2016 Meat Birds at Eleven Weeks Old

So tick tock, tick tock...  Time for the Red Rangers keeps on ticking.  The Cornish Cross Meat Birds are all frozen solid in our freezer.  Red Rangers take up to four weeks longer to mature.  They are eleven weeks old now and time for our weekly weigh-in.  I carried our Red Ranger Rooster by the feet to the garage where I have the kitchen scale set up.

It is warming up here in mid-May and I could feel the heat of the bird as I carried him.  He flapped his wings and settled down as I set him on my messy workbench strewn with tools.

Week 11 Weigh in

As you know the goal is 6 pounds.   Let's put 'Ol Boy on the scale and see the results of another week of food, grass, and growth...

Biggest Loser?  Hope not...

This week, 'Ol Red tipped the scale at 4 pounds and 13 ounces.

Four Pounds and 13 ounces

The days are getting longer and when I put the red ranger back in the chicken tractors with all of his compadres, it looks like their living conditions are quite good.  Sunshine is streaming in, green grass beneath their feet, a raingutter with chick grower in it and a waterer with plenty of fresh, clean water to drink.  Happy, healthy birds, to be sure.

Red Rangers in the Chicken Tractor

So here is our comparison table so we can track the growth from week to week as the butcher date approaches.  We can see that the Red Ranger gained one half pound over the last week.

So, we can say with pretty good confidence that we'll be butchering in two weeks, three weeks at the latest.  I was discussing with Tricia that it is going to be hot butchering in a couple (or three) weeks and the flies will be out in full force, necessitating a fan.  Although it is fun to raise your own food, it involves time each day feeding them, watering them and pushing the chicken tractor to fresh grass.  It will be a welcome break to not have to do that everyday!