How big should a chick be at 4 weeks?

[Maple Hill Homestead]

I have 6 chicks all together at the moment. 2 Ameraucanas, 1 light brahma, 2 white unknown "heavy breeds" and 1 red unknown "heavy breed". These were bought from a feed store but the lady who let me pick them out of the bins didn't know what breeds were in the "assorted heavy breeds" bin.

The funny thing is though both the runt of the six chicks and the largest of our birds all came out of that mixed heavies bin. I weighted them yesterday just out of curiosity because there is such a huge size difference between them and the red unknown heavy, my runt, was just a hair over 4 oz at 4 weeks old. One of my biggest birds weighed in at 1 lb 2 oz. That is quite a difference! and like I said both birds came out of the same bin marked assorted heavies. Is it possibly that these are meat birds instead of laying birds? Should any kind of chicken be that big at only 4 weeks old? Or is my runt just particularly runty and throwing me off that way? I haven't weighed the light brahma or the Ameraucanas yet. I can try when I clean out their brooder later today.

 

[sloanbychoice]

The bins in the stores often have things mixed around.
What color are the ones you suspect might be meat birds?
Do you have any pics you can put up?
It’ll help identify if we can see them.

 

[Maple Hill Homestead]

They are pure white with yellow legs. Their down feathers were light yellow.
Working on getting some pictures now. Just need my subjects to cooperate. :-/

 

[sloanbychoice]

Might be cornish or cornish cross..
will wait until you get pics...

 

[Maple Hill Homestead]

Here is a pretty decent picture

 

[sloanbychoice]

I’m gonna say that looks like a Cornish...
@Eggcessive can you tell for sure?

 

[Maple Hill Homestead]

Here's one that shows the size difference pretty well...

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree that it looks like a meat bird. They grow quickly, and are meant to be butchered by 6-8 weeks of age. They can be prone to health and leg problems if kept longer. I would limit it’s feed and encourage free ranging to control it’s weight if you are not planning to butcher it. They can be sweet birds, but they eat a lot of food. It always makes me mad at feed stores to see the cornish cross chicks, and no signs for people to know that they are usually for meat, not egg layers. It is very sad to find out that your chick may not live a long life.

 

[Maple Hill Homestead]

Yeah they actually keep the meat birds in a separate area in this feed store so it surprises me that they had a mix up. These were actually in a bin labeled "laying hens assorted heavies". So unless there is some way for customers to just look at a meat bird and know its a meat bird, there was really no way to tell. The little red one in the back of the first picture came out of the same bin.

ETA: We will probably try our hand at butchering them in a few weeks if they are meat birds. Meat birds are on our list of things we want to try to do but we wanted to get laying hens going first. I was just told on these boards yesterday that I shouldn't leave the birds outside in their coop alone at this age, so how would free ranging them work? I can't stand out there and babysit them all day and I don't imagine most other people can either. So if free ranging them would work, is it ok to leave them outside during the day in 80 degree weather?

 

[Mamatomany123]

Yeah they actually keep the meat birds in a separate area in this feed store so it surprises me that they had a mix up. These were actually in a bin labeled "laying hens assorted heavies". So unless there is some way for customers to just look at a meat bird and know its a meat bird, there was really no way to tell. The little red one in the back of the first picture came out of the same bin.

ETA: We will probably try our hand at butchering them in a few weeks if they are meat birds. Meat birds are on our list of things we want to try to do but we wanted to get laying hens going first. I was just told on these boards yesterday that I shouldn't leave the birds outside in their coop alone at this age, so how would free ranging them work? I can't stand out there and babysit them all day and I don't imagine most other people can either. So if free ranging them would work, is it ok to leave them outside during the day in 80 degree weather?

You cant free range them at this age. They still need supplimental heat. I was told not to free range them until they are closer to their full grown size