For the past several years I have raised only Cornish Crosses (about 1800 of them) for meat purposes. I had my fair share of issues in the beginning, but felt I had a good handle on raising them. So this year I decided to try a batch of Freedom Rangers. I heard many things about them on here, and they seemed to be legit. I ordered 100 chicks and received 104. After 3 weeks in the brooder, I had only lost one, which I was very happy about. At four weeks old, I moved them to the pasture. A few weeks after that, I went out on several occasions and found a couple of them dead on their back. In total I lost 8 of them. Not sure what happened to them. Everything was good until week 11, when we had a day that the temperature reached over 100 degrees. They had fresh, cold water several times that day, but I ended up losing over 20 of them. 
I had planned on butchering them earlier, but I finally got them in the freezer on July 4th. After plucking the first couple, I was skepticle about the amount of meat on them. They where weighing in at 4-5 pounds after being dressed, but they didn't have as much meat on them as I thought they would. I'm guessing this was due to the fact that I was so used to seeing dressed CX. As I started piecing them out, I came to the conclusion they were meatlier than I thought. Breast and tender were much smaller than I was used to, but the LQ were nice and meaty. I grilled some breast and boneless thighs this weekend, and they had a great taste and texture.
Biggest differences I see:
Similarities:
Overall it was a good expirience (exept for losing 25 ready-to-butcher birds). I froze about a dozen of them whole to grind up for sausage later. The additional fat and flavor of these should make for some good ground meat. WIll I raise them again? Jury is still out on that one. I have a batch of CX chicks coming this week and have more scheduled for mid-August, but I may try another batch of FR. I had a hard time dealing with the additional 4 weeks finish time. It seemed like I had them for an eternity. We'll see what happens. I would encourage all that raise CX to at least give them a try.
I had planned on butchering them earlier, but I finally got them in the freezer on July 4th. After plucking the first couple, I was skepticle about the amount of meat on them. They where weighing in at 4-5 pounds after being dressed, but they didn't have as much meat on them as I thought they would. I'm guessing this was due to the fact that I was so used to seeing dressed CX. As I started piecing them out, I came to the conclusion they were meatlier than I thought. Breast and tender were much smaller than I was used to, but the LQ were nice and meaty. I grilled some breast and boneless thighs this weekend, and they had a great taste and texture.Biggest differences I see:
- FR are much hardier in the brooder than CX
- FR are more active than CX on the pasture, but seemed to eat less vegetation than the CX
- FR much slower growing, but worth the additional flavor when eating
- FR meat has a lot more texture
- CX have a much better Feed Convertion Ratio
- CX have their most rapid growth at 5 weeks to finish; FR hit theirs at about 9 weeks.
- CX have a calmer personality
- FR took 12 weeks, CX 7-8 weeks
- FR had more fat on them that was very yellow in color
- FR had a higher bone-to-meat ratio
- Fewer leg issues. I did have 2 out of the 100 that had problems
Similarities:
- Neither can handle 100+ tempertures
- Both taste like chicken, LOL.
- Both do well on pasture
Overall it was a good expirience (exept for losing 25 ready-to-butcher birds). I froze about a dozen of them whole to grind up for sausage later. The additional fat and flavor of these should make for some good ground meat. WIll I raise them again? Jury is still out on that one. I have a batch of CX chicks coming this week and have more scheduled for mid-August, but I may try another batch of FR. I had a hard time dealing with the additional 4 weeks finish time. It seemed like I had them for an eternity. We'll see what happens. I would encourage all that raise CX to at least give them a try.
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