2016 Meat Birds at 2 Weeks Old

Well it is Week 2 in the lives of the 52 meat birds that dwell in our brooder in the garage.  It is also Week 2 in our weekly installment charting the growth of the meat birds from 1 day old to 8 - 10 weeks old when it is time to process them.  The first two weeks have been interesting.  Some sort of sickness swept through the brooder, giving the birds "pasty butt," an ailment we talked about HERE.

Seven birds succumbed and became expensive fertilizer for our spring vegetables this year.  The rest seem very healthy.  Let's get down to business.  I bring Tricia's kitchen scale out to the garage and put a paper plate on the scale and zero the scale out.  My wife does not want those dirty birds touching her scale - hence the (appropriate) paper plate they are sitting on.  This fat little bird lazily sat in the plate as I watched the needle turn.

A Plateful of Chicken

Last week, the Cornish Cross meat bird weighed 8 ounces.  This week he weighs 18 ounces.  Yep, one pound, two ounces.  He's gained 10 ounces since last week, more than doubling his weight.  To compare with last year's birds, I pulled up our post from last year.  Interestingly enough, last year's Cornish Cross birds at 2 weeks old weighed only 6 ounces.  Wow!  The 2016 birds are much heavier!

Cornish X at 2 Weeks = 1 lb 2 oz

Let's check out the Red Rangers.  Remember this is a more 'natural' bird.  He matures a little slower and won't be ready for butchering until he is 10 - 12 weeks old.  He is supposed to forage more on the pasture, eating more grass than the Cornish Cross. Up on the scale he goes.  He looks kind of rough - like his feathers are sticking out - a bad hair day, you might say.  He is visibly smaller than the Cornish Cross.

Red Ranger @ 2 Weeks Old

The Red Ranger weighs 8 ounces.  Last week he weighed 6 ounces.  Over the week, he's only gained 2 ounces.  A quick check of the blog post from last year showed that at 2 weeks old, the Red Rangers weighed 5 ounces.  So we're still ahead of last year.

Red Ranger @ 2 weeks = 8 ounces

I think the growth of the chicks can be explained.  Here's my theory.  Genetically, the Cornish Cross is just a bigger bird.  He's just going to be bigger.  Like a bully on the playground stealing the weaker kids' lunch money, the Cornish Cross is bigger, more aggressive, and crowds out the smaller Red Ranger at the feed trough.

Ringing the dinner bell

Although I have 3 feed troughs in there, I'll bring another one back from the barn tomorrow.  That will give the birds an additional feeder and will allow the Red Rangers equal time at the feed trough without getting edged out like you can see some of the Red Rangers in the photo below at the top left.

Everyone needs a place at the table

The 28% protein game bird feed that we had them on has run out at day's end today.  Now we'll switch to the 18% protein ration from here on out.  If you leave them on the higher % protein ration, you run the risk of the bird getting too heavy for his legs to support.   

So far the birds are looking good and are healthier, bigger, and farther along than the birds at this time last year.  It is always good to see improvement in the process. Let's see if we can keep them on this trajectory for another 8 weeks.  We'll check in again next week and compare with the previous week and then with a comparison of the same time last year.