The Meatie weigh-along!

[PotterWatch]

I weighed both of our current batches today. We haven't lost a single bird so far. We are super happy with the quality of birds we have gotten from Welp. Anyway, to the weights!

Our batch of three-week olds has an average weight of 18.25oz (we weighed 10 out of 26). The largest was 22oz and the smallest was 14oz.

Our one-week old chicks have an average weight of 4.5oz. (we weighed 10 out of 28).

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

I think I'm going to wait to weigh mine again until I process which will probably be this weekend. They haven't been gaining much lately but I think it's because I started restricting feed...they have, however, gone through 25 pounds of feed in a week! And boy do they stink. I don't think I will do this again anytime soon. Well, I didn't think I would...but i bought 6 "leghorn" chicks at TSC last week and looking at them today, I think I have been a victim of the TSC mixups: I'm 99% sure one of my "leghorns" is a cornish X as it is 2 times as big as the others now...

I am already in at 10.99 per bird final cost and I am going to have to buy more feed this weekend if I don't process, so...I think they will be in the freezer by Sunday.

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

Weighing them is too hard now because I've got too much baby in front for me to think it's worth the bother. Sorry

They are growing like weeds however, and are fat and sassy. They like stomping around in the grass to get the bugs. The pullets are still in with the EEs and I don't know, I think we may try to see how they do long term. They act much more like normal chickens than the piggy CX.

Caponing however. 2 weeks from Easter, we're going to give it a try.

 

[KathyK]

I have been lurking on this thread.

I got 26 cornish rock crosses from Welp on 3/11. They grew incredibly slowly. I had them on 20% protein feed. Not sure why they were so slow. I have lost a total of 8 birds so far from various causes. None to predators.

The last one died this morning with fluid in the chest as we were getting ready to do the deed. He became my first game hen and will be dinner. I called Welp hatchery yesterday to see if I got a bad batch or something. They were amazingly unhelpful. Sad to say I will not order from them again. I had read all kind of good reviews of them and their strain of birds, so I tried them. We are having unseasonably hot weather here, so I am thinking that is at least part of the problem. They are 7 weeks old and only weigh 3#. Hoping to still have a few in 2 or so weeks when they are big enough to process.

I will try this again in the fall, when it finally cools off, but will try a different hatchery and different brand of starter food.
Questions for those who have processed: How do you know if you have gotten the lungs? I don't know what they look like. Can't seem to find a good picture of them still attached to the spine.
If green bile gets on the liver when you are removing the gland, can you just wash it off and still eat the liver?
Is it okay if it takes me 30 minutes in 90 degree heat to finish the whole process, or is the meat going to spoil?

Thanks
Kathy

 

[PotterWatch]

There has to be some factor somewhere causing the trouble. Sorry the hatchery was unhelpful. What kind of area do you have the birds in? How did you brood them? Have you had meat birds before?


The lungs are bright pink and almost foamy looking. When you look in the cavity, the ribs should look pretty clear of anything. I usually remove lungs by running my fingers along the ribs starting at the breastbone area and ending at the spine. It takes a little practice but just keep scraping away until you don't see stuff stuck to the ribs.

 

[KathyK]

They were in the garage with a heat lamp (as needed) until 2 weeks old. Pine shavings in a large cardboard box. Then they went outside into the tractor.

Heat lamp in there for cold nights, and the sides rolled down. I started them on a medicated chick starter at 20% protein (Golden Oak) . When they used up that bag, I switched to Dumor 20% grower. Yes, this is my first time with meat birds. I have a small flock of egg layers.

Yeah, I pretty much just scraped all the "parts" off of the spine. I found a picture of the lungs, but how in the world to you see into the bird to see what you are doing, unless you cut it down the middle? Hopefully, it will be easier on a larger bird.

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

Kathy, I'm going to throw out that if you're having 90* heat, that may be part of the issue. Ours are MISERABLE as soon as it hits 80*, thus why we do early spring and deal with the stink, but now we're going to try fall this year. Also, in hotter weather, they grow slower here, the kids 4-H birds are always a pain to get to a decent market weight because they spend more time drinking than eating trying to keep cool.

We've got Mt Healthy right now, seem to be doing ok. I like Ideal personally also.

 

[KathyK]

I started in March, thinking it wouldn't get to 90 until May. Wishful thinking. I think I will go with Ideal next time. I had great luck with layers from there.

 

[ddzFunnyfarm]

KathyK~ You're probably on the right track, thinking that the heat is troubling your meaties. Even when very young, every time we picked one up we noticed that their body heat was MUCH higher than that of their 1st-week broodmates (layers). So, by the end of week 2 we had separate brooders for the Jumbo Cornish Rock X's because they didn't need the heat lamp while the layers still did, and we wanted to put the meaties on 22% Turkey Grow Crumbles anyway.

I'm so sorry to hear about how many you lost! Seems like yours might be spending lots of energy trying to stay cooled off.
So sad to invest $, time, and emotion, to lose them too soon.

It was good that you let the hatchery know so they could track it anyway, just in case it might be a hatchery problem.

Ours came from McMurray, and we're getting another batch next week. I sure hope our temps hold to mild so ours don't overheat!

Can you just see all of us rigging A/C units to our tractors???

Okay, for the record: No, I can't!

For the processing, are you starting early in the AM? Just wondering... 90* weather seems too hot to process, as much for you as for the meat.

We heat our water about 6am - oh, did I say "we"? DH heats the water while I sleep

About 7am I stumble out with tools, bags and bleach, etc. He hooks up the hose to our make-shift sink while I get a bird. He bleeds, I dunk and pluck, he evicerates while I choose the next, while he bleeds the new one I'm final-cleaning the 1st and into the ice water she goes. So, we sorta worked out a system. Took us till almost 11am to do 7 birds the 1st Saturday, learning curve, ya know, and just about the same time the next week because we had "help". A couple of the (grown) kids came over with the idea they'd participate. Takes a little longer, but oh so much FUN!!

You asked about the bile getting on the liver... I have always heard that 'if you nick the gall and bile spills, toss the parts that get any on them.' Better safe than sick, I guess.

 

[In His Service]

I only weighed 4 of my 8, (I could not tell which ones had not been weighed, lol) My runt girl, stayed the same, and the one that looked the largest only gained 1/4 lb. So, just guessing here, but I would say
top weight 7.25 lbs
smallest 4.25 lbs
next smallest 5.5 lbs
average weight 6 lbs

should have processed last week, as the weight gain this week was so negligible....I was planning to do my own processing, but with only 8 birds, if I can find someone who will do it for 2 bucks a bird, I will go for it, rather than get all stuff out and badger anyone here to help.