2019 Meat Birds - 2 Weeks Old

Each year we purchase Cornish Cross Meat Birds as day old chicks.  As the name suggests, they aren't pets.  They get mailed to our house as cute little chicks and for 8 - 10 weeks, we feed and care for them until Butchering Day.  They will be the chicken that we eat for the next year and are far superior to the chicken you buy at the store.

Since we talked last Thursday, they have continued to eat and grow.  We switched them from a 22% protein ration to an 18% ration.  Depending on weight gain, I may move them back to 22%.  You don't want the ration to be too high in protein or they will grow faster than their skeleton can carry the weight.  They can get so heavy so quickly that their legs can't support their weight.  These Cornish Cross chickens are monsters.

Someone came to pick up milk today and stepped over to the brooder to view the birds.  She thought they are cute, but I think they lose their cuteness after the first few days.  They are beginning to smell quite strong.  They eat a lot and thus, poop a lot.  My plans are to move them out of the garage and into the chicken tractor in the pasture this weekend - weather permitting.  That will make the garage smell a lot better, but the primary reason is that the birds will be out on grass.  They actually eat clover and other grass.  Their poop fertilizes the grass as we move the chicken tractor each day to a fresh spot.

They huddle up to keep warm under the heat lamp

Each Thursday until butchering day, we'll weigh them and chart their progress.  We simply bring a kitchen scale outside, zero it out, and put some paper down so the bird doesn't poop on it.  It is an easy process.  Then we look at historical records to compare and see how they are progressing.  Let's do this!

The scale (and that smell!)

I put the bird on the scale and it stood there and looked at me.  Its wide stance and (already) meaty frame and big feet tell me it is healthy and growing.  Without looking at the numbers, I can tell he is in the ballpark with previous years.  But, we'll look at the numbers below:

At two weeks old, the bird weighs exactly 16 ounces.
Last week, we didn't get to weigh the birds, doggonit, so I don't have those records.
At two weeks old, the 2018 birds weighed 18 ounces.
At two weeks old, the 2017 birds weighed 13 ounces.
At two weeks old, the 2016 birds weighed 18 ounces.

Just as I figured, the 2019 birds are right on schedule.  If you averaged out the weights of the birds at week 2 in the previous 3 years, you get 16.333 ounces.  

Here is a side view of the healthy young bird:

By next week the chickens should be out of the garage and out on grass.  Check in with us next Thursday night for the next weigh-in.