Is anybody out there breeding your own "meat" chickens. Was wondering if there are any breeds that can be easily bred to produce something along the lines of a Red Ranger type forging meat chicken. I like the idea of being able to breed my own instead of having to rely on chicks from a hatchery. Second, but related question. Will the Red Ranger naturally breed? Can I breed a Red Ranger Cock to a hen and get true birds?
Yes you can breed your red rangers if you keep them at a decent weight. You can also with CX. I have two girls almost to sexual maturity. They are squatting and being mated, so we shall see. They are a little overweight though, and it makes me nervous. If I could, I'd keep them cooped separate during feeding time, because they tend to over eat. I'm going to cross them to a heritage Rock. I find the CX males are too food aggressive to grow further than 12 weeks.
You could do a cross between Indian games and rock, that would make a decent meat bird but would be nowheres near as efficient on feed a commercial (rustic or otherwise) broiler bird. And no. If you breed a 'Red ranger' cock to a 'Red ranger hen' you will not get the same thing. Redbros are the result of a 4 way matting. If you breed them you will get something. But it will not be as efficient as the terminal generation was.
