Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[Compost King]

Just to give an update on the CX I am rationing feed to. At 11 weeks of age she is only 6 .0 pounds. Very active still and I am hoping to keep her alive long enough to mate with the white Naked Neck I have.

 

[BlueBaby]

@Compost King Are you going to be weighing any more of them this weekend?

 

[Compost King]

@Compost King Are you going to be weighing any more of them this weekend?

I have eaten all but one Male, I am going to breed the one male I have left to his half sister Full bred Dorking. The last one weighed in at 5.3 pounds at 16 and half weeks. My new way of doing this now that I have a feel for raising chickens for meat is to eat them at 5 pounds and judge them by how soon they get to 5 pounds. I when all the females start laying I am going to weigh them to compare to their mothers size. Currently I am not breeding the Red Rangers because the Naked Neck literally tore up one of the red rangers to where she needed serious medical attention by me. He was breeding to hard on them and now they have their own coop and run eating medicated feed. She had cuts on her back and thigh that got infected, fairly deep too. I used Neosporin on the wounds and cleaned them out the best I could. I treated them both for Mites although I only found one mite on the wounded one... not in Infestation but since I was tending to other medical needs I sprayed them down and put them in a freshly cleaned out and treated coop... and renovated as I removed all old wood and put in new wood and some hard ware cloth. The one that lays the largest eggs was not the one who got hurt. I am going to start weighing the Naked Neck X Red Ranger with rationed feed. I held her for the first time since moving her to her run with the CX and she felt nice and hefty. Most of her weight was put on by foraging a compost pile. She only eats a little of the rationed feed and then goes to foraging. The CX eats a while longer before the feed runs out than forages. I want to record her weight and compare it to her sisters after her and see how much of a difference there is. There was a month pause between the the first NN X RR and her siblings because the Red Rangers took a month off from laying. The Red Rangers themselves foraged very well before I penned them to breed them.

The Oldest NN X RR turns 13 weeks and is on Rationed Feed. I will weigh her tonight unless I happen to catch her for what ever reason and weigh her during the day. Or if she is soaking wet from rain I will wait for when she is dry.
The next batch is only 6 weeks old and too soon to start weighing.

Update on the SGD X RR hens, Some of the older ones are laying, They do not lay often. Dorking do not lay well in summer heat and its been hot. The eggs are bantam size even though I only hatched the eggs from the Red Ranger with the super jumbo eggs. The eggs will slowly get bigger I assume. One lays a soft shell or no shell egg. When I find out who it is she is going to be eaten. One of the benefits of large chickens, the bad layers are worth eating.

Update on the Ayam Cemani X Red Ranger (full disclosure the AC rooster is likely not a pure AC it has a few issues and Was a cull that went into the Meat Bird breeding program) They were my best layers for a few months but slowed down. I get about 3 to 4 eggs a week now. They will lay for 2 days, take 2 days off... or go every other day. The 2 seem to lay in Tandem, if one lays that day so will the other, and other days I get no eggs from them.

Update on the Broody Dorking's with meat birds. I forgot to mark down what day they hatched! Good think I documented the hatch in this thread so when ever I took the first pictures was right about the time the 2nd one hatched which was 3 or 4 days after the first. The 2 hens were fighting over resources so as soon as I had a space available to accommodate a broody mama and chicks I moved them. One hen rejected all her black chicks but the other hen accepted them. The one hen who rejected the black chicks actually attacks them when she is in range to attack them causing the other mama bird to hide in the darkest worst corner where I delivered feed and water until I could move them this morning. There was a serious Mite issue the first week but I inspected the chicks today when I moved them and all that work I put into Spraying dusting and cleaning out that coop paid off, not a single mite on a single chick. the Mother wasn't about to let me inspect her, she was quite angry about me moving them but I believe she is happier now. What gets me about the the Hen attacking the black chicks is that she doesn't attack the ones with black feathers she attacks the ones with black skin. there are only 2, 1 naked neck and one fully feathered. She must see them as sick and doesn't want them near her brood. She did reject a Black Feathered one that does not have black skin but she doesn't peck at that one. Racist Hen? oh well, I can't change her mind about it.

before I finished this post I went out and weighed my 12 week old CX and my 13 week old NN X Red Ranger the CX is 7.1 pounds and the NN X RR is 2.6 pounds. I am curious as to how big the NN x RR would be if she had decent feed available.

