The Meatie weigh-along!

[PotterWatch]

I had some more weights posted for mine but they are a few pages back now so easily missed. My first batch had a 4wk weight of 29.5oz. My second batch had a two week weight of 11.5oz and a three week weight of 21oz. We have lost two birds from each batch, one fairly early on and one later to flip. So batch 1 is down to 24 birds and batch 2 is down to 26.

 

[backyardmenagerie]

Quote:
Thank you, I knew I missed something! I got all that updated in my records now. So batch 2 started with 27, correct?
BTW, it will be interesting to see how these 2 batches compare, seeing as how all their variables should be the same. So far your second batch is growing faster.

 

[In His Service]

I still have 4 to process from my original 8...one will have to be my Thanksgiving bird. I haven't weighed them weekly since the first 4 were processed, but will weigh them hopefully Saturday...I gotta get them in the freezer and out of the pen they are in.

I need it to get my other chicks out of the brooder, my eggs are due to hatch Monday.

The pressure is on, chicken juggling begins

where will I put them al

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Quote:
Wow week 3 already. Now weighing an average of 2lbs. 7 oz. The smallest is 2lb 2oz, I think it's a hen and I ordered all males, and a couple of real pigs at 2lb 12oz. Of course these two never go far from the food.
They are now in what I call the broiler barn. It is a hoop style building that has a solid front and back for a door and windows and the rest in covered in wire that is covered with tarp and has a solid floor. When it gets hot, I can roll up the sides and let the fresh air in.
Same food and vitamins and they are still under heat lamps because it is still cold here. Today was the first day the light has been off, but I will have to turn it back on tonight because it is only going to be in the upper 40's.

Week 4
I found the little runt yesterday flipped on it's back. Heart trouble I would guess. Go figure.
The rest hit a growth spurt. The average weight is 4 lbs. They are still on 20% feed, unrestricted and Vitamins and Electrolytes in their water. I have always felt that the vitamins make them hungry so they eat well.
The weather here in Northern Ohio is just crappy. All we are getting is rain, wind and the temps at night are still in the 40's. One night it was 38 degrees. I can't stand it anymore. Come on already.

This is week 5 and I am ready to get rid of these birds and start over. Since last week I have lost 6 birds. 3 of them I was able to catch them on their way out so we went ahead and butchered them. It seems every morning I go out and find one either dead or dying. Their combs start turning purple. I am down to 19 now. I am not happy. We have raise cornish X's for 12 yrs during the hotest part of summer and have never lost so many. My DD is a nursing student so of course she was in on the inspection of the internal organs. The lungs were under sized and a lot of internal fluid.
The average weight on after 5 weeks is 5lbs 9 oz. I have included a pic of a few of the birds that are 6lbs 4oz. These are my piggies. The heavy weight ones seem to be the healthiest ones. Everything is the same. I finally got to turn the heat lamp off, even though the first night I worried because the temp was around 50 degrees. Oh by the way the chart is missing my 4 wk avgs.

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

The dinky one flipped last night, so he got processed this morning. So 1 loss, live weight was nearly 7 pounds, dressed out, DH said he's 4 pounds, 12 ounces.

And it's had a major cold snap here again, so the boys are happily playing outside again. But still processing this weekend, they are just getting SO big and putting a lot of fat on now, so we're getting into heart problems being a risk.

 

[WildflowerJLH]

3 week FRs:

High: 7.4 oz
Low: 3.2 oz
Avg: 5 oz

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

Curent batch of 80 white broilers from Bonnie Hatchery, lost 4 in first week, 2 of the 4 were runts and one had a gimpy leg from the get go. The other likely got trampled when the brooder lights got turned down by mistake. Started on 22% medicated chick starter then 24% medicated turkey starter, now on 20% unmedicated starter and will likely drop to 16-18% broiler grower once the rest of the starter is gone. light 24 hours, 2 feedings 12 hours apart and trying to have an empty dish at meal time. They are outside in a 7x8 brooder wagon.

Day old

Low 1.5 oz
Average of 20 cute chicks 1.7 oz
High 2.1 oz

week 1

low 3.7 oz
Average of 20 cuteish chicks 4.5 oz
High 6.0 oz

week 2

Low 9.9 oz
Average of 10 chicks 11.5 oz
High 15 oz

Week 3
Low 17 oz
Average of 10 half bald ugly chicks 22 oz
High 26 oz

Weighed them last night ~3.5 weeks and had a couple touching 2lb, so should be close to 130-140lb total and they are just into the 5th 55lb bag of feed and starting to get a hunger on. Thirsty too drinking over 5 gal a day now.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Quote:
Week 4
I found the little runt yesterday flipped on it's back. Heart trouble I would guess. Go figure.
The rest hit a growth spurt. The average weight is 4 lbs. They are still on 20% feed, unrestricted and Vitamins and Electrolytes in their water. I have always felt that the vitamins make them hungry so they eat well.
The weather here in Northern Ohio is just crappy. All we are getting is rain, wind and the temps at night are still in the 40's. One night it was 38 degrees. I can't stand it anymore. Come on already.

This is week 5 and I am ready to get rid of these birds and start over. Since last week I have lost 6 birds. 3 of them I was able to catch them on their way out so we went ahead and butchered them. It seems every morning I go out and find one either dead or dying. Their combs start turning purple. I am down to 19 now. I am not happy. We have raise cornish X's for 12 yrs during the hotest part of summer and have never lost so many. My DD is a nursing student so of course she was in on the inspection of the internal organs. The lungs were under sized and a lot of internal fluid.
The average weight on after 5 weeks is 5lbs 9 oz. I have included a pic of a few of the birds that are 6lbs 4oz. These are my piggies. The heavy weight ones seem to be the healthiest ones. Everything is the same. I finally got to turn the heat lamp off, even though the first night I worried because the temp was around 50 degrees. Oh by the way the chart is missing my 4 wk avgs.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg243/FourHChickens/IMG_1896.jpg

Well, we had our birds butchered yesterday 5/22 I ended up with 18. One died the last week. They would have been 7 weeks old today. I couldn't wait for butchering day to get here. After our six week weigh, which I forgot to post, I had four birds already over 7 lbs. I didn't want to take the food away because I still had some that were 5 lbs. So here are the largest and the smallest weights at butchering.
Before Dressed
10 lbs 4 oz 7 lbs 9oz
10 lbs 4 oz 7 lbs 8 oz
10 lbs 1 oz 7 lbs. 6 oz
10 lbs 7 lbs. 3 oz
Smallest
7 lbs 2 oz 4 lbs
6 lbs 10 oz 3 lbs 12oz
6 lbs 6 oz 3 lbs 8 oz
6 lbs 5 oz 3 lbs 2 oz
The last two weeks they ate 100 lbs of food per week.

So the average before weigh was around 8.375 lbs. Dressed was 5.5 lbs
I fed the same feed right to finish. I have to say, they turned out better than I thought they were going to. I do have some very nice roasters we left whole and a few small ones that my oldest DD wanted to take to her house. The rest we cut up.
After all the headaches I had this year, I must be crazy for I am picking up 25 more next week.