Bonus Content-Listen To What Your Birds Tell You

In this episode of the Poultry Keepers Podcast, we’re diving into one of the most critical yet overlooked phases of poultry keeping: the grow-out stage. From the moment your chicks leave the brooder until they reach maturity, every behavior and growth milestone offers clues—if you're paying attention. 

We guide you through the importance of daily observation, growth tracking, and hands-on evaluation to make informed decisions about which birds to keep, which to cull, and how to improve your flock for the future.

Whether you're raising dual-purpose breeds, breeding for productivity, or simply want healthier birds, this episode offers practical, experience-based advice for identifying future flock stars and avoiding costly mistakes.

Tune in and learn how to listen to what your birds are really telling you.

Visit us at www.thepoultrykeeperspodcast.com for more tips, tools, and episodes.

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Transcript

Alex: 0:17

Today I want to have a chat about one of the most telling, and often most overlooked stages in raising chickens—the grow-out phase. You know, that stretch between when your chicks leave the brooder and when they’re either headed for the layer pen, the freezer, or the breeder coop. Now, I know it can be tempting to think,"They’re feathered out, I’ve done my job, now it’s just a waiting game." But I’m here to tell you—this is actually where some of the most important decisions get made. So pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee, and let’s talk. If you’re raising dual-purpose birds, it’s so important to pay attention to growth rates, structure, and overall development, especially if your preferred harvest window is between 14 and 16 weeks old. That means you’ve got a sweet spot—about five to twelve weeks—where the birds are out of the brooder and on pasture or in grow pens, and this is when you should be watching them like a hawk. And trust me, those cues are there if you’re paying attention. Week by week, look at who’s putting on weight, who’s holding their structure, who’s developing that nice, even fleshing that says,“This is a bird with potential.” Be feeling for bone structure and observing feather quality. Some birds grow a little fast, some a little slow, and that’s okay—but it’s all information. Because growth rate often correlates with what kind of bird they’re going to be—especially in terms of body type and ultimate productivity. And that varies by breed. It varies by bloodline. Heck, it even varies within the same hatch sometimes. I’ll let you in on a little secret: real selection can start way earlier. If you’re a data-driven breeder, most of your decision-making can happen in the first three weeks. When those chicks are still in the brooder, weigh them daily. Every day. No joke. Because early growth gives you one of the clearest pictures of future performance. It’s in those first 21 days that you can really spot the keepers. The ones that gain steadily, feather evenly, and act like they’ve got places to be. Once they hit the ground at around three weeks, the real sorting starts. By then, you can usually narrow it down to just a handful that have that“it” factor. Everyone else? Well, they’re either growing out for harvest or headed for the sales list. So, here we are weeks later, and as you go through the group deciding who stays and who goes, pick them up, one by one. Has their structure held up, has their development been concsistent, do they have the attitude you were hoping to see? Here’s the thing: the grow out phase isn’t just about putting on weight. It’s not just about survival. It’s about discovery. It’s where the real stories start to emerge—about which birds are thriving in your conditions, with your feed, under your management. It’s where you see the results of your breeding decisions. And sometimes... it's where you realize you need to make better ones next year. But if you’re not watching, and I mean really watching—you’ll miss it. And you’ll end up with a flock that doesn’t quite hit the mark. So my advice? Get out there with them. Weigh them. Handle them. Observe them. Pay attention to how they move. How they grow, how they carry themselves. You don’t need a fancy scale or complex spreadsheets to do this well—you just need a consistent routine, a notebook, and a curious mind. Because your birds are telling you something every single day. The question is—are you listening? Thanks for joining us today! If you enjoyed the show, please drop us a message on the website at w, w, w dot the poultry keepers podcast dot com. And if you found this helpful, share it with a friend who’s raising birds too. Until next time, keep listening to what your birds are telling you.