Thursday afternoon means that the weekend is almost here. It also means that it is weigh-in day for the Cornish Cross Meat birds. We like to see how they are growing. No fatalities this week. All fifty of them look healthy as can be. We moved the temporary brooder out of the way in order to give them more room to stretch out and run around and eat grass. They appear to have enjoyed that!
We also moved in a gutter that we use as a feed trough. This ensures that as they grow, they all have room "at the table" to eat. When they get a little bigger, we'll add two gutters. We also removed the gallon sized waterer and replaced it with the old trusty bell waterer. It is kind of hidden by one of the heat lamps, but it is gravity fed by a five gallon bucket of water we have outside the chicken tractor.
We only turn the heat lamps on at night since it is 82 degrees (in December). It is so warm, today I cut the zip ties off the side of the tractor and rolled up the tarp to allow some air flow through the tractor. It was just too warm and uncomfortable in there. 50 birds put off a lot of heat. It made them happy to have some fresh air blowing through there. Once it cools off - it is supposed to be blow freezing next week, we'll tie down the tarp again to protect the birds from the cold.
Alrighty, time to weigh in. I picked the first bird I could grab from the tractor and brought it in the garage and put it on the scale. As you can see, The bird is stretching out. It feels plump and healthy it my hands.
In week 3 of 2019 - the Cornish Cross weighed 1 pound 10 ounces.
In week 3 of 2018, the bird weighed in at 1 pound 10 ounces.
In week 3 of 2017, they weighed 1 pound 9 ounces.
In week 3 of 2016, they weighed 1 pound 15 ounces.
In comparison with previous years, we're off by a few ounces on average, but still on track.
Ya'll have a very Happy New Year's Celebration! See ya next year.
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