The 2015 Meat Birds - Eight Weeks Old

Well, here we are at eight weeks.  The meat birds have grown and we'll weigh in to see where they are.  Remember, we try to shoot for a 6 pound bird as that will yield a 4 and 1/2 pound clean carcass. In the past, we've achieved this weight and butchered at 10 weeks.  Before we weigh them I'd like to show you something that the chickens give use in addition to meat.

We push the chicken tractor each and every day.  That gives the chickens an opportunity to forage on fresh grass and keeps them from sitting in their poop. They eat a lot and generate a lot of poop.  This poop fertilizes the pasture and makes the grass grow thick and green for the cows and chickens to eat. If you look closely in the photo below, you can see the trail where the chicken tractor traveled. It is a darker green color.

Dark green trail (running diagonally from left bottom to right top)

The chicken poop is very strong and will initially turn the grass yellow and will look like it is going to kill the grass.  But the grass comes back with a vengeance, growing lush and green, fueled by the chicken poop to grow vigorously.

Grass is initially 'burned' by the chicken poop

Here are the birds in the tractor.  You'll notice I'm using a pvc rain gutter as a feed trough.  It is a cheap alternative to purchasing a trough.  The roosting bars are made using branches cut from the woods.  However, the meat birds are too fat and lazy to use them.  They are there for when the laying hens where in the tractor prior to the meat birds moving in.

Time for the weigh-in.  I grabbed a Red Ranger and a Cornish Cross and put them in the 5 gallon bucket and bring them into the garage.

A bucket of mixed chicken

Now remember the Red Rangers mature 4 weeks more slowly than the Cornish Cross birds.  We'll weigh him first.

Not really a flattering pose

This week the Red Ranger weighs 2 pounds 4 ounces, a gain of 7 ounces over last week.

Red Ranger 2 lbs 4 ounces

Now it is the Cornish Cross chicken's turn.  He just sat down on the scale in a lazy fashion.

This week the Cornish Cross weighs 4 pounds 2 ounces a gain of 9 ounces over the 3 pounds and 9 ounces last week when we weighed him.  

Cornish Cross 4 pounds 2 ounces

We'll check them again next week to see if they are on target for butchering at 10 weeks.  We're experiencing lots of rain right now and actually lost two birds yesterday when they got wet.  The birds piled up on top of each other and two of the smallest were crushed under the weight of the larger birds.  This is late in the game to be losing birds, but is part of the deal.  You win some, you lose some, but you keep pressing forward, learning from mistakes and trying to better your process each year.