- Mar 16, 2008
- 131
- 1
- 131
My husband and I butchered 8 of our 43 Freedom Rangers today at 10.5 weeks old. I noticed that the biggest birds really hadn't gained much if any size in the last week so I figured it was time. I'm going to give the remaining birds another week to see if they'll fill out a little more.
I has wanted just the biggest roos... ended up with a couple of the bigger ones and a few of the more average sized. The biggest roos ran to the back of the tractor and I didn't want to duck waddle in after them (it's low). I also grabbed a pullet just to see how she'd dress out. I have a lot of pullets (50%+) and they are all much smaller looking than the roos
Anyway, we got all 8 done and brought them in to weigh.I had two that weighed in spot on at 5 lbs. Two that were 4 lbs 4 oz and the remaining 4 were all right about 4.5 lbs. The thing that shocked me is that the little bitty pullet ended up with a dressed weight right up there with the roos! Looking at her alive I thought for sure she'd only be about 3 lbs dressed. Nope! Over 4! She has a prettier, rounder conformation as well. Unfortunately, she had tons of immature feathers and it was miserable trying to pluck her so I ended up just skinning her and cutting her into pieces. If all the pullets dress like her then I have a whole bunch of 4+lb birds out there. Yea!
All the birds are 'resting' in the fridge now awaiting being vacuum sealed and sent to the deep freezer.
Here is a picture of a 5lb roo on the scales (notice the big thighs/legs but not much breast. All of them dressed like that. The pullet was more proportionate but still didn't have a huge breast):
Here are 4 of the other roos, the ones on the ends were bigger. The one in the way back was 5 lbs, the one in the front was just under.
I'm very pleased with the birds we butchered today. Of course, the final test is when we eat them! My opinion of the Rangers would be overall better if all the birds were uniformly this size right now (or better yet a week ago). Sadly, some are quite a bit smaller. I would guess truly in the 3 lb range. Just not big enough to make it worth the effort for me, hence waiting another week on them. Their growth has not been very uniform.
It seems as if the birds hit a growth spurt at the end (7/8 weeks) with some getting huge and other not. Then the biggest just kinda bottomed out and stopped any real noticable growth (I wasn't weighing, so they very well may have put on weight that I just don't see). I don't know if I'll get much growth out of the remaining Rangers, but here's hoping!
Liz
I has wanted just the biggest roos... ended up with a couple of the bigger ones and a few of the more average sized. The biggest roos ran to the back of the tractor and I didn't want to duck waddle in after them (it's low). I also grabbed a pullet just to see how she'd dress out. I have a lot of pullets (50%+) and they are all much smaller looking than the roos
Anyway, we got all 8 done and brought them in to weigh.I had two that weighed in spot on at 5 lbs. Two that were 4 lbs 4 oz and the remaining 4 were all right about 4.5 lbs. The thing that shocked me is that the little bitty pullet ended up with a dressed weight right up there with the roos! Looking at her alive I thought for sure she'd only be about 3 lbs dressed. Nope! Over 4! She has a prettier, rounder conformation as well. Unfortunately, she had tons of immature feathers and it was miserable trying to pluck her so I ended up just skinning her and cutting her into pieces. If all the pullets dress like her then I have a whole bunch of 4+lb birds out there. Yea!
All the birds are 'resting' in the fridge now awaiting being vacuum sealed and sent to the deep freezer.
Here is a picture of a 5lb roo on the scales (notice the big thighs/legs but not much breast. All of them dressed like that. The pullet was more proportionate but still didn't have a huge breast):
Here are 4 of the other roos, the ones on the ends were bigger. The one in the way back was 5 lbs, the one in the front was just under.
I'm very pleased with the birds we butchered today. Of course, the final test is when we eat them! My opinion of the Rangers would be overall better if all the birds were uniformly this size right now (or better yet a week ago). Sadly, some are quite a bit smaller. I would guess truly in the 3 lb range. Just not big enough to make it worth the effort for me, hence waiting another week on them. Their growth has not been very uniform.
It seems as if the birds hit a growth spurt at the end (7/8 weeks) with some getting huge and other not. Then the biggest just kinda bottomed out and stopped any real noticable growth (I wasn't weighing, so they very well may have put on weight that I just don't see). I don't know if I'll get much growth out of the remaining Rangers, but here's hoping!
Liz
