Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[Compost King]

Unfurtunatlt I did not have the foresight to make a thread about it
I only started feeding free choice at about 4 months, he grew more like a ranger up until that point. I think if he’d been given free choice to start with he probably would’ve been about 8lbs by 12 weeks or sooner. He dwarfs even his dad who’ve I’ve weighed at 15lbs He’s not currently as heavy as he was, I had to implement a new feeding regiment for him as I want to use him for a project. I’d say he’s around 15lbs at the moment. He’s my only one as I’ve had some trouble with his mom being a little big for even my ranger and so I get about 50% clear eggs and the others just don’t seem to be too thrifty when hatching. I had three make it to lockdown, externally pip and then quit on me The most interesting thing to me is I believe my hen throws sex links. The first time I hatched from her I got a black and a white chick. The black one died and the white one turned into Hulk, as I’ve named him The second time I put her under my Australorp rooster instead of my ranger and though none of those hatched when I cracked open the pipped eggs there were two colors, black and white. I don’t know if that’s true for any other hens but it was an interesting observation I think.
My red ranger hens will be 2 in March and are some of my better layers, 5 eggs a week on average. The biggest is about 10lbs and the other two are around 8. I’ve never withheld food from them and they’re just as active as everyone else. Yeah, they seem to be able to get up with everyone else just fine! I’ve had mine fly 4’ Fences before. Mine started laying last November and didn’t quit till this fall when they went into molt. I know at least one is laying again.

This is Hulk, he’s 8 months in these.
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He makes normal sized hens look like bantams!
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I like how Red Rangers do not allow other chickens to pick on them. They let the roosters mate with them but other than that they seem to set things straight with anything that dares challenge them. Even when they were Pullets, once they were bigger they took charge. Never do they sit down like CX and let other chickens peck at them. They are quite athletic too, agile, strong scratching endurance as they free range, even when they become Obese as I let mine do. Its not like I have a serious breeding project and I can get them again next year since a local TSC seems to have them at least for one week during Chick Days. So I let them over eat to see how long it takes them to eat themselves until they can't breeding. I only keep the female meat birds though figuring the males might be too big for Heritage Hens. When I get my CX pullet, I won't even waste time letting her over eat because I have already raised them for meat and know how big they can get and how fast they get that way. She will be rationed from day one. I might even go with 15% protein once she is feathered out. I want to keep her as thin as possible.

Thanks for the pictures, I loved seeing your giant meat bird cross

 

[Compost King]

Silver Grey Dorking x Red Ranger 4 weeks old to the day. Significantly larger than the BC Maran x Cuckoo Marans in the the same brooder. Some might be BCM x Easter Egger too but they are the same size so it doesn't matter. Starting to form a Columbian Pattern.
I haven't held him/her since the first 2 weeks when he was in the indoor brooder so I am not certain if he is putting on weight. He might just be big framed. My dorkings didn't put on weight for a long time, they also didn't grow out their frame any faster than others their age.

 

[dan26552]

View attachment 1613600
Silver Grey Dorking x Red Ranger 4 weeks old to the day. Significantly larger than the BC Maran x Cuckoo Marans in the the same brooder. Some might be BCM x Easter Egger too but they are the same size so it doesn't matter. Starting to form a Columbian Pattern.
I haven't held him/her since the first 2 weeks when he was in the indoor brooder so I am not certain if he is putting on weight. He might just be big framed. My dorkings didn't put on weight for a long time, they also didn't grow out their frame any faster than others their age.

He looks good. He looks a lot Hulk did when he was little.

