2014 Meat Birds at Four Weeks Old

Okay, I blew it.  With getting everything secure for the winter storm, part 1 & 2, I was preoccupied and distracted and I missed taking a picture of the meat birds at 3 weeks old.  So we'll skip a week of their growth in our Meat Bird Documentary. Colonel Sanders would be dismayed.

But we'll keep moving forward.  The definition of success, as I see it, is falling down six times and getting up seven.  Let's get up.  Here is Benjamin holding the same bird we've been tracking.  He's the guy with a black spot over his left eye.

Benjamin and his Black-eyed Bird

The birds have been growing nicely and are eating and pooping, which is basically all these guys do.  They don't move around a whole lot.  Our egg layers run around the pasture chasing bugs and finding seeds and stuff to eat.  These, not so much.  Our layers are like well-conditioned athletes, while the meat birds are like couch potatoes that merely sit on the sofa all day playing video games, drinking soda and eating Twinkies.

Let's put this guy in the bucket to be weighed

Benjamin zeroed out the scale when we put the bucket on and we'll see what old Black-eye weighs...

And he tips the scales at...

1 1/2 pounds at four weeks old.  I use four weeks roughly.  He's actually 27 days old, so he is a little shy of four weeks, but he's still averaging almost an ounce a day in weight gain.  I thought he was going to weigh a little more, but maybe they were burning a few extra calories trying to stay warm during our arctic blasts.

1 1/2 pounds

We'll follow up again next week where we'll weigh old Black-eye at 5 weeks old. Remember we're shooting for a 6 pound bird at 8 weeks that will yield a 4 1/2 pound carcass.  And it's okay if we stretch it to nine weeks if we have to.

Tune in next week for our next update.  God Bless You!