Colored Rangers Grow Out Journal/ Video Added pg 11

[TimG]

Quote:
I've found this thread very useful. But, I'd like further comparison to the Cornish cross broilers. Maybe you could share with us your typical FCR and dressed weight? Thanks.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Those look nice... not quite as long as a rooster but not as round as a cornish, right inbetween. Have you given them the ultimate test.... the oven?

Yes this thread is very interesting as I've heard the freedom rangers consume the same amount of feed as the broilers even though they take twice as long to grow. I haven't figured out the numbers but is this statement hold true?

For a cold 6-7 weeks I normaly get 1 pound of live weight for 2.5 pounds of feed. Around 6-7 weeks they are 5 lbs live weight and dress out to an average of 3.5 lbs. (these are all averages)

So for 100 chickens it takes me about 1250 lbs of feed. (this figure is without a 1-3% loss) Which makes the feed go higher and the dressed pounds go lower.

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

Those look nice... not quite as long as a rooster but not as round as a cornish, right in between.

Thanks. Yeah they are right in between a rooster and a Cornish x.

Have you given them the ultimate test.... the oven?

We gave them the ultimate test tonight. I cooked a 3.5 lb, I moped over the outer surface with olive oil and crushed garlic and Johnnies salt and pepper. Then stuffed the cavity with a sliced up onion and 5 sliced garlic cloves. cooked on 400 for an hour. The meat was very moist. It fell apart when I tried to pull a drumstick off so it was GREAT. Not tough in any way. I have gotten several emails from people that bought our chickens and have raved about the flavor. I'll be making chicken gumbo tomorrow night with the left overs. Next one I 'm going to try a brine, but the first one wanted to make sure that the taste was what everybody raves it is and YES it is.​

 

[Brunty_Farms]

So the final thoughts of these birds are good even with the fact of growing them out to 12 weeks. Is the little bit of flavor that's added from the chickens age play a factor in why you raise them or is it other reasons?

I'm curious to see why you picked these over the cornish given the short time frame cornish grow. But growth isn't everything the quality of the food comes first. This reason I understand...

 

[PurpleChicken]

Spectacular thread Harp!!! This one should be a reference for
anyone considering meat birds.

Very Well Done!!!

 

[TimG]

Is anybody in Southern Maine considering some of these birds? I would want to have far fewer than the 100 minimum that is required to get the price down to $1.00 per chick, so would be interested in sharing an order with a few people.

 

[dadof4]

This should be a sticky. I think that I will trying these next to see how they work for my set-up.

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

So the final thoughts of these birds are good even with the fact of growing them out to 12 weeks. Is the little bit of flavor that's added from the chickens age play a factor in why you raise them or is it other reasons?

I'm curious to see why you picked these over the cornish given the short time frame cornish grow. But growth isn't everything the quality of the food comes first. This reason I understand...

The 12 weeks is a very important part to us and our methods. We raise heritage turkeys for the same reasons. Slow growth,added flavors and normal growth rates. We also like to specialize in animals/meats that are not common in the farm places, of now days.

Well there is a few reasons. The biggest reason is quality of life. We believe in only raising animals here on the ranch the heritage way. With Cornish X's it is pretty hard to raise them to natural/heritage methods and get good results. Being able to free range is a big deal to us. We have done the Cornish X's for the last 2 years. We were very glad to get rid of them for these. Plus these guys are much better looking them them white birds.

Again it comes down to them being able to live a good life,health,free range,added flavor and the meat is actually alot firmer and not all mushy like a Cornish is. Oh yeah and they don't have that great big blob of breast meat. All in all for our methods and style and what we stand for in farming these guys fit right in and we ared proud to have them. Plus we are not trying to mass produce birds for sale, we go for quality over quantity.

Spectacular thread Harp!!! This one should be a reference for
anyone considering meat birds.

Very Well Done!!!

Thank You very much. If people feel like you do then we accomplished our goal here.

I just hope others that are new to the breed or meat birds can get enough info out of it to stop buying the factory farmed foods and either support a small local farmer or grow their own.​

 

[dbarrell]

Hello, I am a newbie to raising broilers/chickens, plan on doing my first batch this year. would these that you raised be comparable to the colored range broilers from Randall Burkey ? http://www.randallburkey.com/prodinfo.asp?number=80239

I am in Colorado and am thinking shipping from Texas would be quicker ?

Excellent thread BTW, Lots of good info and insight..

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

Yes they are the same. But they probably having them dropped shipped from JM Hatchery ?? I would call and ak, because they cost morethrough that site then if you bought them from JM hatchery direct.

Don't worry about the shipping mine come all the way across the US. It takes them 2-3 days to get here. Out of the 400 I have gotten so far this year not one has been DOA.