The CX was hiding in the coop due to fear of a few rain drops (not even really raining) One of the Dorking Mamas is all excited to be free from the other more aggressive mama, and the NN X RR was in a Temp coop/Run Set up where she could freely eat high protein meat bird food as I weighed her Best Friend the CX Pullet. She actually didn't touch the feed she looked for a way to escape and then scratched around for food... I need to get back to work so I am not proof reading this, probably tons of mistakes but I thought I would update folks on what is going on.

 

[BlueBaby]

I have eaten all but one Male, I am going to breed the one male I have left to his half sister Full bred Dorking. The last one weighed in at 5.3 pounds at 16 and half weeks. My new way of doing this now that I have a feel for raising chickens for meat is to eat them at 5 pounds and judge them by how soon they get to 5 pounds. I when all the females start laying I am going to weigh them to compare to their mothers size. Currently I am not breeding the Red Rangers because the Naked Neck literally tore up one of the red rangers to where she needed serious medical attention by me. He was breeding to hard on them and now they have their own coop and run eating medicated feed. She had cuts on her back and thigh that got infected, fairly deep too. I used Neosporin on the wounds and cleaned them out the best I could. I treated them both for Mites although I only found one mite on the wounded one... not in Infestation but since I was tending to other medical needs I sprayed them down and put them in a freshly cleaned out and treated coop... and renovated as I removed all old wood and put in new wood and some hard ware cloth. The one that lays the largest eggs was not the one who got hurt. I am going to start weighing the Naked Neck X Red Ranger with rationed feed. I held her for the first time since moving her to her run with the CX and she felt nice and hefty. Most of her weight was put on by foraging a compost pile. She only eats a little of the rationed feed and then goes to foraging. The CX eats a while longer before the feed runs out than forages. I want to record her weight and compare it to her sisters after her and see how much of a difference there is. There was a month pause between the the first NN X RR and her siblings because the Red Rangers took a month off from laying. The Red Rangers themselves foraged very well before I penned them to breed them.

The Oldest NN X RR turns 13 weeks and is on Rationed Feed. I will weigh her tonight unless I happen to catch her for what ever reason and weigh her during the day. Or if she is soaking wet from rain I will wait for when she is dry.
The next batch is only 6 weeks old and too soon to start weighing.

Update on the SGD X RR hens, Some of the older ones are laying, They do not lay often. Dorking do not lay well in summer heat and its been hot. The eggs are bantam size even though I only hatched the eggs from the Red Ranger with the super jumbo eggs. The eggs will slowly get bigger I assume. One lays a soft shell or no shell egg. When I find out who it is she is going to be eaten. One of the benefits of large chickens, the bad layers are worth eating.

Update on the Ayam Cemani X Red Ranger (full disclosure the AC rooster is likely not a pure AC it has a few issues and Was a cull that went into the Meat Bird breeding program) They were my best layers for a few months but slowed down. I get about 3 to 4 eggs a week now. They will lay for 2 days, take 2 days off... or go every other day. The 2 seem to lay in Tandem, if one lays that day so will the other, and other days I get no eggs from them.

Update on the Broody Dorking's with meat birds. I forgot to mark down what day they hatched! Good think I documented the hatch in this thread so when ever I took the first pictures was right about the time the 2nd one hatched which was 3 or 4 days after the first. The 2 hens were fighting over resources so as soon as I had a space available to accommodate a broody mama and chicks I moved them. One hen rejected all her black chicks but the other hen accepted them. The one hen who rejected the black chicks actually attacks them when she is in range to attack them causing the other mama bird to hide in the darkest worst corner where I delivered feed and water until I could move them this morning. There was a serious Mite issue the first week but I inspected the chicks today when I moved them and all that work I put into Spraying dusting and cleaning out that coop paid off, not a single mite on a single chick. the Mother wasn't about to let me inspect her, she was quite angry about me moving them but I believe she is happier now. What gets me about the the Hen attacking the black chicks is that she doesn't attack the ones with black feathers she attacks the ones with black skin. there are only 2, 1 naked neck and one fully feathered. She must see them as sick and doesn't want them near her brood. She did reject a Black Feathered one that does not have black skin but she doesn't peck at that one. Racist Hen? oh well, I can't change her mind about it.

