and tracking.
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You won't see those little differences unless you're taking your notes and monitoring
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that.
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That's so right.
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And guessing is never a good tool to rely on when you're breeding poultry.
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It always bites you.
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I.
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It always bites you.
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Sure,
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sure.
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And Mandy, you're probably looking for about the opposite of what I am before the fleshing starts to get dense on the birds.
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When I'm feeling my birds, I'm hefting them to assess the bone density and you have very fine thin bones, so you're probably, at a certain.
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Phase of growth, you're able to lift them up and go, yeah, you've got the bone density.
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I'm looking for the, we'll see how the fleshing comes in on you.
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I think that's exactly right because I saw that yesterday in,'cause there is one cockrell, he just looked more than everyone else and I was like that, that probably looks like a real nice bird, actually.
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But then when I picked him up, I didn't feel the fleshing that I need to be there for my earlier harvest windows.
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He was all structure.
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He was gonna be an absolutely massive bird.
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I am willing to bet, and if I had the space and time to grow him out and find out that bird would've ended up at 12 pounds by the time he was 14 months old.
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But do you want a bird that takes 14 months to reach heart's?
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No, I don't.
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Maturity
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Because when I picked him up at 15 weeks, he was all structure and no me.
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We got what we could and bagged them up anyways.
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Why let's I've got a theory here, but let's talk a little bit why people so often overlook the grow out phase.
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I think most hobbyists tend to focus on either producing chicks or producing eggs.
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I
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think it's, you folks think they can take a break?
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I.
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Yeah.
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Or you're lulled into the thought that, I've put all this work into it.
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Now it's time to just, feed'em and water'em and let'em grow and just observe.
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And it definitely requires a higher level of engagement.
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During the grow out phase, they'll do okay if you just feed'em and water'em, keep good food and water and grit and calcium in front of'em at all times, and keep their environment clean and safe, and they're gonna do fine.
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But they're going to benefit from your daily interaction.
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I'm, there's that famous experiment Jeff did at Trell with the turkeys, and I'm doing that now with my pulse, and I've already learned that with my chicks.
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Every chick gets weighed every day.
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I.
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For the first three weeks.
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And it's not just pick it up, throw it on the scale, get the weight, grab the next one.
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I spend a couple of seconds with it.
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I talk to it, I coo it, I, pet it a little bit.
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I'm trying to get it just there's a fine line because later down the road, especially now that these physical limitations are stunning to, mount and compound on me.
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I can't have birds that are trip hazards in the yard for me.
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But I need them to also, have a certain level of familiarity and not be afraid of humans and not be aggressive ever towards a human.
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So you can definitely over socialize your chicks,
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especially when the hormones start coming in on the males.