freedom ranger cross

[chocolate m'scovy]

So, I want a fast-growing, non-"Frankenstein" bird: is there a good chicken I can cross with Freedom Rangers to breed close to Rangers' growth rate?

If anyone has personal experience with such crosses, or even Ranger/Ranger crosses, I'd like to know, as I've heard that Freedom Rangers don't breed true.

 

[TimG]

You should read through the meat bird forum. I think the short answer is that there isn't much experience with this, yet, but that lots of people are starting to experiment.

I would suggest you find a good sized line of Buckeyes. I'd like to try New Hampshires, but finding the "good sized line" is proving rather difficult.

 

[chocolate m'scovy]

Thanks anyway, TimG! Do you have Buckeyes? (I am considering them too after all.

)

 

[TimG]

I meant try crossing the Buckeyes with the Freedom Rangers. But, straight Buckeyes would also be a good idea.

No, I don't have Buckeyes. Check with Brunty_Farms who does a lot of posting in the meat bird section. I know he has some Buckeyes and says that his source has Buckeyes that are especially large.

ETA: My Freedom Ranger chicks are due to be shipped tomorrow. Check back in six months or so to see how their offspring turned out.

 

[Chickanmanfromarkansas]

I think the Delaware or Rhode Island Reds would be a good choice to cross with the freedom rangers for a meat bird.

I'm thinking about trying some Freedom Rangers a little later a see if they will breed true.

 

[chicken master]

Try crossing them with the purebred cornish.
Hunter S.

 

[slc]

Turkens (naked neck) would give you something like French poulet rouge cou nu. Or colored broiler from one of the other hatcheries? Of course you could go ranger x ranger and de-hybridize through selection.

 

[Chickanmanfromarkansas]

Have you figured out yet what you're gonna do? I'd like to know if you have tried anything yet and the outcome if you do try this.
Keep us posted on this project.

 

[Fenn]

Someone posted a conversation they had with JM Hatchery regarding Freedom Rangers. Basically, JM said that there are four different lines that make up the Freedom Ranger and that as you breed them they will most likely lose their Freedom Rangerness. They will revert back to their parents and grandparents line. Well, maybe with multiple people posting pics and willing to experiment we could reverse engineer the Freedom Ranger. If you know the parents and grandparents would you be able to just cross with the Freedom Ranger second and third generations adding the breed that seems to be cut out of the offspring?
There seem to be a lot of breeds that look like they could have been part of the process. Buckeye, New Hampshire, Production, Star, Catalana. Just to name a few I see right off.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
Likely the breeder lines don't resemble standard breeds, they also will have been developed for generations with the specific purpose of creating the Rangers.