2021 Meat Birds - Week Five

It is once again 'weigh day.'  We normally do this on Thursday as we chart our journey in our annual meat bird raising project.  It is good to have this information to look at and compare year over year.  The birds seem active, alert, and very healthy.  We have not lost a single one since the first or second week, I forget, when we lost one bird that was weak upon arrival.  So that means we still have 50 birds.

We are using 18% Chick Starter and fill the feed troughs several times a day.  This week we added a second trough to give them more room.  As they grow they were unable to all fit around the one gutter we were using to feed them in.  This resulted in aggressive behavior with them all trying to get a "seat at the table."  Now with two, they have more elbow room and things are more serene.

So I went and got a bird for weigh-in.  I'm just grabbing the first one - not the biggest or the smallest.  This bird appears to be a hen.  As they get a little older, you can tell by their combs.  Hens usually grow a little slower that cockrels.

When I put her on the scale, she promptly sat down.  That is a better option than pooping on our scale and that's why I have the diaper on the scale.

So, drum roll, please...  She weighs 3 pounds 7 ounces!

This week they weigh 3 pounds 7 ounces.  Last week they were 2 pounds 4 ounces.  That is a weight gain of 1 pound and 3 ounces over the course of the week.  The weather has been mild and the birds are comfortable, enabling them to use calories to grow versus staying warm, I imagine.

Here's a comparison with where they are now (3 lbs 7 oz.) compared to previous years at this same time frame:

Week Five 2019: 3 pounds 4 ounces.
Week Five 2018: 3 pounds 14 ounces.
Week Five 2017: 2 pounds 15 ounces.
Week Five 2016: 4 pounds

Things are progressing nicely, I think, in our march to a 6 pound bird in Week 8.  Tune back in next week for the next update.