How big should my chicks be?

[jeffreypresley]

Hi All,

I have 10 chickens, 5 Araucanas and 5 Polish. All are about 7 weeks old. I'm just wondering how big they should be as I recently visited a farm and saw full size chickens that were much, much larger than mine are. I have no idea what the growth stages of chicks are though, so maybe they will grow further over the next few months?? I'm just hoping i didn't get bantams accidentally....

 

[speckledhen]

Different breeds end up different sizes. Trust me, I have one rooster I will only allow with his own breed because he is 3x larger than most of my hens and probably 4x-5x larger than some of them, all standard breeds. Polish and Araucanas (if they are really true Araucanas) are not the largest standard size chickens in the first place.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Speckledhen summed it up for you! At seven weeks, they are in their teen stage and still have quite a bit of growing to do. I have some RIR's that are 16 wks. old now and up until very recently they kept on getting larger. My cockerel has gotten HUGE! So don't panic! They will definitely keep growing for awhile.

 

[jeffreypresley]

Thanks guys. I hope they do keep growing as I'm hoping to get full size eggs! As far as whether or not they are true Araucanas, from what I've read it seems unlikely, but that's what they were labled. I bought them at Farm and Fleet, a midwest chain. The female Araucanas are all a plain buff to light brown color, but the one rooster is really beautiful with reds and rich browns and golds.

 

[speckledhen]

Jeffrey, when I hatch my Blue Orpington chicks, they are humongous compared to my Ameraucana chicks. And the Orpingtons continue to be larger all through development. Both are standard breeds, but not every rooster gets to be 12 lb like my Suede, LOL. Probably your chicks are Easter Eggers, so they do vary in size among themselves, but are way smaller than Orpingtons, generally.

 

[jeffreypresley]

Hi Speckeledhen,

I know these guys won't get anywhere near the size of an Orpington, but I saw a full-grown rooster that was an Araucana or Ameraucana of some sort that was way bigger than mine are so far. Right now they are the size of Bantams I've seen.

Is your Suede an orpington? Are Orpingtons as large as Jersey Giants in general? I'm thinking of Jersey Giants as my next breed.

Thanks!