I wanted to try two meat birds this year, typical CX and Pioneers (which seem to be the same as Dixie). I got 15 of each (straight run) to do a side-by-side comparison. I will do a second round later in the summer for another sample. At any rate, since I was doing the comparison, I thought others might be interested in it as well.
Each week I plan to weigh every bird when their crops are mostly empty to get a true weight. I'll also get images of a representative bird to share. Since questions of feed may come up, they are being raised on a mix for turkey starter, chicken starter, and a local starter mix for about 22% protein (crumble and mash). The first week was free choice, after that is 12 hour on, 12 hour off. I am not monitoring feed conversion of each breed since they are intermingled.
My chicks arrived on March 31, which was a cold week in upstate NY. Three were DOA and two more were lost within 12 hours. After that, all have survived well so far.
All chicks after 1 week.
An average Cx after 1 week.
An average Pioneer after 1 week.
An average CX after 2 weeks.
A slightly below average Pioneer after 2 weeks.
Almost all chicks at 2 weeks (I felt bad putting them all in squished conditions, so this is missing a few).
All chicks at 12 days out enjoying the sun.
Growth data for the CX (blue) and Pioneer (red). They are clearly in two separate populations and growth trajectories. After two weeks, mean weight of the Cx is 13.0 oz (SD=1.2) and mean weight of the Pioneer is 6.7 oz (SD=1.0 oz).
Aside from the obvious difference of weight, they both act like meat birds. I thought the Pioneer would be substantially more active than the CX, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Both are active when given a reason to be, like outside chasing worms thrown into the pen. Both sleep hard after a good feeding. Both have largely swollen crops after feeding, but CX crops are noticeably larger. However, the crop seems to be fully deflated after about the same period of time. My plan is to put these birds on range after about 4 weeks, so no chicken tractors will be used for either breed.
I'll update each week!
Each week I plan to weigh every bird when their crops are mostly empty to get a true weight. I'll also get images of a representative bird to share. Since questions of feed may come up, they are being raised on a mix for turkey starter, chicken starter, and a local starter mix for about 22% protein (crumble and mash). The first week was free choice, after that is 12 hour on, 12 hour off. I am not monitoring feed conversion of each breed since they are intermingled.
My chicks arrived on March 31, which was a cold week in upstate NY. Three were DOA and two more were lost within 12 hours. After that, all have survived well so far.
All chicks after 1 week.
An average Cx after 1 week.
An average Pioneer after 1 week.
An average CX after 2 weeks.
A slightly below average Pioneer after 2 weeks.
Almost all chicks at 2 weeks (I felt bad putting them all in squished conditions, so this is missing a few).
All chicks at 12 days out enjoying the sun.
Growth data for the CX (blue) and Pioneer (red). They are clearly in two separate populations and growth trajectories. After two weeks, mean weight of the Cx is 13.0 oz (SD=1.2) and mean weight of the Pioneer is 6.7 oz (SD=1.0 oz).
Aside from the obvious difference of weight, they both act like meat birds. I thought the Pioneer would be substantially more active than the CX, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Both are active when given a reason to be, like outside chasing worms thrown into the pen. Both sleep hard after a good feeding. Both have largely swollen crops after feeding, but CX crops are noticeably larger. However, the crop seems to be fully deflated after about the same period of time. My plan is to put these birds on range after about 4 weeks, so no chicken tractors will be used for either breed.
I'll update each week!
