Anyone get Rainbows from S&G Poultry

[anthonyjames]

I am looking around for some slower growing birds. I tried Naked Necks this year and biggest bird at 14 weeks was 4.12 lbs and smallest was 2.7. For the length of time to grow out I was hoping to have a lot more birds closer to the 4lb mark and my avg was 3.22 lbs. 100 birds free ranged and at 1 ton of feed in 14 weeks.

I also am finishing out some Freedom Rangers which I have had some bad luck with. Lot's of losses but what I have currently looks like my avg weights should easily be in the 4+lb range with some in the high 5's. I like them a lot but again the amount of feed they eat even though they free ranged the inside of the tractors daily looked like I was keeping CX in there all day.

I am looking at the Rainbow from S&G as I can keep the hens for layers and can breed out and process the roos. They are saying the roos will reach market weight at 12 weeks. Anybody out there raise them and have any input?

They also have their own breed of Rangers which look nothing like JM Hatchery FR. They say these are 12 - 14 week to reach market weight but don't breed true. They say you can keep a roo to breed with other birds but not a hen and roo of the Ranger.

Thoughts???

 

[tnchicken]

I raised a mixed batch of their Grays, Rainbows and Reds this time last year (around 130 total). The Grays performed the best. They ate lots like your reference to the Freedom Ranger. I think they would have performed better in warmer weather. I processed in batches with the first ones averaging 3.9 lb finished at 10 weeks. The slower ones took up to 15 to 16 weeks. If I would have let all go to 14 weeks, I would have had some monsters and some small ones for a big spread of weights. I did keep some for layers with the intent of letting them reproduce but lost them to a predator. If you want more detail, let me know as I kept decent records (I think I posted somewhere if you want to search).

 

[anthonyjames]

tnchicken,

What are there Grays? I don't seem them in their list of birds.

I would be interested in grow out journal. I was thinking of getting 25 of each Rangers, Rainbows & Naked Necks and then keeping some hens from each batch and a Ranger & Rainbow roo to try and hatch my own eggs in the future.


Thanks