4 Most Efficient Ways to Raise Meat Chickens

Meat chickens are raised for their meat, so their defining trait is fast muscle growth. They reach harvest sooner than other chickens, and their market is fairly wide, since many people need chicken meat for their own meals or for business. Today, a great many food businesses use chicken, such as ayam geprek (crispy fried chicken smashed with chili sambal), chicken bento, chicken steak and much more. That's why demand for meat chickens will always be high.

Effective Tips for Raising Meat Chickens

There are several tips for raising meat chickens you need to understand, because the techniques differ from raising kampung chickens (Indonesian free-range native chickens). Raising broilers, or meat chickens, is harder than raising kampung chickens. To avoid losses, follow these efficient ways to raise meat chickens:

Also read 6 Ways to Raise Meat Chickens for Maximum Results

Coop

The coop is a key element of any chicken farm. Broilers, layers and other farmed chickens each have their own ideal coop. To get the best results from your chicken farm, you need to know how to build a coop properly. Here's what an ideal broiler coop looks like:

• The coop location must have permission, especially from neighbors living close to the chicken coop. The coop must be at least 100 meters from residential areas. So if you want to set up a chicken farm, choose land that is at least 100 meters from where people live.
• The coop should be near a water source so it can reliably meet the birds' daily needs.
• The coop also needs the right orientation, with its length running from east to west.
• The inside of the coop needs light and enough warmth so the birds don't shiver from the cold.

Chicks

The next step in raising meat chickens is choosing your chicks. The better the quality of the chicks you raise, the higher their survival rate compared with poor-quality chicks. That's why you need to choose quality chicks.

Vaccines

Meat chickens, or broilers, are very prone to infection. That's why vaccination is essential to protect broilers from a range of diseases. Vaccines are the most effective way to prevent chicken diseases. To preserve their quality, store vaccines in a refrigerator and keep them out of children's reach. If the place where you buy vaccines is far from your farm, carry them in a thermos filled with ice cubes.

Why Feed Matters on a Meat Chicken Farm

Success in raising meat chickens depends on the feed you provide. Most of your capital will go toward buying feed. Nutritious feed keeps your birds much healthier and helps them reach their ideal weight. You can include vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and fats in your meat chicken feed ration. Here are the feeding stages you need to pay attention to:

Growing

At this stage, the birds need more protein than during the finishing stage. They grow quickly at this point as long as they get enough feed.

Finishing

At this stage, the birds need less protein, while the other nutrients they need are fats, minerals and vitamins, which help increase their body weight.

Also read 4 Laying Hen Farming Risks to Watch Out For

For beginners especially, it's very important to know how to raise meat chickens properly. Their growth and development depend heavily on how they are cared for on the farm. If your birds aren't reaching their target weight, evaluate whether the way you've been raising them is right, so they can grow and develop better in the future.