Ranger issues?

[LaurenRitz]

I got 5 straight run Rudd Rangers this spring in the hope that one or two would be female to add to my landrace.

One refused to roost in the coop at night (usually disappeared a couple hours before sundown) and didn't come back one morning.

Of the remaining four, one is a cockerel.

They are currently 8 weeks. I was going to keep them until 12 weeks before making decisions. Of the four, the three largest are already showing signs of having difficulty wallking. They prefer to sit down to eat even when free ranging, flopping down to nibble and then getting up to walk a few steps and flop again. They don't settle, they flop, like their legs gave out.

They are otherwise relatively mobile. 3 of the four appear to be having some difficulty moving, but it doesn't look painful. Just awkward and tired.

They are on a 24% meat bird feed.

My question would be, leaving breed standards aside, what criteria should I use to determine which, if any, to keep? Is it even worth trying to get them to adult breeding age?

 

[Ridgerunner]

They are on a 24% meat bird feed.

You are feeding them as if you are in a race to get them to butcher size as soon as possible. You are feeding them to grow as big as they possibly can.

If you want to breed them then feed them a much lower protein feed early on, maybe even restricting feed like you do to Cornish X. Encourage them to forage for a portion of their food. They will not grow as large but they will still have the same genetics to pass on to their offspring. I don't know if it is too late to be successful with those if you cut back on their feed now but that is what I'd try.

It sounds like you want to breed them to your landrace rooster. That has been a fairly successful strategy for people that want to incorporate those fast and large growth genetics into their flock. Since they are crosses they will not reproduce consistently but even the poorer ones should produce a lot more meat than your current flock.

 

[Molpet]

I got 5 straight run Rudd Rangers this spring in the hope that one or two would be female to add to my landrace.

One refused to roost in the coop at night (usually disappeared a couple hours before sundown) and didn't come back one morning.

Of the remaining four, one is a cockerel.

They are currently 8 weeks. I was going to keep them until 12 weeks before making decisions. Of the four, the three largest are already showing signs of having difficulty wallking. They prefer to sit down to eat even when free ranging, flopping down to nibble and then getting up to walk a few steps and flop again. They don't settle, they flop, like their legs gave out.

They are otherwise relatively mobile. 3 of the four appear to be having some difficulty moving, but it doesn't look painful. Just awkward and tired.

They are on a 24% meat bird feed.

My question would be, leaving breed standards aside, what criteria should I use to determine which, if any, to keep? Is it even worth trying to get them to adult breeding age?

Keeping hybrid broilers for breeding, the feeding is very different than for meat.
Regular chick starter for 20 minutes 2x a day starting around a week old. Then pick the ones that roam the farthest and the healthiest.

 

[LaurenRitz]

They are all free ranging. Between the 9 chicks (4 Rangers, 5 Buckeyes) they are eating less than a quart of the commercial food per day.

At the co-op I had a choice between layer with calcium and meat bird.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

They are all free ranging. Between the 9 chicks (4 Rangers, 5 Buckeyes) they are eating less than a quart of the commercial food per day.

At the co-op I had a choice between layer with calcium and meat bird.

Yeah I definitely agree with others that you should do lower protein for your purposes, but I see your predicament. You had no choice. You can do some things to help the problem though. Supplementing with corn or another low-protein grain will reduce the protein intake. Just don't overdo it or they will get fatty. Just sub out some of the high protein feed for grain/corn, or mix it in. You can also do the 12 hour feeding schedule. I've also heard of some people doing feedings where they let the chickens eat as much as they can in 15 minutes, 2-3 times per day. That way it forces them to forage instead of sitting around the feeder all day.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I've added in fermented grains, so I hope that will moderate it.

I already do the 12 hours, primarilly because I remove the food at night so I'm not feeding the mice as much.

They are integrated into the adult flock already. Removing the food wouldn't be an issue except that I have a sitting broody...

 

[Morrigan]

I found that there are a fair number of inconsistencies between ranger type broilers -- both between batches from the same hatcheries and, even moreso, from hatchery to hatchery. I've had some held-over ranger hens live for 2 to 4 years without any special treatment and feeding, but I've had others become so big and heavy by 6 months, that I culled them.

My general experience over the last 10 years has been that, in general, rangers are getting bred to grow faster and faster -- more like a CX lite -- and it is getting increasingly difficult to find chickens that you can keep and raise more normally.

 

[LaurenRitz]

That is the conclusion I am reaching. They are being bred for the chicken equivalent of gigantism, or acromegaly. These chickens are gaining size and weight in spite of free ranging and (in the boy's case) running from the mature cockerel.

One of the girls is smaller, although still much larger than the other chicks her age, and I'm thinking I'll keep her.

 

[LaurenRitz]

9 weeks old.

 

[LaurenRitz]

That is the smallest. At 10 weeks the cockerel is twice her size.