I'm no expert on any of this but I am under the impression that freedom rangers and red rangers are pretty much the same. The Freedom Ranger Hatchery website says the breed was developed to meet the French Label Rouge certification guidelines in Europe (birds must be raised on pasture etc) and that they are a cross of four different heritage chicken breeds, but it doesn't say what they are. I've read on the internet (and OF COURSE everything on the internet is true....
) that red rangers and color rangers are the same thing as Freedom Rangers - it's just that Freedom Ranger is the brand name for bird from one specific hatchery.
I raised 26 freedom rangers last year. 21 were harvested for meat after 11-12 weeks. Here is a post about their growth and feed conversion:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...oilers-feed-amount-feed-conversion-and-growth
We kept five as laying hens (the five largest females) and they've been doing ok. Here is a post about them as laying hens:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/735932/freedom-rangers-as-laying-hens-impressed-so-far. I do not give them feed free choice, because I was concerned about them getting too heavy and developing leg problems. Instead I measured and varied the amount of feed I gave them each day (twice a day feedings) until I found the sweet spot where they eat all the food I give them, even the little hard to get bits in the bottom of the feeder. I think they are getting just enough to eat, but no more. They are large birds already, and they look quite fit, but no leg problems.
In short, they started laying really early, at 16 weeks, which was the end of December. I was shocked, but I've read elsewhere they other folks have found that Freedom Rangers keep laying through the winter - they don't seem to decrease production as the amount of daylight lessens. We had a pretty high amount of double yolks eggs right off the bat. I think one bird was laying very large double-yolkers every day to every other day. That eventually dropped off though, and in mid-May one of the birds died. I did a necropsy and came to the conclusion that she had a blocked oviduct. In subsequent research I found that birds that tend to lay double yolk eggs are more likely to develop blocked oviducts so it was probably the same bird. We still get a double yolk egg once in a while from one of the remaining birds, but rarely. Of the four we have left, two are outstanding layers (almost one egg a day) but the other two are poor layers (one to two eggs a week or less). One of those also has problems making shells. When she lays, the shells are very thin and there are large bumpy deposits of calcium on one end of the egg. I can't figure out exactly which bird is laying those though, so I haven't culled her. Recently I've started to get more of those eggs though and they don't look as bad. So maybe her body will work out whatever problems it is having.
I haven't decided yet if I like these birds as laying hens enough to do it again, I think I want to try some laying breeds. I'm guessing that they breeding for good meat production characteristics has removed any consistency in laying production - in other words, some will be great layers and others won't. I don't feel like I'm feeding them too much, and even though I'm buying pretty high quality feed I'm currently only spending about $3 per week on feed, an getting about a dozen eggs. This is about 25% less than I would be spending on eggs if I bought a comparable product from a local farmer. It will be very nice if they keep laying through the winter. So overall I'm satisfied for now, but I know it could be even better if all four birds laid as well as the two good layers. If you have the ability, I'd suggest keeping twice as many hens as you want to have layers, make sure you have a coop where you can install trap nests so you will know for sure who is laying which eggs, let them all get into a laying routine, then cull the birds that aren't laying well.
