Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[Morrigan]

I was happy with the breast meat, but I don't have enough of a basis for comparison to know if it was larger than your average heritage bird. The legs and thighs were certainly more meaty than similarly aged mixed cockerels (EE/Sussex and EE/BO) I've had in the past, and I would say that the breast was somewhat more meaty, but I can't really quantify it more than that.

My only other chicken butchering experience comes from CX, and it is going to make the breast meat of any other chicken look tiny. To compare, the de-boned and skinless breast from my 13 week old CX rooster weighed 2 lbs.

 

[Compost King]

I will be picking up a Naked Neck rooster today. That may be next Cross with the Red Rangers. Its a White Naked Neck and my intention is to breed it with the CX hen I have on the way if I can keep her alive. Starting to believe getting just one CX was a mistake but TSC always has them straight run and maybe I get 4 of them from TSC to be on the safe side. With my luck I will only be able to keep 1 male alive but even if that happens I will cross him with a Red Ranger. I don't want a Male CX breeding with Heritage girls.

 

[Mosey2003]

From what I've read it's harder to keep the males alive long enough, and if you do they have a really hard time mating as they're so large. There are videos that show how to do AI though.

 

[Compost King]

@BlueBaby I did as you suggested, met a nice lady and bought her Naked Neck. He is heavier than a lot of my dual purpose roosters, and bare breasted as well as bare necked

I took better quality pictures as far as focus goes but this is the best shot of his chest.

@Mosey2003
I am not interested in doing AI, but I am interested in knowing how it is done, thanks for suggesting I look up videos on it, who knows.. after seeing a video it might not be as complicated as I think it would be. Always good to learn something new.
The more I think about it, finding out how to do AI might end up solving certain mating problems with Seramas and I could mate the females who absolutely refuse to be penned in with Roosters.

 

[BlueBaby]

@Compost King Look at that totally NN on that guy! I'm jealous! Any full feathered neck hen's that you cross him with should turn out to have the NN chicks that will have the bowties on them! I'd put him with your biggest hen's, if you are going for size.

 

[Compost King]

From what I've read it's harder to keep the males alive long enough, and if you do they have a really hard time mating as they're so large. There are videos that show how to do AI though.

I took the time to see how it is done, doesn't look too hard. I doubt I can do it successfully to be honest. However it's not so gross that I wouldn't try to learn the skill.

 

[Compost King]

5 week update on the Silver Grey Dorking X Red Ranger ... Not a great picture but they have been moved out of the brooder and into the Juvenile bird coop. Its a free range coop of various ages but due to the recent slush blizzard the Previous batch of chicks are slow to start free ranging and the this group of chicks are hiding in the corner more than they should. I have been picking them up and the Dorking X Red Ranger is much heavier than the large fowl his age.

As far as the Cemani X Red Rangers go I am completely disinterested in the males and will give them away to anyone who wants free meat.

The 2 Females have been moved in to the breeding coop with the Ayam Cemani. One of the females has good size to her but the other is a bit of Runt compared to the others of this hybrid. She is still significantly larger than the pure bred Ayam Cemanis from the same hatch. I need to cross these back to an Ayam Cemani to get both males and Females with that Fibro trait. So making big black meat birds might be a bit longer of a process than I thought. We shall see where this goes.

The next experiment will be a good sized Naked Neck Rooster over a Red Ranger. They weren't supposed to be together this soon (bought him 2 days ago) But she would not get along with her coopmates elsewhere and threw her in with the Naked Neck Rooster and they get along. I guess I broke Quarentine.. oh well.

I also hatched a bunch of Dorking X Red Rangers last weekend, Pictures coming soon. Dorkings alone make a decent table bird, so I have high hopes for that cross.

 

[Compost King]

I was just noticing how large that Naked Neck looks in that photo compared to the Red Ranger. I just carried them to a better coop tonight and I can assure you the Red Ranger is much heavier but that Naked neck sure has a decent frame to work with when crossing him to Meaty hens.

 

[BlueBaby]

I was just noticing how large that Naked Neck looks in that photo compared to the Red Ranger. I just carried them to a better coop tonight and I can assure you the Red Ranger is much heavier but that Naked neck sure has a decent frame to work with when crossing him to Meaty hens.

That's the idea in crossing them for bigger meaty bird's!

 

[Compost King]

That's the idea in crossing them for bigger meaty bird's!

So glad you convinced me to seize the opportunity. He really is perfect for cross breeding with meat birds.