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How quickly can a modern broiler chicken reach market weight?
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Poultry farming
Young chickens in an organic poultry farm.
A modern broiler chicken can reach a market weight of 2.3 kg (5 pounds) in just five weeks.1
This represents a significant advancement in poultry farming efficiency, as the same weight required approximately four months to achieve during the mid-20th century. These rapid growth rates are the result of intensive animal breeding programs, which utilize genetic principles like heterosis (hybrid vigour), alongside highly specialized nutritional research and scientific disease control.12