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.