How heavy in lbs should a 5 month 2 week buff orpington hen be?

[BuffBuff123]

The APA standards say a pullet should be 7 pounds and a hen should be 8 pounds.


Your Buff Orpingtons are 5 1/2 months old. That is about the age that pullets reach sexual maturity. So I would guess that your pullets should be 6 pounds or more.

Are these pure Buff Orpingtons? Did you buy them from a breeder or a hatchery? Or did you breed them yourself?

Hi

We think they are pure breed, we bought them from a breeder, if anyone wants to see a pic, here you go (this pic is when we first got her, a month and a bit ago) will update with one in a sec:

 

[BuffBuff123]

Here's one I took today:

 

[BuffBuff123]

They are both 4.22 lbs

 

[Bullitt]

Sometimes breeders breed chickens for slower development.

Hopefully your hens will fill out in the next month or so.

 

[BuffBuff123]

Yes they have started to put on weight, they have got fatter round the breastbone since the last couple of weeks!

 

[BuffBuff123]

One is now heavier than the other...

 

[Foristers]

Hello.
I just weighed all nine of my Buff Orpingtons - 2 males, 7 females.

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to post my info here - perhaps it will help. A few notes first
They are 23 weeks old having been hatched the week of July 18th. They grew well during the first few months while I was giving them a basic 22% protein chick started but I was told that it would be a good idea to go ahead and start them on Layer feed when I ran out of the first round of food. It was then late October so they were between 14-15 weeks. It took me a while to notice it but earlier this month I began to realize that my hens were not as large as I thought that they would be at that age. The roosters were fast outgrowing the hens. I began to suspect that either the feed was not nutritious enough or that I switched to layer too soon.
As of 23 weeks of age no hen has yet to lay an egg. I went out and weighed them today for my own records. Here are their weights in decreasing order. Let me know what you think about these weights at 23 weeks. Thanks:
Rooster 1 - 6lbs. 1oz.
Rooster 2 - 5lbs. 1oz.
Hen 1 - 4lbs.
Hen 2 - 3lbs. 9oz.
Hen 3 - 3lbs. 6oz.
Hen 4 - 3lbs. 4oz.
Hen 5 - 3lbs. 4oz.
Hen 6 - 3lbs. 2oz.
Hen 7 - 2lbs. 9oz.

More info - I got my chicks from a local feed & seed who had purchased them in bulk from Murry McMurry. Murry McMurry has good chickens but I don't think that they are top of the line blood lines.

I hope this helps for anyone wondering. I think that my chickens are underweight for what I feel like they should be right now, but I could be wrong. I know that they keep growing up to a year in age or more, so maybe they are right on track. Although the 2lbs. 9oz. little girl out there seems awfully small.

Good luck.

 

[Mak24456]

Hello.
I just weighed all nine of my Buff Orpingtons - 2 males, 7 females.

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to post my info here - perhaps it will help. A few notes first
 They are 23 weeks old having been hatched the week of July 18th. They grew well during the first few months while I was giving them a basic 22% protein chick started but I was told that it would be a good idea to go ahead and start them on Layer feed when I ran out of the first round of food. It was then late October so they were between 14-15 weeks. It took me a while to notice it but earlier this month I began to realize that my hens were not as large as I thought that they would be at that age. The roosters were fast outgrowing the hens. I began to suspect that either the feed was not nutritious enough or that I switched to layer too soon.
As of 23 weeks of age no hen has yet to lay an egg. I went out and weighed them today for my own records. Here are their weights in decreasing order. Let me know what you think about these weights at 23 weeks. Thanks:
Rooster 1 - 6lbs. 1oz.
Rooster 2 - 5lbs. 1oz.
Hen 1 - 4lbs.
Hen 2 - 3lbs. 9oz.
Hen 3 - 3lbs. 6oz.
Hen 4 - 3lbs. 4oz.
Hen 5 - 3lbs. 4oz.
Hen 6 - 3lbs. 2oz.
Hen 7 - 2lbs. 9oz.

