Similar, but no cigar. They take several weeks longer to reach slaughter weight. Also their Feed Convertion Rate is not as efficient.
There are several colored ranger types. The 51 chicks that I just received in the mail today were from J.M. Hatchery. Also, is it S&G that has the dixie rainbows? To be fair, I've never brought up the Cornish cross...these are my first meaties. Everything I've heard though says that the colored rangers don't get big as fast as the Cornish cross. Although, lots of people argue that the colored rangers are better foragers, so don't need quite as much of the processed feed. I can't yet give my personal experience though, the next batch of meaties we raise are going to be the Cornish Cross so that we can have our own comparison.
The Colored Range Broilers from JM Hatchery are the fastest growing non-white (non cornish cross) hybrids chickens available at the moment. But as stated, they definitely grow slower than a cornish x, but that's their niche. At 12 weeks, you have birds similar in size to a cornish x at 8 weeks.
I've raised three batches of Cornish Jumbo X-rocks. They mature fast, but I really don't like raising them. On 9/11, I received my 1st ever batch of Colored Rangers from JM Hatchery. I'm really impressed with the ordering process. I didn't really like using PayPal, but the chicks were delivered within 1 week of ordering. I can already tell that these birds are different than X-rocks. I like getting my chicks on dirt/grass as soon as possible. In the past, when 1st put out x-rocks, they didn't move much at all. But when I put out the colored rangers yesterday evening, they were all over the place. For the way I raise chickens, I think the colored rangers are going to be the best bet.
My first batch EVER or cornish cross will be taken to processor tomorrow. I have 20 left (4 eaten by snake and one missing) and of the birds. Most of them weigh 11 lbs walking before processing.... these cornish x are 10 1/2 weeks old! I am expecting about 7 lb roasters I hope My second batch are "red broiler" these are RIR over cornish os similar I am told by the hatchery. They grew slow at first... but now at 6 weeks they are starting to fill out. Has any one done a taste test? Do red broilers taste the same? What is best age to process red broilers? I want these to get to at lest 9/10 lbs too.
Maf, Some of my Colored Range broilers(JM's) went over 11lbs (don't know by how much, that was as high as my scale went) and I got roasters 8lb 4oz to almost 9lbs so your cornishx should be up there over 7lbs too
