How do you know when to butcher a light brahma chicken

[knfitz]

this is my first year with chickens and I have light brahmas that are about 5 months old. My largest rooster is about 5 pounds live weight. I read light brahmas can get up to 12 pounds, so how do I know when my bird is full grown and ready for butchering? is there some kind of finishing I'm suppose to do to get his weight up for butchering?

 

[leeyuh]

I don't for sure know the answer to this, but I just slaughtered my almost-5-month old buff brahma and she was very small. She looked huge but it was mostly the feathers. We could barely get our hands into the body cavity to pull out the "stuff" inside.

She was on an organic feed and allowed to free range and also fed veggie and fruit scraps from the kitchen.