OK. I have been spending today reseraching alternatives to Cornish Crosses. Thanks to some tips from Abundant Life Farm, here is what I can report:
1) The Freedom Ranger lines were indeed created from Hubbard parent lineage. They come out of the "differentiated growth" line in their catalog, with a multitude of colors and growth rates available to the customer (in that case commercial hatcheries).
You can see the various combinations here:
http://www.hubbardbreeders.com/products.php?id=5
Click on the "parent stock female" to see the varying results crossbreeding with different sires.
2) Ideal Hatchery does not provide enough information on their Black and Red Broilers to determine if they are from the Hubbard "Red Bro" lineage. If someone would like to e-mail or contact them for more info, I'd be indebted.
3) I was able to contact JM Hatchery. They current offer Red Broilers which come from the Red Bro differentiated line. They also currently have Gold and will be offerin those for sale very soo as well. In a couple more weeks, they will be offering the black line as well.
They have been swamped with orders since FR's went out of business, so there could be backlogs on ordering. But, they were helpful and looking at their product line they aren't big retailers of status quo industrial broilers.
http://www.jmhatchery.com/
4) If anyone at all tomorrow could e-mail Hubbard USA sales and try to get a list of all hatcheries which order the Differentiated Growth product line from them, I'd also be indebted.
I'm stupidly busy here with a Farm Market season beginning on Friday.
So, anyway, do NOT fear. You will not be cornered into raising Cornish Crosses if you do not want to.
1) The Freedom Ranger lines were indeed created from Hubbard parent lineage. They come out of the "differentiated growth" line in their catalog, with a multitude of colors and growth rates available to the customer (in that case commercial hatcheries).
You can see the various combinations here:
http://www.hubbardbreeders.com/products.php?id=5
Click on the "parent stock female" to see the varying results crossbreeding with different sires.
2) Ideal Hatchery does not provide enough information on their Black and Red Broilers to determine if they are from the Hubbard "Red Bro" lineage. If someone would like to e-mail or contact them for more info, I'd be indebted.
3) I was able to contact JM Hatchery. They current offer Red Broilers which come from the Red Bro differentiated line. They also currently have Gold and will be offerin those for sale very soo as well. In a couple more weeks, they will be offering the black line as well.
They have been swamped with orders since FR's went out of business, so there could be backlogs on ordering. But, they were helpful and looking at their product line they aren't big retailers of status quo industrial broilers.
http://www.jmhatchery.com/
4) If anyone at all tomorrow could e-mail Hubbard USA sales and try to get a list of all hatcheries which order the Differentiated Growth product line from them, I'd also be indebted.
I'm stupidly busy here with a Farm Market season beginning on Friday.
So, anyway, do NOT fear. You will not be cornered into raising Cornish Crosses if you do not want to.