Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[levisharvest]

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.

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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.

Thanks! they look wonderful!

 

[BlueBaby]

@Kris5902 Nice job with those Ranger's you worked on! Did you say that you have some Naked Neck's, too?

 

[Kris5902]

@Kris5902 Nice job with those Ranger's you worked on! Did you say that you have some Naked Neck's, too?

No naked necks yet... they kind of creep me out, reminds me of our vultures

 

[BlueBaby]

No naked necks yet... they kind of creep me out, reminds me of our vultures

Yes, Naked Neck's have to grow on you before you learn to love them. In my case, I wanted them because they handle our desert heat better than many of the fully feathered fluffy breed's do.

 

[Parront]

When the birds are smaller we will probably be raising the prices a bit... a 6lb chicken at $8/lb (never mind the exchange rate )... almost $50 for a chicken? I might have trouble moving those!

Well, I did not pay Safeway the ~$35.00. Not because I would not like a nice Organic, pasture-raised chicken for dinner, but because I do not believe that the Safeway "Organic" chicken really is comparable to yours. But, someone in Prescott, AZ is buying that chicken, or Safeway would not have it on the shelf. Your real meaties should be sold with these photos attached!

 

[Parront]

Some of the French "Label Rouge" birds are Naked Necks. They say they like the "thin tender skin". Quite the delicacy in France and sell for 2x's the price of regular chicken. Makes naked necks look almost pretty.

 

[Morrigan]

My 3 NN chicks are 4 weeks old now, and their necks are starting to look . . . odd. They are so red and wrinkly. But, if they eat well, I am definitely interested in using them as part of the stock for my planned meat flock. It gets over 100 degrees for good chunks of the summer, so if they are heat tolerant, I will take it.

 

[Compost King]

The benefit to naked Necks is that they have less feathers all around and easier to process. I imagine less Feathers also means more protein goes towards fleshing out and less towards feathers. I have not done a study or read a study on that 2nd part but it makes sense.

 

[Kris5902]

Well you all make an excellent case for the NN... I would worry about how they tolerate the cold though. Our highs in summer here are mid 80’s to early 90’s, it rarely reaches 100 degrees. We don’t get below Freezing for much of the year but it does happen, usually not lower than 28 degrees

 

[Compost King]

@Kris5902 Naked Necks should be fine in your climate, they handle cold really well, they just push their heads in like turtles when roasting at night. Our winters are as cold as yours and people keep Naked Necks in colder climates than what I experience. I can't remember how cold we got this winter but we went below freezing many times and even down to -7 Celsius, although i did not have any but others I know did we went down to -14 celsius the previous winter. They are hardier than they look.