- Mar 16, 2008
- 131
- 1
- 131
Well Crud,
I'm looking at my just recieved order of Rangers in a whole new way now. I received 50 this past Fri the 25th via a prepaid order. I guess I should feel lucky I got them! I lost 4 due to shipping stress in the first 24 hours, but the rest seem to be doing fine. I noticed a couple with pasted bottoms, but cleaned them off and hopefully now that the stress of moving is over they'll be ok.
One thing I'm noticing though is that the birds are a variety of colors. Is this normal? I had ordered Red Rangers, the packing sticker says I received Goldens. Some of the chicks are black (wing tips feathering out almost barred like my barred rock hens, but too soon to really tell) others are brown with wing tips a mottle brown color.
Did I end up getting a mixed batch and noone is fessing up to it? I emailed Barabara, got an 'Oh, sorry for the mix up' email with no further offer of compensation. Called the hatchery about the fact that I didn't get any overs (Barabara says they have a standing 2-4% over policy) and they said they couldn't send extra because of low hatch rates.
I wonder now if the low hatch was due to going out of business, not viability of the eggs that were hatched!
So... do I just butcher all these birds and call it an end to an era? Or is it worth trying to breed a few and see what happens? I've hatched a couple rounds of chicks from my layers, but I've never done broilers.
Greyfields... why the dislike of regular chick starter for broilers? Most of what I'm reading says to start them on a 16-20% protein starter ration, so that's what I did (20% protein). The only non-medicated feed I was able to find was at Tractor Supply (DuMor brand). No broiler feed there that I noticed. My local feed store doesn't carry a specific broiler ration either. Please let me know what I could be doing better, and why. I noticed you said to start the pullets (I guess I have to wait until it becomes obvious, I can't tell them apart yet!) on 1/2 chick starter and 1/2 cracked corn. Is this to slow their growth??
Thanks!!
Liz
I'm looking at my just recieved order of Rangers in a whole new way now. I received 50 this past Fri the 25th via a prepaid order. I guess I should feel lucky I got them! I lost 4 due to shipping stress in the first 24 hours, but the rest seem to be doing fine. I noticed a couple with pasted bottoms, but cleaned them off and hopefully now that the stress of moving is over they'll be ok.
One thing I'm noticing though is that the birds are a variety of colors. Is this normal? I had ordered Red Rangers, the packing sticker says I received Goldens. Some of the chicks are black (wing tips feathering out almost barred like my barred rock hens, but too soon to really tell) others are brown with wing tips a mottle brown color.
Did I end up getting a mixed batch and noone is fessing up to it? I emailed Barabara, got an 'Oh, sorry for the mix up' email with no further offer of compensation. Called the hatchery about the fact that I didn't get any overs (Barabara says they have a standing 2-4% over policy) and they said they couldn't send extra because of low hatch rates.
I wonder now if the low hatch was due to going out of business, not viability of the eggs that were hatched!
So... do I just butcher all these birds and call it an end to an era? Or is it worth trying to breed a few and see what happens? I've hatched a couple rounds of chicks from my layers, but I've never done broilers.
Greyfields... why the dislike of regular chick starter for broilers? Most of what I'm reading says to start them on a 16-20% protein starter ration, so that's what I did (20% protein). The only non-medicated feed I was able to find was at Tractor Supply (DuMor brand). No broiler feed there that I noticed. My local feed store doesn't carry a specific broiler ration either. Please let me know what I could be doing better, and why. I noticed you said to start the pullets (I guess I have to wait until it becomes obvious, I can't tell them apart yet!) on 1/2 chick starter and 1/2 cracked corn. Is this to slow their growth??
Thanks!!
Liz