Home from our trip

Well we just got home last night and I tell you what! The meat birds were HUGE, just over 5 days they grew like crazy. I weighed some of them and they are weighing in at 3 and 1/2 lbs now! I got them a 30 lb feeder as well so we don't have to keep going out there three times a day. I also tried letting them out to forage and they did NOT go back in their coop at dark. I was hoping they would and that we would be able to let them out to forage every day. I'm not finding myself thrilled about chasing around 28 meat chickens every night before bed to get them back in their coop. Thank goodness only FOUR came out to investigate. They were in their coop for over two weeks so I was thinking it would work. Maybe meaties are different then regular hens? Maybe we can block off the under side of the coop so they can't hide under it. We went through two more bags of feed each at 50 lbs. So far we are at 200 lbs of feed. The last of the bag is in their 30 lb feeder and it is about 1/2 full yet. I think we are going through about 50 #s a week right now. Will prob be more later. We were hoping to lesson that amount with getting them out to range but it may not happen now.

Some updates

Well Last Thursday we upgraded their waterer to the 5 gallon metal waterer. It is GREAT not having to fill their one gallon one twice a day! It lasted three days...well really close to three anyhow. We did fill it up on the third day. We are also looking for a larger feeder and having problems finding one. I weighed the chicks and they are running just over 2 lbs now. One was 2lbs 5 oz and some others were a little smaller. I have been noticing them breathing heavier...maybe its just me or maybe chicks just do that. Just wanted to not that here. They have been very active though in their coop. We will be letting them out to free range very soon so we hope they put themselves back in to bed at sundown.

We are leaving for a week to Washington so It will be a few days before I update. I'm sure the chicks will look HUGE when we get back home. I will update then.

Update on the meaties 4 weeks old

Today they are four weeks old.

Weight: Amber is 1 lb 5.5 oz One of the larger meaties is 1 lb 9.5 oz and the regular laying hen is 15.5 oz (STILL under a lb!) YOu can see the meat birds far passed them up. They are so nice and plump feeling compared to the reg pullets. There is one tiny light red pullet meatie that I'm sure will be one of the keepers (I named her Megan) she is the sweetest thing ever and so small...she would not be good eats anyhow ;) Now I have to talk hubby into that one :D

We just finished off our bag of 50 #'s of feed (second one) and we opened that bag on July 6th and we have 26 meat birds and 2 little pullets eating that. And we don't have enough to last through the day today for sure so we will be opening another 50 # bag this afternoon. I have been feeding them three times a day (one of those longer metal feeder things that sit on the floor) and watering them twice a day (one gallon waterer) If it's above 80 they need three gallon refills and then another in the am by 9. So usually one at 9am one at 2:00pm and another at about 7 before we shut them up for the night. They have not been allowed to free range yet as I don't feel they were in their coop long enough to know to go back "home" at dark...I will wait until we get back from Washington DC July 25 (dropping son off for college) and try that. Possibly before we leave...depends on how energetic I'm feeling HAHA (just in case I have to chase them around to get them back in). I'm finally being able to tell male from female now although they are still not getting real red in the comb but the waddles are showing red now in the males. The females have smaller combs and less redness in the waddles. They are getting VERY friendly with me now (HATE THAT!) so its going to be so hard come time to butcher. I wish they would just stay skittish and then it wouldn't be so bad.
I'm taking pictures today of the coop and will post them in this post hopefully today. They are all loving their roost too BTW...took them a while to figure out what it was for but now seems they all jump up there and roost. Were going to have to add another one soon.

Chickens out in their new coop :D

We got done with the coop and put the chickens in there 8X8 coop and they LOVE it. They are running around like crazy and dust bathing and having tons of fun. They make ME happy just watching them. I didn't have time to weigh them today as we are getting ready for the grad party here at our house on Sat so I will weigh them tomorrow. For now have to run and keep working ;)

Coop almost complete/opened 50 lb bag of grower feed

NOTE: We opened the new 50 lb bag of Purina grower today in the AM

We have four walls and a roof. All we pretty much need now is the door and the shingles on the roof before we can put them in there. Then I have to seal and paint it. That won't take long at all.

Weight on Amber is 14.4 Not as big of a jump as I had thought. Our biggest chick is now over a lb! I think it's a he (he's one of the chipmunk looking ones) the one I liked :( I hope it's not a boy but he weighed in at 1 lb .03 oz The standard chicken is also weighing in at 14.4 today...normal jump for her.

