Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[Compost King]

Update on the 3/4 Dorking 1/4 Red Ranger Runt. I took a picture of the Runt @ 7 weeks with another 3/4 Dorking the same age.

They feathered out at the same rate and look like they will mature at the same time. Huge size difference and the Red one is definitely a female I assume the Runt is a female too. I also have a Runt (not quite as small) that is a male too.

 

[BlueBaby]

@Compost King That one Dork O chick that I have is 2 week's old today. I don't suppose that you took any pictures of yours at 2 week's old? I am thinking that this one is a pullet though.

 

[Compost King]

@Compost King That one Dork O chick that I have is 2 week's old today. I don't suppose that you took any pictures of yours at 2 week's old? I am thinking that this one is a pullet though.

I am looking to see if I took pictures that young..

 

[Compost King]

At 2 weeks of for the Dork-O's I was playing with my field cam and my Regular Cam was collecting dust, I did not Field Cam the Dork-O's because they were in the brooder where there wasn't enough room to place the Field Camera. I have pictures of the Dork X which pretty much look the same other than the Dork-O's can have Red Females (as you can see in the picture above) And yes I used a Dork-O to compare to my Dork X Runt but it was a size comparison and the 2 have the same size (except the 2 Runts). I just grabbed the easiest one to grab and a known female since I did not want to use a larger male to exaggerate the size difference and I am guessing that Runt is a female.

I have some Dork - X chicken pictures that span week 2 to week 3 and the only difference I can see between the 2 is that there are a few extra patterns that the Dork O can have and the Dork X can not have.

Week 2, I was noticing a size difference between my largest and smallest bird, from this batch I can not spot the smallest one now because there isn't that much of a size difference.

This are between Week 2 and week 3 just as I moved them to the outside Brooder. It was so hot even at night, and there were so many they could huddle up to stay warm so I moved them outside with no heat lamp.

Week 3

 

[BlueBaby]

@Compost King So, even those are varied in coloring. I'll just have to wait and see how she grow's out.

 

[Compost King]

Dork-O's Week 5... They really weren't the targets of the pictures I cut them out of for this. So the focus is off and the pictures are not the best. I do not have many of them I just hatched them out to get red Dorking's which are not even in the picture. You may see a few heads of an Ayam Cemani x Red Ranger and CX. These are my buddy birds to go with the CX.

 

[Compost King]

Not sure there age, this is a Dork-O female (assumed) who dodged the camera in the early pictures. She is also very mean and attacks the Male CX I bring into the ration feed pen to take size comparison pictures between the free feed males with the rationed fed females. The Male CX are too big to fight back and I have to shoo her away before I can take pictures.

 

[Morrigan]

I went out tonight to take some weights on the birds that are forming the start of my meat bird project.

My Red Ranger hen is now 16 weeks old and weighed in 6.4 pounds. I'm really happy with her weight and how lively and healthy she looks for being such a big hen. I wish I had another couple just like her.

My two NN cockerels are 14 1/2 weeks old and were 5.2 lbs and 4.8 lbs. Unless he really screws up by being a jerk in the next few days, the bigger one will be my NN breeding rooster and the other will be butchered. I didn't weigh the NN hen -- she's pretty small, and only makes the breeding program by being my only NN hen.

I'm painting out my new chicken coop now, and then DH is going to put in the roosts and a few other finishing details. It should be bird-worthy in another week. I'll probable re-home my Partridge Rock hen and English Orpington hen out there with the NNs and Red Ranger, as they are my two largest laying hens and might be worth breeding for the meat project.

 

[Kris5902]

Here are my Four potential Meaties for my breeding experiment and their new boy, all at 23 1/2 weeks and large.

The missing tail feathers seems to be a hen pecking issue in the other persons flock, because my Barnvelder Boy I sold there had the same problem. He arrived and within a month was missing all his tail feathers, so I imagine that Roostie Roo’s will grow back just fine!

 

[Compost King]

I went out tonight to take some weights on the birds that are forming the start of my meat bird project.

My Red Ranger hen is now 16 weeks old and weighed in 6.4 pounds. I'm really happy with her weight and how lively and healthy she looks for being such a big hen. I wish I had another couple just like her.

My two NN cockerels are 14 1/2 weeks old and were 5.2 lbs and 4.8 lbs. Unless he really screws up by being a jerk in the next few days, the bigger one will be my NN breeding rooster and the other will be butchered. I didn't weigh the NN hen -- she's pretty small, and only makes the breeding program by being my only NN hen.

I'm painting out my new chicken coop now, and then DH is going to put in the roosts and a few other finishing details. It should be bird-worthy in another week. I'll probable re-home my Partridge Rock hen and English Orpington hen out there with the NNs and Red Ranger, as they are my two largest laying hens and might be worth breeding for the meat project.

I am actually excited about this one. I never weighed my Red Rangers until well after they stopped growing but that seems about the size mine were and yes they act like a normal chicken, slightly less agile than a typical dual purpose but not by a whole bunch. The do not sit at feeders and they love to forage. Your Naked Necks seem really heavy for their age so I see good things coming from this project.

I recently put my Red Ranger Hen (down to just 1 now) in with a Rhode Island White Rooster who is short and stocky, he got to size fast but didn't get too incredibly big however he feels a bit heavy and has a wide stance. I haven't weighed in a while but he put on weight fast back when I weighed him. I was curious if he had Recessive White or Dominant white and figured the best way to tell is to breed him to the Red Ranger and its his turn to produce meaty offspring. I had her in with her half Naked Neck son but she wouldn't let him mount her. So he moved on to another breeding project. He has such a pleasant temperament that he was spared from the dinner table.