I am totally excited to embark on this meat bird adventure! I've had chickens for a while, but never broiler breeds. I also have never raised from chicks, always bought hens to avoid feed investment until I got the eggs. That being said, I have ordered Red Rangers and several different kinds of dual purpose chicks from McMurray to arrive around April 11th or so. Has anyone tried the Red Ranger breed? Can I keep the layers and broilers together for the first week or seperate them right away? I am trying to absorb as much info as I can about starting from chicks. Everyone on here is so helpful and willing to share the wisdom. Thanks for your time!
I've brooded them with layers before didn't seem to be a problem just make sure you have enough feeder space or the bigger meat birds will crowd out the layer chicks. If you restrict feed after awhile you should separate them as the layers should always have feed available
They can probably brood together for 3 weeks. Red Rangers can pretty much have free feed up until then (meaning when I measured out how much they could have each day and went to refill the feeders they usually weren't empty) so it shouldn't upset the others too much. We did pioneers and chefs special from McMurray with Cochin and silver laced wyandottes until butcher time. We had red Rangers before that and they came with the one "free special" bird and he had a hilarious personality and was raised with them the whole 12 weeks and then lived with our turkeys their whole lives until our neighbor bought him. < also why I un click the free bird now haha!
Last summer I had rangers, rainbows, and ISA brown layers all together, 75 total, 25 of each breed minus the ones that died early. I kept them all together the whole time and let them range in my fenced yard. I kept them together until all were butchered then I butchered the ISA roosters the next weekend then moved the layer hens to the coop with the others. I didn't really restrict feed with them much other than when they'd run themselves out occasionally. If I raise them again I'll restrict feed a little more as they do eat a lot, it was my first time raising them, I expected them to eat more like a DP bird but they are ravenous feed pigs just like cx especially if they don't have feed then you fill it up, get out of the way because they will run you over to get to a feeder and gorge themselves
I have a red ranger that is currently a pet, and was brooded and lives with my mixed flock. She is the biggest bird but is always last to the feeder and doesn't gorge. I sold all of my others but am now very fond of the red rangers because of their calm disposition. She is actually one of the birds I am working with to become a therapy chicken. I have never had a problem with free-feeding her with the others, my feeder is in the coop and they only go in there to lay eggs after I let them free range for the day. Hope it helps!
