Raising Meat Chickens - 3 Weeks old

The meaties are 3 weeks old this week, their birthday was yesterday.  They've done well transitioning to the tractor outside, even though it's been dropping into the 40's at night.  They have their heat lamp in the covered portion of the tractor and they huddle together under it at night.

During the day, they love to run around and forage a little bit in the grass.  I feed them 12 hours on mostly, now.  Really, I just feed them in the morning and make sure they have food throughout the day.  Then, when I tell them goodnight, I make sure they are out of food for the night.

We did lose one the first night out, or the second.  I think it just got too cold for her?  Maybe she ate too much.

They're feathering out nicely.  They come running when they see me, and attack my hand when I put their food trays in the tractor.  We are steadily moving them closer to the garden, where they'll spend their older days creating lovely compost for me.

We had an escapee.  My run isn't covered, but has 5-6' sides.  She took a running start and leaped the fence.  I let her wander alone for a couple of hours.  Some of the others tried to copy her, and Brady tried to go right through the fence, but no one else succeeded.

This post is linked to Simple Lives Thursday Blog Hop.