The growth rate of a chicken describes how long it takes the chicken to reach a certain weight. Most chicken meat available today comes from selected animals that grow faster than others. These reach the weight defined as suitable for entering the human food chain in about 40 to 50 days. The ‘slower growing’ chickens, on the other hand, belong to a selection that by its very nature converts feed into ‘muscle’ (meat) more slowly, taking almost twice as long (about 60/80 days) to reach the weight of their faster growing cousins.
