Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[BlueBaby]

Well, technically we have 2 boats on the farm, they just aren’t “Practical”. One is a 20’ Sail boat that's barely wide enough for a chicken crate, and the other (the original “Farm Truck” from before the “illegal” road went in , thanks neighbors!) is up on blocks in the horse field and will one day probably be turned into a B&B type accommodation/glamping.

Mostly we rely on the 4 ferries/day for transport, otherwise we would need a vehicle on both sides of the water for shopping and such. I do have a spare truck we could park on the island the other abbatoir is on. My Husband works there several days every week or so. We could time things out I’m sure, but that will be a long term goal.

The “Island conundrum” is primarily why I’m looking to get a solid meat hybrid cross I can hatch at home... shipping rates plus cost of chicks is much higher due to having to fly them in. For personal use I’m happy to process my own behind the barn, but for sale I need to have them done in an inspected facility that will do chickens. It’s not that we couldn’t, just that the owners won’t do them

Good luck with getting thing's to work out for you the way that you want or need them to.

 

[Compost King]

Week 12 Naked Neck x Red Ranger weigh in... 5.1 pounds. I will likely process him this week end as well as another Naked Neck that was 1/4 Red Ranger, 1/4 Ayam Cemani and 1/2 Naked Neck. The 2nd Bird is 15 weeks old and I never weighed him. He didn't have the Fibro Trait like some of his brothers did so I have no use for breeding him. He is also getting a bit too aggressive to have running around so I will have about a weeks worth of Chinese chicken recipes to cook up. Maybe some Indian recipes too.

 

[Compost King]

Here are the 2 pictures of the birds I will be eating next week and possibly as early as tonight. the first one is the NN x RR at 12 weeks the 2nd is the NN x (AC x RR) at 15 weeks.

 

[levisharvest]

I butcherd a few red rangers at 14 weeks to see how i like the meat. The hens where small and mostly dark meat and very yellow skin. The males are a good looking meat bird. i have them in a ice water bath for a few days i will let you know how good the meat is soon.

 

[Compost King]

I butcherd a few red rangers at 14 weeks to see how i like the meat. The hens where small and mostly dark meat and very yellow skin. The males are a good looking meat bird. i have them in a ice water bath for a few days i will let you know how good the meat is soon. View attachment 1823498 View attachment 1823499

I was amazed at the size difference and growth rate of the males and females. When they sized out I was too busy to process them so I gave the male live birds to a neighbor and kept he females for breeding. The Females eventually became quite large.
Thanks for sharing the pictures of the dressed out birds. I never dressed out an actual Red Ranger and now I can visually compare them to my crosses.

 

[Kris5902]

I’m surprised at the weights... @levisharvest . My rangers ended up huge I guess. They averaged 6lbs per bird, dressed at 11 weeks and 1 day old. I took 30 birds in for processing and had a total weight of 181.56lbs. I had one monster bird at 7.63lbs! I probably have very different genetic stock, as I’m in Canada. I’ll snag some pics of the “survivors”. I still have 7/8 left, 3 that I’ll be processing myself next week for sure (they are crowing ) 5 birds didn’t make “A” grade due to breast blisters and one dislocated wing with some bruising. I fed 19% broiler pellets, about 1/2 bag per day, to 40 birds. 24 bags total broiler, I don’t have the starter or grower crumble numbers on hand. I moved them twice daily to fresh pasture in 6x8’ chicken tractors.

I’m really impressed with the size and quality of the dark meat. The dark spots are from the air chilling process at the plant. We did the parting up in our Abbatoir. Ziplock baggies were a temporary “taking this to market tomorrow” fix, I now have it all bagged up for cryovac tonight and then freezing. It sold quite well. I also managed to sell a lamb leg roast unexpectedly for $58... it was our best market day yet.

 

[Compost King]

@Kris5902 you are definitely doing something right because not only do your red rangers end up fairly large so did your Barnvelder a month or 2 ago.

 

[Kris5902]

Thanks! I sort of wish I had weighed ‘lil Peeps (the Big Barnvelder I was holding back for breeding) after his sudden demise... If it hadn’t been so late at night I might have even bled and processed him. I just remember he felt really heavy when I was carrying him to bury. (Yes, I know I’m weird )

 

[Morrigan]

I’m surprised at the weights... @levisharvest . My rangers ended up huge I guess. They averaged 6lbs per bird, dressed at 11 weeks and 1 day old. I took 30 birds in for processing and had a total weight of 181.56lbs. I had one monster bird at 7.63lbs! I probably have very different genetic stock, as I’m in Canada. I’ll snag some pics of the “survivors”. I still have 7/8 left, 3 that I’ll be processing myself next week for sure (they are crowing ) 5 birds didn’t make “A” grade due to breast blisters and one dislocated wing with some bruising. I fed 19% broiler pellets, about 1/2 bag per day, to 40 birds. 24 bags total broiler, I don’t have the starter or grower crumble numbers on hand. I moved them twice daily to fresh pasture in 6x8’ chicken tractors.

View attachment 1823649View attachment 1823650

View attachment 1823651View attachment 1823652 View attachment 1823656

I’m really impressed with the size and quality of the dark meat. The dark spots are from the air chilling process at the plant. We did the parting up in our Abbatoir. Ziplock baggies were a temporary “taking this to market tomorrow” fix, I now have it all bagged up for cryovac tonight and then freezing. It sold quite well. I also managed to sell a lamb leg roast unexpectedly for $58... it was our best market day yet.

Those are some great looking results. What do you sell them for per pound?

Edit to add: Just noticed the weight in the corner on the enlarged picture and did the math. That'a a very fair price for such a quality bird.

 

[Parront]

I’m surprised at the weights... @levisharvest . My rangers ended up huge I guess. They averaged 6lbs per bird, dressed at 11 weeks and 1 day old. I took 30 birds in for processing and had a total weight of 181.56lbs. I had one monster bird at 7.63lbs! I probably have very different genetic stock, as I’m in Canada. I’ll snag some pics of the “survivors”. I still have 7/8 left, 3 that I’ll be processing myself next week for sure (they are crowing ) 5 birds didn’t make “A” grade due to breast blisters and one dislocated wing with some bruising. I fed 19% broiler pellets, about 1/2 bag per day, to 40 birds. 24 bags total broiler, I don’t have the starter or grower crumble numbers on hand. I moved them twice daily to fresh pasture in 6x8’ chicken tractors.

View attachment 1823649View attachment 1823650 View attachment 1823651View attachment 1823652 View attachment 1823656

I’m really impressed with the size and quality of the dark meat. The dark spots are from the air chilling process at the plant. We did the parting up in our Abbatoir. Ziplock baggies were a temporary “taking this to market tomorrow” fix, I now have it all bagged up for cryovac tonight and then freezing. It sold quite well. I also managed to sell a lamb leg roast unexpectedly for $58... it was our best market day yet.

Just salivating here
Those would work here in mile-high Prescott