Crazy Bee Lady
In the Brooder
- Oct 15, 2023
- 7
- 2
- 12
I purchased barred rock chicks that are now 8 wks old and they are huge. My other chicks didn't grow this fast. Is this normal.
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I have Wyandots, Rhode Island Red, Buff Oprington and Black Star Sexlink. They all grew at the same rate.What breeds are your other chicks? Different breeds all grow at different rates. My brahama hen for example is huge, but as chicks my barred rock hen initially shot up much faster than my Brahma. My barred rock was larger up until she seemed to stop growing right around 4 months she reached about full size. My Brahma on the other hand kept growing slow n steady for several months after until she became almost double the size of my barred rock. A barred rock however, compared to say a production breed would appear to grow more slowly.
Bad news, My Barred Rocks were moved to a chicken tracker and doing well. But the racoons found a way in and killed 5 of the 6. I have one left and she is tramatized.. She is moving around and eating and drinking. How long should I leave her Isolated? She is the only one that is this age, the others are a lot older. I have an opportunity to get another Barred Rock of a similar age. Should I do that for companionship?
My BRs grew pretty quickly but not as fast as our RIRs. Our Bresses, though, are the real deal when it comes to sizing up. This is a pic of three Bresses (one rooster and two pullets) aside our RIRs that all hatched on the same day. The weight is there, too; the Bresse are not all feathers. They're heavy.
View attachment 3660740
I put eight young roosters in the freezer last week, they were 3-1/2 months old and were extremely close in size. I didn't weigh them prior to processing but they all dressed out between 3lb 2oz to 3lb 5oz without necks or feet and ready for the freezer. Just the straight carcass. I free range ours on a 6-acre pasture and they get free access to 16% all flock feed. We are one for dinner yesterday and it was excellent.I just bought Bresse eggs, would you be able to provide some live/dressed weight guide? Like at 4 months / 5 months or whenever you got them on the scale (alive or processed)? What I find online is quite confusing...