2014 Meat Birds at Six Weeks Old

Tonight it took quite a while for me to locate Ol Black Eye among all the other meat birds in the chicken tractor.  For one, the birds are all growing and filling up the whole tractor so he was harder to find.  They need more space so tomorrow, one of the things on my agenda is to take down the tin on one end of the tractor and extend the tractor by adding a couple of 16 foot panels and an 8 foot panel to the existing structure.  This will give them a little more room to grow.  For another reason it was hard to find him because it seems like the black spot above his eye is fading somewhat.

Ol Blackeye the meat bird

The bird is not as clean and white as he used to be.  This past week we had a couple of inches of rain transforming the pasture into a muddy mess.  It is hard to stay clean and white when you walk around and sit in mud.

I brought Ol Blackeye in and sat him down while I got the scale.  Notice the Cornish Cross on the feed sack.  He is standing up.  Our bird is not.  These birds are notoriously lazy.  They are highly proficient at three things: eating, sitting down, and pooping.

I'll sit down and rest for a bit

I got the scale and zeroed out the weight of the bucket and placed old boy in the bucket.  This made him stand up alert and look around.

Ol Blackeye tipped the scale at 2 pounds and 13 ounces.  Last week he weighed exactly 2 pounds, so this week he's gained almost a pound.  That is a lot of weight gain in a week, but still it is getting clear to me that these birds are not going to reach the 6 pound mark at 8 weeks and we'll likely have to give them an extra week to grow.

13 ounce gain in one week

This next week promises better weather with warmer temperatures, so the birds won't burn as many calories staying warm and will be able to divert that energy into building muscle.  We'll update you next Friday at the 7 week point to see how the birds are progressing.