When you own an animal, you always want to make sure that it’s as happy and healthy as possible. While there are many different factors that determine whether or not a chicken is healthy and growing to its fullest potential is the chicken’s weight.
Being aware of the average weight of a chicken will allow you to better gauge the health of your chickens. Additionally, this knowledge will help you choose the right chickens to meet your needs.
Heavier chickens have advantages over lighter chickens and vise versa.
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How Much Do Chickens Weigh?
Speaking in more broad terms, chickens usually weigh between 4 and 10 pounds (1.8 kg to 4.5 kg) with roosters weighing a pound or two more than hens.
Taking into account all of the weights of the different breeds of chickens in existence, the average weight of a chicken tends to be around 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg) for hens and 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg) for roosters. However, there is a lot of variability in this number, with some chickens weighing under 4 pounds and others weighing well over 10 pounds.
17 Examples Of Adult Chicken Weights
|
Chicken Breed |
Avg. Weight of Hens |
Avg. Weight of Roosters |
|---|---|---|
|
Cubalaya |
3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) |
5.3 pounds (2.4 kg) |
| Ancona | 4.2 pounds (1.9 kg) | 6 pounds (2.7kg) |
| California Gray | 4.4 pounds (2 kg) | 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg) |
| Leghorn | 4.9 pounds (2.2 kg) | 5.7 pounds (2.6 kg) |
| Bresse | 5.1 pounds (2.3 kg) | 6.2 pounds (2.8 kg) |
| Welsummer | 5.1 pounds (2.3 kg) | 6.6 pounds (3 kg) |
| Catalana | 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg) | 7.7 pounds (3.5 kg) |
| Cornish | 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg) | 8.6 pounds (3.9 kg) |
| Barnevelder | 5.7 pounds (2.6 kg) | 7.3 pounds (3.3 kg) |
| Iowa Blue | 6 pounds (2.7 kg) | 7.1 pounds (3.2 kg) |
| Australorp | 6 pounds (2.7 kg) | 8.2 pounds (3.7 kg) |
| Marans | 6.2 pounds (2.8 kg) | 8.4 pounds (3.8 kg) |
| Orloff | 6.6 pounds (3 kg) | 7.9 pounds (3.6 kg) |
| Winnebago | 6.6 pounds (3 kg) | 8.4 pounds (3.8 kg) |
| Ixworth | 6.6 pounds (3 kg) | 8.6 pounds (3.9 kg) |
| Orpington | 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg) | 9 pounds (4.1 kg) |
| Jersey Giant | 9.9 pounds (4.5 kg) | 13 pounds (5.9 kg) |
What Are The Heaviest Chicken Breeds?
Generally speaking, the heavier chicken breeds tend to be those that are raised specifically for their meat. This makes sense, as the intention is to get as much meat from the chicken as possible in a very short amount of time. However, premature slaughtering of chickens results in them weighing much less than their maximum potential weight.
Among the heaviest chicken breeds are Brahma, Cochin, Orpington, and Jersey Giant chickens. All of these breeds are quite sizable, averaging between 8 and 10 pounds at their fully-grown size.
Brahma and Jersey Giant chickens are primarily bred for their meat, Orpingtons are bred for both their meat and their eggs, and Cochin are actually bred as exhibition chickens. In all of these instances, a heavier chicken is beneficial.
Although chickens that are raised for their meat (fryer chickens) are typically larger, they are slaughtered at about half of their fully-grown size. This is because their meat is generally more tender with a more mild flavor. However, they tend to grow faster than other breeds of chickens, so this early slaughter still yields more meat.
What Are The Lightest Chicken Breeds?
On the other end of the spectrum are chickens that weigh very little. Chicken breeds such as the Cubalaya, Ancona, California Gray, and Leghorn have hens below 5 pounds and roosters below 6 pounds. These smaller breeds tend to be used as egg producers, but are sometimes also used for their meat depending on growth rate and quality of the meat.
Bantam Chickens: Lightest Chickens Possible
A bantam chicken is simply a smaller variation of a chicken, and many breeds can come as either a “standard” or bantam variation. Bantam chickens experience a type of dwarfism that helps to keep them extremely small. Due to the fact that this trait is sex-linked, it can actually be controlled for.
Some farmers will breed a bantam hen to a normal rooster to yield normal offspring. This helps to keep costs of feeding and housing down for the small hen while producing healthy chicks that can be used for meat production. This can have some risks, though, as bantam chicken eggs are smaller than normal and can cause problems for the chicks.
Regardless, this mutation yields some very small and light chickens. While a standard Cubalaya female weighs 3.5 pounds, the bantam variation weighs only 1.6 pounds. Some breeds of chicken are only bantam and have no large counterparts.
Of these true bantams, the smallest breed is the Serama chicken that weighs just 1.1 pounds. Other exclusive bantam breeds include Rosecomb, Pekin, and Seabright chickens.