Meaty Madness

You should take a pic and post it of these chicks.... don't sound anything like meat birds to me.

Mine are 6 wks today and it sounds just like mine, though I don't know that I would call them "not very big" considering their age. Mine fly up on a roosting platform I made for them and one even flew to the top of the coop the other day~5.5 ft.~ and all run very fast for their breed. It's how they act when you don't overfeed them. Mine are nearly fully feathered also with only a few with pink areas under the wings or near the legs/vent.
 
Meaty Madness, Round 1 is complete.
I put the last five in the cooling bath and am going to quarter and bag them in a bit. This round were all pullets, and the heaviest dressed out at 6.5lbs, the lightest at 4.5lbs.

And my wife says "Next time you had better get more of them."

Lessons learned:
1. Ceramic knife makes a grade A killing blade.
2. Flower pots break under the weight of huge meat chickens. Next cone will be a milk jug or steel cone.
3. A plucker is worth its weight in gold - I'll be building one before the next set. Hand plucking these didn't kill me, but it took forever.

My wife is thinking 20, to be done before the true summer weather arrives. Hard to argue with fresh chicken.
 
My killing cones are made out of hardware cloth. They are easy to make and if you take your time and do it right you can avoid the pokey edges. I made the shape, trimmed the excess and used small zipties to hold it together. Then put duct tape around the rims and voila! been using them for a couple years now and I really like them.

good luck!
 
The milk jugs aren't sturdy enough for killing cones...they will collapse from the weight and pull away from their fasteners and they won't hold a big CX or large DP roo. I find the 2 gal. bleach jugs are just the right size and depth for CX and the plastic is more rigid and holds well with the weight of the birds pulling against the nails. They are nigh indestructible and last a long time, are easy to clean and with the smoothly rounded shoulders of the jug it seems to fit the shoulders of the chicken just right for a comfy ride to the coop in the sky.
 
You should take a pic and post it of these chicks.... don't sound anything like meat birds to me.
I haven't been on here in awhile,sorry! I am going to process the chickens this week. We weighed the largest today and it is 10.5 pounds! They are still active, but are not leaving the chicken house much now. They have been raised with my free-range chickens. Only difference is that I feed them Flock Raiser separately instead of layer feed.

I believe they are 12 weeks old. I bought them the first week that Coastal Supply had chicks, I think I bought them March 3rd.
 
They look great. I failed to get live weights on mine. Wish I had. Dressed at 6.5-7.5 lbs. @ 8 weeks. I just had gizzards and livers for dinner, deep fried. Perfect
Are you processing by yourself Good luck and enjoy.
 

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