How to breed meat birds from Freedom Rangers

[goats-n-oats]

Hi all, my neighbor was talking about breeding his own Freedom Rangers from stock that he purchased. I tried explaining the concept of terminal hybrids, and tried to explain some of the comments read here on BYC about how to breed them. I told him he should hatch out 20-40 chicks from this stock, weigh them at 8 weeks, then cull the smallest 50%, and repeat this 4 times over two years, to get a repeatable meat bird with growth rate similar to the original. He wanted to know if he should keep the parents for the next generation, or just breed the siblings? I would like to know, should he cull both males and females irregardless of gender, just by weight? This might mean that fewer female are left for breeding. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[NatJ]

I tried explaining the concept of terminal hybrids, and tried to explain some of the comments read here on BYC about how to breed them. I told him he should hatch out 20-40 chicks from this stock, weigh them at 8 weeks, then cull the smallest 50%, and repeat this 4 times over two years, to get a repeatable meat bird with growth rate similar to the original.

Yes, that will probably work fairly well.

He wanted to know if he should keep the parents for the next generation, or just breed the siblings?

Either way would probably work fine.

I would like to know, should he cull both males and females irregardless of gender, just by weight? This might mean that fewer female are left for breeding.

When weighing, consider the males and females separately.

It might be best to keep 50% of the females, but only the best 2 or 3 males (or for a large flock, keep one male for every 5-10 hens.) The very minimum would be 1 male, but then there are problems if anything happens to him.

 

[Morrigan]

The ability to re-breed slow broiler types may also depend on the particular stock and how they were kept.

I've had mixed results. Some of my held-over slow broiler hes have been very healthy, long-lived and good layers. It may be purely coincidence but my two best held over broiler hens were raised by broody hens. Their offspring were nice sized, but smaller than the parent generation. Other held-over hens, have gotten quite big, quite fast and did not lay well at all. I should note I raise my rangers in a mixed flock setting and thus made no attempt to limit their food. That might make a difference.

I've never held over a ranger rooster, mainly because they get so big, and as they are kept in a mixed flock, I feared for how the matings might go with the smaller heritage hens. I did have a half slow broiler, half naked neck for a while. His first year he was great, but by year two "Big Boy" got so big and top heavy he was having trouble mating.

My other general observation is that the slow broilers growth rates can vary by hatchery and exact strain. My last batch of freedom rangers was from Freedom Hatchery. They were nice healthy birds, but very quick growing, and by 8 months the two held over hens were enormous and had only laid a handful of eggs. If I had wanted to create a breeding program with these chickens, I would have had to separate them and limit food.

 

[Lizvida7]

I've got Freedom Rangers I raised for meat last year, but kept 6 hens and a rooster for eggs and because I was thinking I would incubate some so I have a meat flock this year. Is this a good idea? It was suggested that they may not size up well as a 2nd generation.

 

[NatJ]

I've got Freedom Rangers I raised for meat last year, but kept 6 hens and a rooster for eggs and because I was thinking I would incubate some so I have a meat flock this year. Is this a good idea? It was suggested that they may not size up well as a 2nd generation.

You will not know for sure until you try it.

But you will probably get some chicks that grow well, and some that do not grow as fast or as big. I can't say how many of each type you will get.

 

[McChooky]

After doing a search on 2nd generation freedom rangers and reading old posts from other members (here)I don't believe its a good idea.Not only will they not breed true , don't lay a lot of eggs and most of them don't live long

 

[McChooky]

You will not know for sure until you try it.

But you will probably get some chicks that grow well, and some that do not grow as fast or as big. I can't say how many of each type you will get.

Being able to control how much weight they gain would help the layers live longer. You're right,you don't know until you try it!

 

[McChooky]

This members has freedom ranger eggs due to hatch now! It would be interesting to see how their chicks do! https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-own-variety-of-meat-birds.1614753/