 

[dan26552]

I like how Red Rangers do not allow other chickens to pick on them. They let the roosters mate with them but other than that they seem to set things straight with anything that dares challenge them. Even when they were Pullets, once they were bigger they took charge. Never do they sit down like CX and let other chickens peck at them. They are quite athletic too, agile, strong scratching endurance as they free range, even when they become Obese as I let mine do. Its not like I have a serious breeding project and I can get them again next year since a local TSC seems to have them at least for one week during Chick Days. So I let them over eat to see how long it takes them to eat themselves until they can't breeding. I only keep the female meat birds though figuring the males might be too big for Heritage Hens. When I get my CX pullet, I won't even waste time letting her over eat because I have already raised them for meat and know how big they can get and how fast they get that way. She will be rationed from day one. I might even go with 15% protein once she is feathered out. I want to keep her as thin as possible.

Thanks for the pictures, I loved seeing your giant meat bird cross

My red ranger rooster was a wimp! Let the little tiny 5lb Leghorn rooster beat him up That was always funny to watch. They were the same age so it wasn’t like an older rooster was putting him in his place. He’s out grown that now and is head rooster. They’re quite active. I haven’t had any problems so far with my rooster being too big for heritage hens. Though he’s 3-4 times the size of my Leghorn hens he’s yet to hurt one. The Rhode Island reds I bred him to weren’t too small though.
That sounds like a good plan.

 

[Compost King]

Who developed faster? the leghorn or the Red Ranger? I have had both but never at the same time. I believe my Red Ranger Hens laid a week or 2 sooner than my Leghorns did but I wasn't marking calendars when I had Leghorns.

 

[dan26552]

Who developed faster? the leghorn or the Red Ranger? I have had both but never at the same time. I believe my Red Ranger Hens laid a week or 2 sooner than my Leghorns did but I wasn't marking calendars when I had Leghorns.

The leghorns definitely developed faster than the rangers however that batch of rangers was off on so many things I doubt it’s a fair comparison. They took way longer to grow out than they should have. The only reason I have the four I do is because they were too small to send to the butcher. They’re offspring however did a lot better so I’m really not sure what was wrong with them. I know this years pullets started laying around 6 months and did in fact start laying before a Leghorn pullet. (Who at nine 9 months has yet to lay)

 

[Compost King]

Yeah I re read your posts and saw that they were hatched in March and laid in November, mine were hatched in late February and laid in late June or Early July. So we definitely had different batches or there was an environmental factor.

 

[dan26552]

Yeah I re read your posts and saw that they were hatched in March and laid in November, mine were hatched in late February and laid in late June or Early July. So we definitely had different batches or there was an environmental factor.

Well I got mine from a local breeder we’ve used before who usually produces good birds but not that time. They are awful.

 

[Compost King]

I got mine from Tractor Supply. If the local breeder is breeding Red Ranger to Red Ranger then its going to lose Hybrid Vigor which may cause them to not lay so soon. But I have no idea if that local breeder is making them as a Hybrid or just rebreeding hybrids. Or that is what my research leads me to believe. I have scored a big zero on the experience scale, maybe a 0.1 if you include what I have done and posted on this thread as experience. maybe 0.0001.
Hulk is a really big boy so even if Hybrid Vigor was lost along the way they still have impressive size genetics that carry down.

 

[dan26552]

I got mine from Tractor Supply. If the local breeder is breeding Red Ranger to Red Ranger then its going to lose Hybrid Vigor which may cause them to not lay so soon. But I have no idea if that local breeder is making them as a Hybrid or just rebreeding hybrids. Or that is what my research leads me to believe. I have scored a big zero on the experience scale, maybe a 0.1 if you include what I have done and posted on this thread as experience. maybe 0.0001.
Hulk is a really big boy so even if Hybrid Vigor was lost along the way they still have impressive size genetics that carry down.

I don’t think he was breeding hybrid to hybrid but I don’t know. He’s a (or was) a really big local breeder. Owned S&G poultry. Something that I found interesting is that when I bred my rangers back to themselves it actually improved hardiness and growth. They were still not great and I lost quite a few but they were better and matured faster. The pullets grew to about 8-9lbs by 6 months. An improvement from last year.
Hulk is indeed a big boy, I think he got the best of both worlds from his parents.
I don’t have a whole lot of experience either this was my first year breeding chickens to any extent.