Basic Broiler Challenge: Week #6!

Week #6 with the BBC! There's not much to report this week, save for the fact that the birds are HUGE!

My birds have officially been off their broiler ration for a whole week now, and they seem to be doing really well on it. It took them about 4 days to get used to only getting milk/cheese/sprouts for their food, and consequently it hurt this week's weight gain. They're eating like hogs now though, so I'm hoping that they'll make some extra gain before next week.

This weeks weight reports are as follows:

Group 1. (My group)

Average individual weight: 3 lbs.

Average combined weight: 78 lbs!

Group 2 (Friends' group who are still on 20% broiler ration)

Average individual weight: 1 lb. 7 oz.

Average combined weight: 45.9 lbs. (27 chickens; one stopped growing and is still the size of a 1 week old chick!)

My chickens weighed 2.7 lbs. last week, and this week they are only at 3 lbs. That's a teeny, tiny gain by anyone's standards. But again, this could be that it took them 4 days to get back to eating, so that could be a major factor there. It could also be that now they are growing in leaps and bounds skeletal-wise. They're taller and bigger than ever, but not fatter. Perhaps from here on out growth rate will be slower for both groups since their skeletal rate has caught up? It's a theory anyway... 

And it's time. My Freedom Rangers need to either be put in the chicken tractor or in a hoophouse STAT! They are running amok everywhere and living up to their names of "freedom rangers". I'm getting really good at my chicken catching skills, and that's the gospel truth! Such a shame no one offers degrees or at least a diploma for highly skilled chicken catchers. Someone oughta' complain about that...