Are these Red Rangers?

Can someone tell me what breeds these 2 "red" chickens are??

We got them last spring as Red Rangers, but I am starting to wonder.

They both lay eggs, the smaller one with the black in her tail lays a large to an extra large egg, the BIG one, lays about a medium sized egg.

The BIG one also has larger legs than the smaller one. If we processed the big one, she would maybe dress out about 10 lbs or more, she has lost some weight since last summer and can now actually jump up on things.

I have asked on one of the Facebook pages, but no one has answered. :/

The Small one


The LARGE one



Large one



Small one from behind, she moved before I could get the sides of her neck



The big one again.



And a better pic of the big one.

They look like sex-links to me. "Red Rangers" might be a name for a sex-link from a particular hatchery. They all seem to have their own names - Cinnamon Queens, Bovine Browns, Production Reds, etc.

Puddin Fluff said:

They look like sex-links to me. "Red Rangers" might be a name for a sex-link from a particular hatchery. They all seem to have their own names - Cinnamon Queens, Bovine Browns, Production Reds, etc.

Click to expand...

Suppose to be these from Murray McMurray

https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/red_ranger_broiler.html

Murry is the only hatchery that has them I believe, I have not found them on another hatchery site but these came from Tractor Supply last spring and they were NOT allowed to tell folks which hatcheries they purchased from. :/

They certainly could be the Red Rangers. There is a huge variation on feather color on the sex links. Those appear to be a version of a sex-link that is raised for meat more than eggs. If they are running 10 pounds, certainly sounds like a meat bird.

Puddin Fluff said:

They certainly could be the Red Rangers. There is a huge variation on feather color on the sex links. Those appear to be a version of a sex-link that is raised for meat more than eggs. If they are running 10 pounds, certainly sounds like a meat bird.

Click to expand...

Yes, they are suppose to be JUST meat birds. But then as I read more about Red Rangers, I found that they are also layers.

I was hoping that one of these would be a rooster, but they are both girls.

I got 6 Red Rangers yesterday at Tractor Supply, wanted more and thought I would go back today and get more, NOPE ALL GONE. They don't keep them in very long and they don't usually get them again for about 2 weeks or so. :/ Of course today one of them is already dead. :/

Mommysongbird said:

Yes, they are suppose to be JUST meat birds. But then as I read more about Red Rangers, I found that they are also layers.

I was hoping that one of these would be a rooster, but they are both girls.

I got 6 Red Rangers yesterday at Tractor Supply, wanted more and thought I would go back today and get more, NOPE ALL GONE. They don't keep them in very long and they don't usually get them again for about 2 weeks or so. :/ Of course today one of them is already dead. :/

Click to expand...

I wish if the TSC and other stores like that were going to carry chicks, they would hire someone who knows what they are doing to take care of them. I hate going in there and seeing the conditions some of those chicks are in. It's no wonder so many don't make it.

Puddin Fluff said:

I wish if the TSC and other stores like that were going to carry chicks, they would hire someone who knows what they are doing to take care of them. I hate going in there and seeing the conditions some of those chicks are in. It's no wonder so many don't make it.

Click to expand...

I have to say, our TSC and Southern States and True Value do a great job, I have read some of the horror stories from others.

Our TSC, SS and TV all post what kind of chicks they get from the hatcheries, and they all seem to be very informative except for one at TSC, I hate here and all the other employees aren't thrilled with her, she hates birds. And she doesn't care how she treats them. She has said one time that she didn't care if they all died in shipping so she wouldn't have to deal with them, like she is the ONLY ONE there that has to do anything. I hate it when she is there.

Anyway, you were saying they look like sex links and you are right, I have some of those too, darker color than Big Mama though, but they have more white on them, especially their tails. :/ But Big Mama has HUGE legs. Her legs are as big around as a human finger, on a man's hand. LOL I processed one like her last spring (that is what we bought them for) and it weighed in about 10.5 to 11 pounds. I spared her and the smaller one because it was getting late in the year and we just didn't process anymore. Don't really have the right set up, but hoping things will be different this year. We have rabbits too.

Yes, those ARE Red Rangers! We raised 50 Red Rangers last year and free ranged them. We slaughtered the roosters at 15 weeks (later than we wanted but we were waiting for delivery of a feather plucker). They dressed out between 6 and 8 lbs and the meat was superb! We kept the girls on as a couple had started to lay at just 14 weeks and we only had a handful of layers at that time. They are a pretty good layer. Nice large brown eggs. Because red rangers are a hybrid breed, there are considerable variations in size and shape. Some are very broad-breasted and others are slimmer bodied. Of course you cannot breed true from them, but we just hatched out a bunch of eggs and they are VERY healthy chickens. Some will be suitable as meat birds and others will be kept on as layers. I rate them 10/10 as foragers, but if you don't let them forage, your feed bill will be pretty high, as they are principally a meat, and not an egg chicken!

When our next batch of layers are ready to lay, the Rangers will end up in the freezer as "Li'l Ol' Biddy Crockpot Chickens"