2016 Meat Birds at Ten Weeks Old

The Cornish Cross Meat birds have all been processed and are in the freezer.  We have Twenty-some odd birds left - the Red Rangers.  They generally take about four additional weeks to reach maturity. So let's check in and see how they are growing. Remember that 6 pounds is our goal.  Last week, for some strange reason, they didn't gain an ounce.  They look a bit bigger this week.

Red Ranger Rooster

I only had one bird to bring to the scale this week, so it went a little quicker locating the marked bird than in previous weeks.  Russ placed old Red up on the scale that we had set up in the back yard.

Big Red's Weigh-in

Last week this old boy weighed 2 pounds 15 ounces.  This week (WOW!) he weighed 4 pounds 5 ounces.  That is extraordinary.  He gained 1 pound and 6 ounces.  That is incredible!  All I can think is that the Red Rangers are taking advantage of not having all the competition from the Cornish Cross chickens to get to the feed in the feed trough.  As a result they are eating more and growing more.

4 pounds 5 ounces

I hope this means that we'll be able to butcher all of the Red Rangers in two weeks, but I'd like to butcher all of them rather than doing two separate batches like we did with the Cornish Cross birds. So that means that to get them ALL to the 6 pound level, most likely it will take three more weeks of growth.  We'll know better at next week's weigh in.