Hi....
Last year I raised 25 Red Rangers and butchered them at about 14 weeks (roosters at 14 weeks, hens a couple of weeks later). The birds were all a nice size when "harvested".... I didn't weigh them but they were at least 4 pounds with nice breast meat.
This year in March I purchased 32 Red Rangers (all hens, this time). I butchered them all yesterday, so they were about 17 weeks old.... and boy was I disappointed in the size of them. I let them grow a few more weeks than last year to try and fatten them up a bit, but they all averaged 2.5 lbs a piece with small breast meat. They were fed with 23% protein feed. They also started laying eggs. I purchased them to be meat birds, not egg layers.... thus my not waiting any longer to butcher.
Any ideas on what would account for such slow growth of this year's flock? It's not like one or even a half dozen were small... they were all pretty scrawny. They all roosted at night too.... last year's flock didn't roost at all. Thanks for the help
Last year I raised 25 Red Rangers and butchered them at about 14 weeks (roosters at 14 weeks, hens a couple of weeks later). The birds were all a nice size when "harvested".... I didn't weigh them but they were at least 4 pounds with nice breast meat.
This year in March I purchased 32 Red Rangers (all hens, this time). I butchered them all yesterday, so they were about 17 weeks old.... and boy was I disappointed in the size of them. I let them grow a few more weeks than last year to try and fatten them up a bit, but they all averaged 2.5 lbs a piece with small breast meat. They were fed with 23% protein feed. They also started laying eggs. I purchased them to be meat birds, not egg layers.... thus my not waiting any longer to butcher.
Any ideas on what would account for such slow growth of this year's flock? It's not like one or even a half dozen were small... they were all pretty scrawny. They all roosted at night too.... last year's flock didn't roost at all. Thanks for the help