RED RANGER INQUIRY

[capebird]

Hi....
Last year I raised 25 Red Rangers and butchered them at about 14 weeks (roosters at 14 weeks, hens a couple of weeks later). The birds were all a nice size when "harvested".... I didn't weigh them but they were at least 4 pounds with nice breast meat.

This year in March I purchased 32 Red Rangers (all hens, this time). I butchered them all yesterday, so they were about 17 weeks old.... and boy was I disappointed in the size of them. I let them grow a few more weeks than last year to try and fatten them up a bit, but they all averaged 2.5 lbs a piece with small breast meat. They were fed with 23% protein feed. They also started laying eggs. I purchased them to be meat birds, not egg layers.... thus my not waiting any longer to butcher.

Any ideas on what would account for such slow growth of this year's flock? It's not like one or even a half dozen were small... they were all pretty scrawny. They all roosted at night too.... last year's flock didn't roost at all. Thanks for the help

 

[Nupe]

Sounds like you got a batch of production reds or red sex links. Where did you buy them? If you say Tractor Supply, I don't think anyone here would be surprised at the mix up. Did you happen to take a picture of them before processing?

 

[capebird]

Thanks for the reply. I bought the Red Rangers from Murray McMurray which is where I also purchased them last year. Which is why I don't understand why last year's flock was such a great size when butchered and this year's size was pretty scrawny even after I let them grow a couple of weeks longer before butchering. I'm wondering if they were some sort of cross breed, or just somehow not fully "Red Ranger".... just a different bird and they were calling them Red Ranger breed. I didn't take any photos before butchering but they looked like the Red Rangers I had from last year. The big difference I noticed is that they roosted at night and were pretty good flyers. They also started laying eggs. Last year's never roosted and were not at all good flyers and never laid eggs. Any other help would be appreciated... I'm just trying to understand what happened. All this care, time and money to raise these birds to wind up with a 2 pound + bird is hardly worth the effort. thanks.

 

[capebird]

I did take a picture after they were butchered showing them weighed on a scale (attached)

 

[Nupe]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you didn't get what you paid for. Red rangers are a hybrid with a little better sense of foraging than a CX but they're still vigorously fast growing eating machines. There's no reason to sex them and to just happen to get all pullets would be all but impossible. I'm pretty sure you ended up with some kind of production layer. 17 weeks to lay is very early otherwise.

There's not much you can do at this point other than complain to the hatchery for the chick price. If you had caught this sooner, you could have sold them as started pullets. At least you could have recovered some feed costs. I think they go for around $10-15 each.

 

[keesmom]

It does sound like you were sent the wrong birds. I can't imagine even a slow growing broiler type being able to fly.

If you don't want to take a chance on McMurray next year you could try Freedom Rangers. I've had good luck with those, and the hatchery is closer (in PA).

https://www.freedomrangerhatchery.com/

 

[UPSweeten]

My red rangers are flying a little this year.... but not many and definitely similar to my last year rangers. Live weight at 12 weeks was 5-8 lbs. Will be butchering this weekend. They were from Townline.