Ragdoll chickens.

[Doebob]

My daughter sent me this picture of my meaties laying in their coop. (I am at work and she said all 6 were laying like that.) I have never seen this. Should I be concerned or are they just being silly? This is my first batch of meat birds (actually my first chickens ever). I got them about 4 weeks ago at about 3-4 weeks old. They have a reservation at freezer camp in 2 weeks. Should I try to see if the processer can take them early or is this just because they have lots of room to stretch out.

 

[Doebob]

Daughter said they are eating and drinking fine and they were moving around when I was there earlier. And when she sent the picture only one was doing it.

 

[Kyanite]

Hi and welcome to BYC!
I can't tell a whole lot from your photo, but it looks like a nice sunny day and perhaps someone is casting a shadow on the chicken in the photo? Chickens often take advantage of the nice warm sun and lay out and sun themselves. If all other behavior is normal, I'd suspect that's what is going on.

 

[Doebob]

@Kyanite Thank you! That is what I figured;but since it is my first time, I am a nervous nelly. The coop and the run run under a roof, but I am sure that is what was going on. I worry about them getting too big because I am not sure of their age exactly. All the signs I have read about indicate that they are not yet ready for processing. I know it will be soon though.

 

[Kyanite]

No problem. I'm growing meat bird for the first time in my adult life (did it plenty of times as a kid, but little memory of the logistics) so I understand. I'm used to my layers. Those meat birds grow FAST. I don't have the cornish x like you, I've got red rangers. Yours look big. You can weigh them and decide when you're ready to process. You can always process some smaller, and wait a week or two to process the rest. I think that's what we're planing on doing to get fryers and roasters.