2020 Meat Birds - Week Five

Week 5 in the annual 8 week meat bird project was an interesting one.  We lost one bird.  It was a runt.  After its death, Tricia did an autopsy on it, wondering if it had parasites or something to keep it from growing.  She found nothing.  Doctor Tricia's lab report was inconclusive.  That brings our total fatalities so far to 3.  If we can hold that figure, we will have a 6% mortality rate.  Normally, the hatchery sends an extra 2 or 3 as lagniappe to account for things like this, but not this time.  Oh well.

The other notable event this week was the weather.  We had two consecutive days of thunderstorms bringing lots of rain and lots of straight-line winds.  The chickens are in a chicken tractor that we push to fresh grass several times a day.  You can see the tractor below:

It is made with a 2x4 frame on wheels with PVC frame, covered with lightweight welded wire and a tarp.  We have learned from prior calamities to tie down the corners with stakes driven in the ground or the chicken tractor will flip.  We always check the weather and plan accordingly.  The weather report showed wind gusts of 9-10 mph.  We got gusts much higher than that.  Tricia estimates 60 mph!  Here are my stakes.  Only one was remaining secured, but it saved us:

Tricia ran to the tractor in the pouring rain when she saw it about to flip.  She stood on the frame for 30 minutes holding it down while torrential winds blew, shifting the tractor's location.  Tricia held it all together and saved all the birds.  When I got home, she had quite a story to tell!  I call her my pioneer woman.  She was soaking wet and not too happy...  You know the old saying, "She was madder than a wet hen?"

So it is Wednesday Weigh Day.  I brought the bird in the garage in a bucket.

And then I put it on the scale...

And at week five, here are the results:

We have five years' documentation of the Cornish Cross Meat Birds' weight for comparative purposes:

Week Five 2020: 3 pounds 12 ounces, a weight gain of 10 ounces over last week.  I think if you average it out, we are right where we need to be at this stage of their development.
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

As I read more and more about possible meat shortages due to the reaction to the virus, we are happy to have our own meat right here at the house.  In 3 short weeks, we'll process them.  Our slaughterhouse will be fully staffed and transportation to 'market' involves walking the carcasses in from the backyard and into the deep freeze.

We'll meet here again next week to see results of the meat birds' growth and development.