The 2015 Meat Birds - Nine Weeks Old

Time for the weekly weigh in on the meat birds.  This weigh in comes after a 10 day deluge.  The pasture is still water-logged and the birds are still pretty dirty.  The sun was out nice today, so hopefully the ground will dry up and allow the birds to do the same.  All the rain has curtailed their movement and has affected their appetite. They just sat in the wet grass and looked miserable.  That doesn't exactly put the weight on them.

We normally butcher the birds at 10 weeks.  Our birds develop a couple of weeks later because we keep them on 18% Chick Grower for their entire lives.  Some folks start off the first four weeks with a 24-28% ration, but we slow things up a bit due to the Cornish Cross having skeletal problems supporting the quick weight gain.  So this Saturday we'll be butchering the birds.  We had a curve ball tossed at us this year due to some weather and health issues that has affected the birds, so we'll likely do things a bit different and will only butcher the chickens that meet or come close to our 6 pound gross weight goal.  The rest of the birds will be held over and fed until they meet the goal.  Maybe 12 -14 weeks.

So let's see how we're looking a week away from slaughtering.  To reiterate, we're weighing an average sized bird each week.

Chicken in a Bucket

First lets weigh the Cornish Cross.  He's a pretty nice sized bird.  There are a few bigger than him and quite a few smaller.  We put him up on the scale on top of a rag to keep the scale clean.

Cornish Cross Chicken on the scale

The Cornish Cross is tipping the scales at 5 pounds 1 ounce, or just shy of a pound gained since last week.

5 pounds 1 ounce

And now for the Red Ranger's turn on the scale.

The Red Ranger seems like a cleaner bird.  He doesn't get quite as dirty as the Cornish X.  He roams around more.  He is slower to mature though, taking an additional 4 weeks to reach the slaughter weight we're aiming for.  This week the Red Ranger weighs in at 2 pounds 5 ounces.  Whoa!  That's only a 1 ounce weight gain.  That's not good.

2 pounds 5 ounces

Well this is our last weigh in report prior to the slaughter date this coming Saturday, where we'll weigh them and separate the ones we'll keep for butchering from the once we'll "throw back" to continue growing.