Meaties are 7 weeks tomarrow, Can I do it now?

[obsessed]

My meaties are 7 on Monday. In my opinion, they are big. I have never seen a meaty before so I think they look big enough to eat. Can I do it now?!! Please. Or should I wait for maximum growth? I have been feeding them chick starter (that is all the feed store carries except for layer pellets). Should I pick the biggest or smaller ones? How should I chose?

 

[MaineChickens]

You can process them now in whatever order suits you.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Sure you can. I did some last year at 4 weeks for Cornish hens...

Let us know how they dress out!

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

How much do they weigh?

Keep in mind you'll "loose" some of that weight when to subtract the uneatable parts.

 

[jaku]

Do it now if you want- as long as you aren't overly worried about losing a little weight. On the plus side, if you DON'T do it now, if you go out to the pen some morning to find a dead one, you'll wish you had done it early- you could potentially avoid those annoying late losses.

 

[Chef]

I say do it! 7 weeks works for me. Sometimes we'll let them go a little longer. They should be fine. What kind of protein is in your chick starter? Good luck!

Chef

 

[patandchickens]

Why not do one or a few as a trial balloon, see how much they actually weigh, then you can decide whether to do the rest?

If you leave them longer your feed conversion ration will get worse, i.e. you will be paying more in feed for every extra lb they put on than you have for the meat thus far; OTOH if you want gigantic roasters that may be an ok tradeoff for you.

If you're going to do some now and leave the rest to grow larger, I think it makes most sense to do the smaller ones (which will mostly be the pullets) now, as they are just not *going* to grow as big ever, and leave the larger faster-growing cockerels to get even bigger. OTOH the larger cockerels are also probably your highest-risk birds for suddenly dying on you.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[AHappychick]

I thought meaties were processed at 6 weeks is that wrong?