My meat chicks arrived Jan 6, 2011

[Lippincott'sHomegrown]

Three week update - all 20 chicks are doing well. The temp has in upper 20s/low 30's at night. The chicks are still in garage with heat lamps. It was 60 yesterday so I took 10 chicks outside to experience grass. I said they were going to recess! LOL They all pecked at the grass & leaves and flapped their wings while hopping from one side of the cage to the other. They seemed to like being outside. I weighed the 10 chicks before I put them back in the garage for the night. I marked their combs with black sharpie, so I can weigh the same chicks next week...will see if the mark stays all week.

 

[love2chicken]

what is crook neck is it bad I think i have one that is like that. what should I do. eats ok drinks ok please help thanks

 

[Lippincott'sHomegrown]

4 week update:

We had a light dusting of snow Friday with temps in the upper teens - they called off school Thursday afternoon (before any precipitation) since snow is such a rare thing for us!

The joke's on them!

All 20 chicks are doing fine. With our "severe" weather, we had rolling blackouts and I couldn't risk the heat lamps being off, so I moved them to the living room near the fireplace...disgusting? Uh heck yes! I will move them back to the garage today since the temp is suppose to be near 60...hopefully the power will stay on and they will be fine.

On a sort of related note, I have twin pygmy goats that were born last Saturday (before the cold got here). They are so cute. They are with mom in their insulated barn and doing great!

The cornish rocks are at 2.3 pounds, the red broilers are 1.5 pounds and the slacker black roos are coming in at a whopping 0.7 pounds. I knew the free black roos would be slower growing. It is interesting to see how everyone is gaining.

Cornish Rock harvest date is set for Feb 19, but I might have to move it back a week or two if they aren't big enough by then. I have a couple of friends willing to help in exchange for a couple of whole chickens, the hearts, livers and gizzards. Good deal in my opinion, since I don't want any of the insides.

Can't get my photos to upload to photobucket for some reason, oh well

 

[Liamm_1]

Great thread! thanks for the updates and all the pics

 

[ChickyLaura]

Watching this thread

My first ever meaties arrive from Ideal the first week of March...

 

[CDennis]

I can't wait to see what happens! I have 16 week old RB from Ideal that are just about size to butcher (I still think many are small), not sure if its the birds or the cold. So it will be nice to compare.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Okay, this may be a dumb question, but did you get the meaties to raise inside only? And how old should they be before you butcher?

Might consider doing that BUT if they are in my garage most of their lives, I would probably get so attached to them that I wouldn't want to butcher any of them.

 

[CDennis]

Quote:
Not dumb questions, we all started someplace! As for garage, depends on where you live, they like other chickens will not do well in cold when young first few weeks you are going to need to keep them protected and w/ a heat lamp so yes in a garage or some other structure. Mine, spent almost 8 weeks inside the barn because it was so cold and they needed extra heat. In the summer in most areas by 1 month they would be fine outside as long as protected from rain and allowed access to shelter.

As for how long till butcher, depends on the type of meat birds, cornish cross CX are ready to butcher as cornish game hen at two weeks, and are full grown at 6-8. Red broilers, freedom rangers and other types take longer, Ideal with their red broilers says I think 8-10 but expect much longer from my limited experience. I think most people do their freedom rangers at 12 but I don't have any experience w/ them. There are good things and draw backs about each kind so you will want to do your research.

 

[Mamaperreca]

You don't have to keep the meaties inside. They can be outside like any other chicken. I live in Missouri and its been - negative temperatures here in the last month. My meaties are in my big coop with a fenced off section to themselves. They have a 240 watt heat lamp bulb on them. It is warm enough to keep their waterer from freezing and they are fully feathered.

Now the only difference I am seeing in my birds with Lippincott's birds (they are the exact same age) is that mine are not growing as fast. I think/read this is because they are expending a good deal of energy keeping warm out there instead of just getting fat. Mine are well over a pound but not 2 pounds. However I am ok with that. I would rather it take a couple more weeks to fatten them up instead of having them in the house. THey are healthy and happy.

now I also have 5 Maran chicks in the house and they are taking FOR.EVER. to feather out. They have been inside 2 weeks and it looks like they will need 2 more at this rate before I can even consider moving them out to the coop. Bummer.

ETA: I did keep my meaties inside for the first 2-3 weeks until they had all the feathers.

 

[Chicken_Lover4567]

Be prepared. Those things are going to get HUGE.

Just processed mine a couple weeks ago, I used them for stock show purposes. (Ended up getting 6th and 10th) Some of my bigger ones ended up being 9lbs dressed... they were around 9 weeks old.

Good luck with yours, I hope you enjoy yours more then I did mine. I found them disgusting and irritating..

But of course I'm still going to do it next year.