More info - I got my chicks from a local feed & seed who had purchased them in bulk from Murry McMurry. Murry McMurry has good chickens but I don't think that they are top of the line blood lines.

I hope this helps for anyone wondering. I think that my chickens are underweight for what I feel like they should be right now, but I could be wrong. I know that they keep growing up to a year in age or more, so maybe they are right on track. Although the 2lbs. 9oz. little girl out there seems awfully small.

Good luck.

I think you put them on layer too soon. Pullets that are not laying do not need the extra calcium because it damages their kidneys, and the lower protein amount in layer feed will only slow their growth when their bodies should still be developing.

My buff orpington pullet is also about 23 weeks old. She's not much heavier than yours either, but she doesn't really seem to be a big eater. My RIR and little dominique are both heavier than her. They haven't started laying, so all three of them are still on 18% chick starter-grower. I don't have the proper means to weigh them but I'd guess my BO is no more than 4 lbs. I've heard they can be slow growers though. How do you pullets' combs and wattles look? My girl's are very red and getting quite big now.

Overall I'd say switch yours back to grower that's around 18%, no more than 20% protein, if you feel they haven't been developing properly. In addition, cockerels/roosters should not be on layer at any point in their lives, as (obviously) they don't lay. If your chickens are living together, when the pullets start laying, switch them to all flock/flock raiser with oyster shell on the side. That way the pullets will get calcium if they need it and the roosters won't be eating the unnecessary calcium.

 

[Foristers]

I think you put them on layer too soon. Pullets that are not laying do not need the extra calcium because it damages their kidneys, and the lower protein amount in layer feed will only slow their growth when their bodies should still be developing.

My buff orpington pullet is also about 23 weeks old. She's not much heavier than yours either, but she doesn't really seem to be a big eater. My RIR and little dominique are both heavier than her. They haven't started laying, so all three of them are still on 18% chick starter-grower. I don't have the proper means to weigh them but I'd guess my BO is no more than 4 lbs. I've heard they can be slow growers though. How do you pullets' combs and wattles look? My girl's are very red and getting quite big now.

Overall I'd say switch yours back to grower that's around 18%, no more than 20% protein, if you feel they haven't been developing properly. In addition, cockerels/roosters should not be on layer at any point in their lives, as (obviously) they don't lay. If your chickens are living together, when the pullets start laying, switch them to all flock/flock raiser with oyster shell on the side. That way the pullets will get calcium if they need it and the roosters won't be eating the unnecessary calcium.

That is what I have suspected and I appreciate your input. I just ran out of the layer feed today so I am researching what to feed them next. I will aim for an "all flock" feed. I am also looking into reducing the amount of chemical additives, perhaps organic or something a little more natural. Some of the ingredients that I am reading off of the bag of feed that I just finished include: pyridoxine hydrochloride and ethylenediamine dihydide. Several others that I don't think were included in chicken feed in the 1800's or at any point of human raising of poultry prior. This feed even included salt and citric acid, two ingredients that I have read elsewhere I should never give to a chicken.
Anyway.

I think that there was something else at work in my flock that I really had not considered. So you remember that I said that my flock consisted of 2 males and 7 females? Well I knew that the flock was of the age and size that it could not support two roosters. I weighed my chickens on the New Year's Eve because I was also culling the smallest rooster that same day - which I did. (now sitting in brine water, awaiting my plate)
Interestingly the group dynamics of the flock have already changed just 48 hours later. (Today is Jan. 2) Now sure this was predictable, but I guess I had not predicted the level in which the pecking order dynamics would alter.
Today for the first time I heard Aragorn (Rooster 1) crow. It was also the first time that I personally saw him mount two different hens. All of the chickens, rooster and hens alike, all seem more at ease now. Aragorn allowed them to get at the scratch feed first and let the hens have at the food first instead of trying to compete with Rooster 2 for food. The hens seemed less skiddish and more able to access resources.

So with the removal of one rooster the entire flock seemed to perk up. It is too early to tell if long term feeding habits will be altered significantly but I have good reason to believe that they will. And I know by seeing that the hens are indeed sexually mature and I suppose that I should be getting eggs soon.