Freedom Rangers

[denasfarm]

Your made me giggle! LOL They range really well and the cold doesnt seem to bother them.This may be nasty but they(the pure birds) follow the cows around and clean up after them. The 2nd gens that were raised by game hens were no where near as much trouble as those first ones that I raised under a light. The first ones were so nasty and ate constantly and became extremely human bonded. The game hen raised group were barely fed and look just as good and don't annoy you when you are out working in the yard. Some people may like that...I do not.
The 2 pure gen 2 birds look so much like the gen ones I have to look really close. I do have their wing feathers cut to keep them in the fence. The two EEXFR are in a different area so they don't cross with the pure birds. I will breed the gen 2s back to their gen 1 father in the spring and see what we get.

 

[bobbi-j]

I must say, I'm enjoying this thread very much. The comparison pics of the FR vs. Polish were very informative. Not only is the size so much bigger, the overall appearance of the meat and skin looks so much nicer.

 

[WalkingWolf1]

I'm supposed to go out to the farm today to select the roosters we will be keeping for our next breeder flock of the Freedom Rangers. These birds are the third generation and they are still looking great (I will try to get some pictures of the hens and roos but am quite camera challenged at the moment). As has been mentioned earlier, we have seen a bit of drift but I'd have to say upwards of 90% of the stock has been basically the same "type" as the original birds. Hopefully will have updated pics this evening.

 

[juststruttin]

Congrats @WalkingWolf1 on your 3 generation Freedom Rangers. I am happy they stay generally true to type.

I wanted to comment on the production of the Freedom Rangers and get other peoples feed back. I currently have 3 FR pullets (10 months old) and I have been getting 2-3 eggs every day. I am happily surprised that they are such good layers.

One girl lays a jumbo double yolker. I hope she starts laying normal eggs soon so I can hatch them. As I mentioned before, my Freedom Rangers are in with Sulmtalers roosters. My plan is to grow out a Sulmtaler X FR cross rooster to breed him back to the FR hens. After reading @WalkingWolf1 's success with FR to FR I hope to one day get another Pure FR rooster as well so I can compare the two projects.

I wanted to share a photo of the the egg string from the FR Pullet that was processed. As you can see, this girl was going to be very productive. There are several developed yolks and hundreds of eggs waiting to develop.

 

[WalkingWolf1]

Just wanted to add -- these are 3rd generation birds raised here out of stock originally purchased from FR hatchery.
Here's a few pics of the next generation of FR breeders.



This is the pen of pullets. Notice the hen outside on the left. This an example of one of the "feather-duster" types that have popped up. Looks just like the other birds but has very short legs. One was dressed last week and it had nice carcass but a little smaller than average.



Another shot from the pullet pen. Nice type and frame on these pullets -- looking forward to another successful crop from these.



Some of the young roosters we will have to choose from for breeding stock.



More young cockerel stock.



This is a long-distance shot of a Rooster and Hen from last years breeders. They mature into nice looking stock.

 

[juststruttin]

Just wanted to add -- these are 3rd generation birds raised here out of stock originally purchased from FR hatchery.
Here's a few pics of the next generation of FR breeders.



This is the pen of pullets. Notice the hen outside on the left. This an example of one of the "feather-duster" types that have popped up. Looks just like the other birds but has very short legs. One was dressed last week and it had nice carcass but a little smaller than average.



Another shot from the pullet pen. Nice type and frame on these pullets -- looking forward to another successful crop from these.



Some of the young roosters we will have to choose from for breeding stock.



More young cockerel stock.



This is a long-distance shot of a Rooster and Hen from last years breeders. They mature into nice looking stock.

They look great! I am impressed by the roosters the most. They looks like they have good conformation. Better than the rooster I lost. My rooster was knock kneed from a young age and it just got worse as he aged.

 

[WalkingWolf1]

They look great! I am impressed by the roosters the most. They looks like they have good conformation. Better than the rooster I lost. My rooster was knock kneed from a young age and it just got worse as he aged.

We have had some orthopedic issues but nothing compared to what the CX have. Obviously, when selecting breeders, those with issues have long been taken care of.

I actually have a young FR capon with a "bad" hip. The leg/thigh bows out somewhat from the body. It is slowly progressing as he gets older (~ 8 weeks now). We were discussing him today and mentioned that he will not make it to 6 months. You can see the bend in the leg closest to us. The capon with him (standard flock bird) will grow out fine and we're looking forward to dressing him in the fall.

 

[call ducks]

Quote:
I have been meaning to tell you this. Those "feather-dusters" either have the creeper gene (cr) or sex-link dwarfism gene (dw). I am leaning towards the creeper gene.

 

[WalkingWolf1]

I have been meaning to tell you this. Those "feather-dusters" either have the creeper gene (cr) or sex-link dwarfism gene (dw). I am leaning towards the creeper gene.

Thank you for the feedback. I'm definitely no expert on the intricacies with which these commercial meat birds have been developed -- either FR or CX.

My original intent for this thread was to document folk's experiences in raising the Freedom Rangers to POL and hatching out successive generations. The aim was to see if the FR would suffice as a source of meat bird the farmer could raise themselves. I think at this point it can be said that it can be done and with a high degree of dependability. There will be some variability but still a viable option.

Thanks to all that have contributed their experiences and best of luck moving forward.

 

[juststruttin]

I have been meaning to tell you this. Those "feather-dusters" either have the creeper gene (cr) or sex-link dwarfism gene (dw). I am leaning towards the creeper gene.

Wow, this is very interesting. I had never heard of Dwarfism in chickens before but according to Wikipedia dwarfs broiler hens are often used as breeding stock since they cost less to feed, require less space and yet they still produce full sized offspring. Here is the wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarfism_in_chickens