to cull or not to cull?

[Chadsky]

hello,
i Have two meaties just to try out they were hatched out may 2 and are small maybe 2 pounds they are on 20% chick stater because thats what i had handy and needed to get rid of, i'm not worried about the size but one of them the pullet eats well, drinks well but acts like a typical meat bird ( walk a bit then lay down), i guess i'm asking a what point should she be culled it dosent look like shes going to die but i'd like to butcher her before she does so shes not wasted?

thanks

 

[Life is Good!]

If her comb is red, she's still growing and gaining - the question then becomes, how big do you want her to get? "Cornish hens" at the grocery store are generally just 16oz or so. So anything above that is very useable meat! We were aiming for a 4 lb bird - because we've got teen boys to feed!

Our CX hatched out somewhere around April 20th (so about 10days older than yours), and we've just processed 8 of the 13 here. The larger cockerals were between 4 and 4 1/2 lbs, the pullets were more like 3 1/2 to 4 lbs. We started processing ours because of the insane heat coming this direction in the next 4-7days. Like you, we didn't wish to loose any early.

During processing, a few (maybe 3) showed obvious signs of coronary heart failure - fatty tissue around heart, enlarged hearts, etc. Which is why those were selected to go first! The five remaining are the smaller of the bunch - another week will be fine for them to continue to grow. Yes, they're laying around panting in the heat, but with enough shade and breezes, they'll be fine. If no breeze, I'll need to put a fan on them to help them stay cooler.

Hope this helps!

 

[Chadsky]

thank you it does help!,
now i'm looking at the calender and the meaties will be 8 weeks on thursday and are lucky to be a couple pounds, there on chick starter because i wanted to finish the bag instead of waste it but is there something i could use to really pack on the weight? a couple more weeks isnt a big deal but before the heat of the summer id like to finish them up before the heat does.

 

[Czech's_chicks]

My meaties are getting ready to go to the fair. They all hover around 4.5 pounds at will be 7 or 8 weeks. I've been feeding chick mash with 30% and mixing in flax seed and quinoa for the past 4 days. These are all girls, I weighed a cockeral at 6 pounds on Friday. He and the rest that aren't going to the fair are going on reduced protein till we get back, then we will determine who gets culled and who we pump up.

 

[Chadsky]

thank you, imay have to make a trip to the feed store and see what they have for a higher protien,