The life of a meat chicken: part 2

Sit back and watch them grow. On more than one occasion I have gone out to the barn in the morning to feed the baby meat chicks and when I come back in the afternoon to do the same, I swear they are noticeably bigger.

I left off at day 1 of the chicks life on our farm, all tucked into their new homes. At 1 week of age, I put a couple chicks back in the shipping box they came in. I put a large chicken egg in with them for size reference. Remember 1 week ago these chicks hatched from an egg this size and that 15 of them comfortably fit in one of these compartments in the shipping box.


2 weeks of age. They are starting to get feathers. They still have access to the heat lamp to stay warm. It's now getting crowded around the chick feeder. Pay attention to the size of the feeder because in the next week, I will start using the adult feeders.


3 weeks of age. Adult feeders in use. I put the chick feeder in the picture for size reference. They are almost fully feathered. They are still indoors, but the heat lamp is now turned off.


Between 3 and 4 weeks of age, they get moved outside onto grass and live in these bottomless "hoop houses". Good shelter from the rain, but since they are on grass, they get to eat the grass, weeds, bugs and anything else they find on the ground. The pens get moved to fresh grass once a day at first and twice a day as they get bigger. And the pens are light enough for me to move myself by pulling them along the ground with a rope. They are built in such a way that the sides act as skids for easy pulling. The chicks still get fed chicken food in addition to the grass and bugs they eat.


4 weeks of age. They are starting to look more like adult chickens.


Here is a picture taken some years back of a meat type chick and a Barred Plymouth Rock laying type chick both at 4 weeks of age. Amazing the difference in their rate of growth all achieved through selective breeding.


5 weeks old. It is now becoming easy to tell the cockerels (boys) from the pullets (girls). In case you don't know, the cockerels are the ones with the larger brighter red combs on their heads.


6 weeks old. The changes become less dramatic, but they are getting bigger.


7 weeks old. They know that I am bringing their food into the pen. It gets really hard to walk inside the pen at feeding time as they all cluster around my feet.


9 weeks old. Two days before butchering day.


Into the refrigerator on butchering day.


Into the freezer in the next couple of days.


And out of the oven all year round.


I have said this before, but I feel truly blessed to be able to raise my own broiler chickens for meat. I think these birds have a pretty good although short life. I guess it's hard for me to put into words, but it is a very satisfying feeling to be able to live this whole process from beginning to end.