Weight differences between different batches of cornish x

[cafrhe]

My 2nd batch of cornish x are 6 weeks old now. I noticed from the beginning that this batch (of 20) seemed smaller than the last batch (of 30). They are from the same hatchery. I have a 3rd batch (of 30) that are 1.5 weeks old today.

This batch is about 1lb lighter than the weight gain charts for their age. The last batch was a good lb or more heavier the entire time and were processed early due to their size. The 1st batch really loved their food and were very excited by me! The current chickens like food, but dont inhale it like the others.


They live in a HH and both went out at 2 weeks old. The weather was similar. Both batches had warm nights and at least 1 heat wave of over 90 and humid days.

I started the 1st batch on dry food and at 5ish weeks started soaking the feed. This batch has had the soaked food from the beginning. Same food.

this batch has been able to free range earlier than the others, but I noticed the size difference before I started letting them out. The 1st batch did fully free range at about 4-5 weeks, but were pretty big, so did wander but not like this batch.

Has anyone noticed distinct differences between batches? I am interested to see how my 3rd batch turns out.

 

[cafrhe]

Well, I sort of answered my last question...The 3rd batch of cornish x are now 7 weeks old and weights are more similar to the 1st batch than the middle batch. At almost 7 weeks I have weights between 5lbs and almost 8lbs. Batch 2 were 5 and 6 lbs at 7 weeks.
The 1st batch was 30 birds, 2nd was 20 and 3rd is 30. Not sure if there is any coorelation. All 3 batches had some high heat. This batch was 2ish weeks when they had heat, so I dont think it bothered them as much at the other batches who were pretty big when they had high temps.

Looking at dressed weights--the 1st batch were all over 5lbs with several over 8lbs (and they were processed at 7.5 weeks). The 2nd batch's highest weight was almost 6lbs and lowest was a little over 4.

All 3 batches had soaked/fermented feed. Batches 2 & 3 were FF at 2 weeks old while batch 1 had FF starting at 5ish weeks.

This is it for the year, so I guess I will see what trends there are next spring.