How to weigh a chicken

[SarahFair]

I dont think my bathroom scale would work..

 

[Casey3043]

I have a small pet scale (with a tray) that I bought from Drs. Foster and Smith. It goes up to 40 lbs I think. Here's how I do it.

Put scale inside quiet, closed area. Mine is in my workshop.
Place a large folded towel on the scale tray.
Zero scale with towel on it.
Get chicken, wrap it in towel to confine and quiet it.
Place on scale. Usually it will hold still for the few seconds it takes to get a weight.

And there you have it!

 

[patandchickens]

Two other possible methods:

-- using a scale that covers an appropriate range, e.g. a largeish-capacity kitchen scale, build a platform to sit securely onto it that has a little perch built on it. Perch the chicken on the perch (helps keep it still), read weight.

-- get reasonable-quality bathroom scale from garage sale, one that always reads pretty close to the same weight when you repeatedly get on and off and on and off and on and off. Take out to the coop. Get on. Read weight, assuring yourself those are VERY heavy clothes and shoes you're wearing. Get off, grab chicken, get back on holding chicken, read weight. Subtract. That's the chicken's weight.

The first method is usually going to be more accurate but may not be worth the trouble. I myself have had exceedingly poor luck in getting chickens to stay put, and stay *still*, on scales. Probably the whole rest of the world is better at it than me, but even so. There is a lot to be said for a bathroom scale if you do not demand high accuracy

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Use a hanging scale. Put bird in bag, weigh both.

.....Alan.

 

[Uzuri]

The easy way is Pat's second method. If you have a good scale, this should be good and accurate.

You can also do a similar thing with a hanging scale and a cage with a hook/handle on it. Remove the scale's basket and hang the cage. Zero the scale. Now you have a permanent chicken-scale. Just chuck the chicken in the cage and wait for it to stop swinging. Works best with a cage that's close to the chicken's size so that she can't waltz around in it.

 

[canada-goose]

Sometimes they back off of my kitchen scale! Weighing chickens is hard! You're not the only confused one!

 

[HEChicken]

I use my kitchen scale but you'd think we were killing them, the fuss they make. It takes me and DD - one to catch the birds, one to record weights, and we both keep them on the scale. By making a "fence" with our hands, we can usually get them to stay put long enough to get a reading but its a challenge.

 

[BarkerChickens]

I use Pat's 2nd method (weight yourself and yourself plus chicken, then calculate difference). I picked up a Weight Watchers scale form Target for $29.99 that measures in 0.1 lbs. Great scale and useful for chickens!

 

[mulia24]

honestly, sounds that weigh a chicken is too much problem in US

in here, we just tie both of their legs with small plastic rope, and put them on the kitchen scale, finish.

 

[SarahFair]

armed with only a bathroom scale I tried my weight vs my weight + chicken.

I guess it worked.
Said they were about 3-4 lbs for a black jersey giant cross with barred rock @ 22 weeks..
isnt that light?