2014 Meat Birds at 1 week old

Actually our 2014 meat birds are a little over 1 week old.  When they arrived they were so yellow and fluffy and cute.  They made little peep, peep, peep, noises.  One week into the deal and they are changing.  First of all they stink.  Our garage smells absolutely putrid.  The chicks are eating lots of food and it seems as fast as I clean out their brooders, they poop more and their brooders are once again stinky.

Benjamin and the same bird he held up last week

Last week when we first got them, they pecked on a few crumbles of Chick Grower. Now they eat several feeders full of feed each day.  They are growing.  Looking at them closely, they are just beginning to grow their first little white feathers on the end of their wings.

A real handful

In just 8 short weeks these birds go from one day old to full grown birds ready for butchering.  It is remarkable how fast these Cornish Cross meat birds grow.  Last week we showed you how they looked when they first came in.  We'll follow their progress and show you their amazing metamorphosis.

Starting to see white feathers on the wings

The other night we lost another bird.  I think he was suffocated by the others that piled up on him.  So now we have 99 left.  They are quickly outgrowing the brooders that they are in.  My project is to quickly move these birds out of their brooders and into chicken tractors out on the pasture.

There they will be on grass and (thankfully) out of the garage.