I just finished raising a batch of freedom ranger broilers in my backyard and wanted to post my final numbers, because info like this really helped me when I was raising them (this was my first batch of chickens).
We received 26 two day old freedom ranger chicks from Freedom Ranger Hatchery in early September. They were all healthy and stayed in a brooder in our garage for the first 2.5 weeks, then we moved them to a portable pen in the backyard. We had 15 males and 11 females. We did not give them food free choice because I was worried they would gain too much weight and have leg problems. I weighed out their feed every day and kept track of what they were given (I'm a scientist, my husband laughs at me, but I can't help it!) I projected what I thought they should eat based on some reading I had done, but they were putting on weight slower than some others that we'd seen on a BYC forum so I increased their feed consumption around day 50 and they started gaining weight a lot faster.
We harvested all 15 males on day 73 (10.5 weeks) and then harvested the 6 of the females the next weekend (80 days). (We kept the 5 largest females for laying hens.) The males were definitely larger than the females, averaging 6 lbs each (ranged from 4.75-6.75 lbs) - note that these weights were taken AFTER the chickens bled out, it was just easier that way. Post-processing average weight was 4 lbs with a range of 3.1-4.5 lbs (not including neck and giblets, though I did keep and use those for stock). That gives a 66.2% yield. The females averaged 5.5 lb whole (4.75-6 lbs), and 3.6 lbs processed (3.3-4.3 lbs), again a 66.2% yield.
To raise all 26 birds to the final harvest, we used 350 lbs of feed. That comes out to 13.5 lbs of feed per bird, with an average of 11 weeks to harvest. Based on what I ended up feeding them during the final 4-5 weeks I back calculated what I should've been feeding them earlier (interestingly, it matched up with how much they were eating free choice in the brooder...) Here is what I plan to do next time, for another batch of 25-26 chickens:
Week Pounds/day
We received 26 two day old freedom ranger chicks from Freedom Ranger Hatchery in early September. They were all healthy and stayed in a brooder in our garage for the first 2.5 weeks, then we moved them to a portable pen in the backyard. We had 15 males and 11 females. We did not give them food free choice because I was worried they would gain too much weight and have leg problems. I weighed out their feed every day and kept track of what they were given (I'm a scientist, my husband laughs at me, but I can't help it!) I projected what I thought they should eat based on some reading I had done, but they were putting on weight slower than some others that we'd seen on a BYC forum so I increased their feed consumption around day 50 and they started gaining weight a lot faster.
We harvested all 15 males on day 73 (10.5 weeks) and then harvested the 6 of the females the next weekend (80 days). (We kept the 5 largest females for laying hens.) The males were definitely larger than the females, averaging 6 lbs each (ranged from 4.75-6.75 lbs) - note that these weights were taken AFTER the chickens bled out, it was just easier that way. Post-processing average weight was 4 lbs with a range of 3.1-4.5 lbs (not including neck and giblets, though I did keep and use those for stock). That gives a 66.2% yield. The females averaged 5.5 lb whole (4.75-6 lbs), and 3.6 lbs processed (3.3-4.3 lbs), again a 66.2% yield.
To raise all 26 birds to the final harvest, we used 350 lbs of feed. That comes out to 13.5 lbs of feed per bird, with an average of 11 weeks to harvest. Based on what I ended up feeding them during the final 4-5 weeks I back calculated what I should've been feeding them earlier (interestingly, it matched up with how much they were eating free choice in the brooder...) Here is what I plan to do next time, for another batch of 25-26 chickens:
Week Pounds/day
1
free choice
2
2
free choice
3
3
free choice
4
4
3.5
5
5
4
6
6
5
7
7
5.5
8
8
6.5
9
9
7
10
10
8
11
11
8.5
12
12
9
