Eight week weights

[SandraMort]

I've got 47 rangers in the barn that are going to be 8 wks old on Wednesday. The majority of them are in the 2lb 8-11 ounce range, but I have a few fatsos nearly 3 lb 7 ounces and a few close to 2 lbs.

I'll be processing sometime mid to late Nov, so I'll just pick the 20 or 30 fattest birds to take with me. I'll probably end up with more than I need and bringing a few to the smokehouse to smoke, which I adore. They only charge a dollar a pound for smoking, which is nice, since it's ready to eat!

The rest of them will grow longer, either to process as roasters or to become layers.

 

[carress]

Sandra.. good luck 'picking' the fatties.
When I picked mine up, I just grabbed whomever I could. I ended up with three really big ones and two malnourished looking ones. (This is all relative, of course).

Problem is... They're so frikkin cute!!!

They've been out with the big birds for two days now, and they've started fighting. They don't peck at each other, they.. do this 'fake-out' peck, then they chest bump a few times...then they walk away. It's really cute.

Good god... I have only killed OTHER PEOPLE'S birds before - I may need you to help me through this!

 

[SandraMort]

No prob, though I am paying someone to do my thanksgiving birds. At $2/each, doing them all in a couple of hours is worth it. I'll do the rest myself, I think.

 

[SandraMort]

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I've got a scale

When I picked mine up, I just grabbed whomever I could. I ended up with three really big ones and two malnourished looking ones. (This is all relative, of course).

This is four weeks down the line, so I think the small ones will still be good sized and the big ones BIG by then! It's all good.

Problem is... They're so frikkin cute!!!

I'm not falling for them.

They've been out with the big birds for two days now, and they've started fighting. They don't peck at each other, they.. do this 'fake-out' peck, then they chest bump a few times...then they walk away. It's really cute.

Gary put the older pullets in the barn with them tonight and they were chest bumping. Totally adorable.

SOOOO, if I order CX in the next couple of months, you gonna go in on the order?​

 

[greyfields]

That seems a bit on the light side to me. I assume you're feeding them properly; so have you had any cocci outbreaks that could stunt them?

One thing I've always found interesting is that the largest bird at 5 weeks will not be the same one at 8 weeks or 10 weeks. They'll all grow a bit differently, which is something ot keep in mind if you ever breed your own (choose the ones heaviest at the week # you intend to slaughter, for me 9.5 weeks).

 

[SandraMort]

We had a week and a half or so on a lower protein layer food when I had no car and someone gave me the wrong stuff accidentally. I'm guessing that's why we're running behind.

I assume I'd know if we had cocci...

 

[greyfields]

I really have no idea if a week would make a difference, either. It looks like you'll need to be in the 10 week range rather than 8.

I can't recall, had you raised Cornish X before?

 

[SandraMort]

I never even raised a parakeet before

I was thinking of processing around 11 weeks anyway, so that's no big deal.

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