2014 Meat Birds at 7 Weeks Old

Weigh in time for the Cornish Cross meat birds tonight as Friday marks the 7 week age point.  Sometimes things just don't go as planned and I can tell this is one of those times.  The birds just aren't putting on weight despite us feeding them four times a day.  Normally we butcher them at 8 weeks, but many times we go an extra week. This time, however, they just seem smaller than normal.  We'll have to see.

We brought Black Eye into the garage for weigh-in

I zeroed out the scale with the bucket on it and then placed the bird in the bucket. He's getting taller that's for sure.  This past week we added a couple of 16 foot panels to extend the area that the birds can move around in.  I also added another gutter feed trough to give them all room to eat when I feed them.

They are certainly drinking lots of water.  The bell waterer that I have has a 5 gallon reservoir and we have to fill that several times a day.  It has warmed up into the 70's so the birds shouldn't be burning an excessive amount of calories to stay warm any longer.  For some reason two birds have died during the last week so we're down to 97 birds now.  It is not out of the ordinary to lose a few from time to time. 

The Biggest Loser

So zooming in we see that Ol Boy weighs 3 pounds 3 ounces, meaning that in the last week he's gained 6 ounces and that is a reduction in the rate of growth that he'd been experiencing.

We're patient, though, and we'll check next Friday.  In the meantime, we will continue feeding them as much as they'll eat and will push the chicken tractor once a day so that they are on fresh grass as the grass is juuuuuuust starting to grow a little bit.  If it takes until 10 weeks to the butcher date, then 10 weeks it will be.