It's really getting close to time to get them out in their coop though since I have them in a brooder 3ft X 4ft. They are getting close to filling that right up. I picked up two bags of pine shavings (3 cubic feet each) and will add both of them to the hen house which is 8ft X 8ft. I hope that will do the trick until time for slaughter. We will see. I may have to add some since they will be staying IN the hen house for the first week and 1/2 before we let them out to range. I'm hoping to get them out on the grass VERY soon. Lets hope we can get them in the coop by wed at the latest. I will take pictures of the coop tomorrow. Right now I am off to bed...just got home from work and I'm TIRED!

Coop update/ no more heat lamp

Weigh in results for today. Amber is now 14.1 oz and the regular layer chick who is a month older is 14.2 LOL SO close. The smallest meatie is weighing in at 10.2 and the largest is 15.5 MOst of them are right around Ambers weight or bigger. I am beginning to see some growth in the combs of some of them so maybe soon I will be able to tell girls from boys. Still not a whole lot of red going on yet.

FEED: So far we went though right around 55 lbs. We will be picking up a separate bag just for them so I can just keep track of it that way (by the 50 lb bags). If they have any left from the current bag they are on when it's time to slaughter I will just weigh that and subtract it.

It's getting close to having to clean their brooder so I'm hoping that we are done with the coop so I don't have to do that again and waste money on shavings. We will add two bags in the coop when we are done with it. So far we have the floor done and all four walls built. Screens on the four large windows (the windows will have a piece of plywood to close in case it rains or gets too windy for them. We are not making a run for them becasue they will all be free ranging in the alfalfa field after their first two weeks in their new coop. I'm hoping they all know to go back on their own for bed like the other chickens did.

I took the heat lamp away three days ago. It's been fairly warm and they are pretty feathered in. Plus they have a lot of hot bodies to cuddle up with.

Coop started/ whole pellet food now.

We finally got a start on the coop today. Were going to have to work fast as the chicks are getting pretty big! AND we also want them out of the garage before our Grad party on the 11th. I don't think that would be for good eats since we are setting up tables in the garage in case it rains.

Yesterday Amber weighed in at 10 oz and today she is 12.4 oz The layer chick is 13.1 as are a few of the other meat chicks! They caught up fast. Amber is still about in the medium weight in the group of 28 chicks (two of them being layer chicks). There are not that many that are under were weight now though...they seem to be all catching up with one another. I have some pics to show you and they will be posted on the date that they were taken so it's not so confusing. So scroll back to see them :D They are feathering out very nicely now and most are all looking the same...some being lighter and some darker. Same sort of pattern right now. They are eating NON crushed pellets now so that makes it easier on us. Just pour and go!

These chicks are sure a bunch of scardy cats! Every time I put my hand in their brooder they all freak out! LOL I hope they get used to me soon. I'm only in there messing with them at least two times a day...more on days I don't work. Still looking for the 'FOR SURE' sign of boys vs girls.

Litter change/ Cement block added/GIRLS?BOYS? ONE week old

I'm going to start adding the weight right at the beginning of the entry so in case I have readers that are only interested in that they can see it right away :D

Meatie Amber weighed in at 9.0 oz and the regular hen was 11.1 Each weigh in it seems they get closer to the regular hens who are a month older. Now that is not the heaviest chick but it's not the lightest one either. The heavier ones weighed in at 9.5 oz Lighter ones about 8.6 ish.

Ok today I changed out the litter...we will see how fast we have to do it next time...I'm sure faster then this time since they are bigger. Having them in the garage saves on how often we change it out. I can handle more smells out there rather then in the house :D I changed it with a large shovel with the chicks right in the box. I MAY do it differently next time as I think I almost scared some to death :/ Just wanted to save some time!

Next thing I did today was add a large grey cement block in the coop to set the water on. They are getting is so full of crap it isn't even funny. We were back to having to change it three times a day and when we both work full time that is not easy to do. We will see how well that works come tomorrow. I just hope they can all reach it. I put a hill of pine shavings up to it so they should be able to.
I also noticed that they enjoy laying down while eating LOL Not all of them but some of them sure do.

I'm taking pictures today as well so you can see how well the feathers are coming in. They are really looking cute. Hubby wants to name them "Nugget" "chicken finger" "Finger likin good" ETC...I argued that! LOL OH BOY! STAY POSTED...I'm NOT sure how this meat chicken thing will all turn out after all ;)

ALmost forgot...still can't quite make out girls from boys but I think I'm seeing it somewhat. Have to look a little closer tomorrow. No redness to combs yet but I will keep an eye on that and post when I notice anything. I was kind of saying...Oh that one is a boy, that's a girl bla bla...this was all guess by the looks of how large their combs are getting.