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Given these living conditions a cornish will drop at any given time. Unfourtunatly the will to move has been bred out of them. The simple behaviors of going up a chicken ramp has long been bred out of them for decades.
Your 100% right that the rangers suite a backyard farmer much better in these given conditions. But if you exploit the cornishes downfalls you will be well rewarded greatly. They don't take to free-ranging very well, plus it's painfull for them as their joints can't deal with it.
If you put a cornish in the setting that they were intended to be in, then modify it, you can't go wrong. They will surpas any bird in size, quality, and flavor.
If you think about what makes the flavor and the quality of a chicken... it's an easy thing to adjust for the broilers. One thing that makes the rangers more flavorfull is the fact they are older, and they develop a more leaner muscle. If you raise the cornish to 12-14 weeks you will acquire the same results.
Yes they poop a lot but put into a pasture setting inside a tractor, and moved 3-4 times daily... they don't stink, they don't get dirty, and you don't have to deal with the giant amount of poo.
Your feed consumption was probably higher due to the amount of birds you lost. If you would raise one cornish and one color ranged broiler side by side for 12 weeks in a seperate pen, you would see the difference. It's drastic. In 12 weeks you would have a cornish that weighs 10-16 lbs live weight. You would have half that with a color range.
By no means am I saying your way of raising the cornish was wrong, I just see these post and don't want people to get the wrong impression of the cornish. They do have their problems but if you know the problems going in and try to avoid them best as you can you will be fine. Just know what they were bred for and don't make them do the impossible and expect great results.
