Took chickens to butcher for first time yesterday

[gryeyes]

I tell my birds they're going on holiday - memories of 'Chicken Run'.   Can anyone tell me anything about feed for meat birds?   The butcher said that their organs were enlarged?   They were raised, as all my meat birds, on started, then grower, scratch, cracked corn and what they forage off the land..........may not be your department, but, hoping someone in the know picks up.  Need to know for next year's batch.  Thanks

"Scratch" around here locally is a chicken treat, not the main feed. It is usually too high in corn for balanced nutrition. And you are adding cracked corn to their diets, so it doesn't surprise me the organs were enlarged. But then again, yours are meat birds and I bet they were harvested young....

 

[Hidrainja4]

Welcome Jennifer. BYC is a fountain of information. You chicken toe does not look serious. I am sure you have seen a bruised nail turn color and fall off and grow back. Same thing for chickens. The toe flesh is normal color and that is a good sign.