before I finished this post I went out and weighed my 12 week old CX and my 13 week old NN X Red Ranger the CX is 7.1 pounds and the NN X RR is 2.6 pounds. I am curious as to how big the NN x RR would be if she had decent feed available.
View attachment 1771708 View attachment 1771709 View attachment 1771710
The CX was hiding in the coop due to fear of a few rain drops (not even really raining) One of the Dorking Mamas is all excited to be free from the other more aggressive mama, and the NN X RR was in a Temp coop/Run Set up where she could freely eat high protein meat bird food as I weighed her Best Friend the CX Pullet. She actually didn't touch the feed she looked for a way to escape and then scratched around for food... I need to get back to work so I am not proof reading this, probably tons of mistakes but I thought I would update folks on what is going on.

Sometime's it's good to write thing's down as you have here in this thread. You can alway's go back over it later. You might spot something that you would do differently next time?

Sorry that your NN boy was tearing up the girl's. How old is he supposed to be? My Charley is good to his hen's, and so far everyone that has one of his son's has been telling me that they are good boy's. The chick's that I hatched last month on the 14th are all out there in the grow-out pen, and I am looking at them more closely now for sign's of who the boy's are. I also have to keep an eye on them, because there are also silkie chick's in there with them, so they will have to be separated soon.

 

[lauralou]

Update on the Broody Dorking's with meat birds... One hen rejected all her black chicks but the other hen accepted them. The one hen who rejected the black chicks actually attacks them when she is in range to attack them causing the other mama bird to hide in the darkest worst corner where I delivered feed and water until I could move them this morning. There was a serious Mite issue the first week but I inspected the chicks today when I moved them and all that work I put into Spraying dusting and cleaning out that coop paid off, not a single mite on a single chick. the Mother wasn't about to let me inspect her, she was quite angry about me moving them but I believe she is happier now. What gets me about the the Hen attacking the black chicks is that she doesn't attack the ones with black feathers she attacks the ones with black skin. there are only 2, 1 naked neck and one fully feathered. She must see them as sick and doesn't want them near her brood. She did reject a Black Feathered one that does not have black skin but she doesn't peck at that one. Racist Hen? oh well, I can't change her mind about it.

I once had a broody Blue Andalusian hen who rejected certain chicks. I had ordered Black Australorps and Rhode Island Red chicks from a hatchery, and she would only accept the Black Australorps. I thought that was interesting, as she was a blue/black/splash kind of bird, only wanting the black chicks and not the reds. Fortunately I had other broodies at the time, so I did some egg shuffling and gave the RIR chicks to another hen, who was happy to have them.

 

[Kris5902]

She only eats a little of the rationed feed and then goes to foraging. The CX eats a while longer before the feed runs out than forages. I want to record her weight and compare it to her sisters after her and see how much of a difference there is.
~~~
She must see them as sick and doesn't want them near her brood. She did reject a Black Feathered one that does not have black skin but she doesn't peck at that one. Racist Hen? oh well, I can't change her mind about it.
~~~
I need to get back to work so I am not proof reading this, probably tons of mistakes but I thought I would update folks on what is going on.

Thanks for the update! It reads just fine to me. May I ask how much feed you’re giving to the hens that are being rationed? And the racist hen thing is hilarious... I’ve seen it in my mixed flock where the dominant group was beating up on the larger sized but fewer in numbers chickens... I didn’t think a broody would be that prejudiced towards her own chicks though!

 

[Compost King]

I give them 200 Milliliters at morning and again at night. I should only feed them at night that amount but I feel bad not giving them breakfast. They actually do not eat it all at once, they eat some then the Naked Neck x Red Ranger wants to forage the compost pile they are penned in with then. She loves to forage and the CX eventually follows. I believe the buddy system drives this more than the rationing. I got lucky and the other bird loves to forage so the CX follows her lead.

 

[Kris5902]

My rangers are a lazy bunch. I’ve quit giving them breakfast first thing to force some foraging. About 6-7 am I move them to fresh pasture in the morning and scatter about 2lbs of feed into the grass for them to “hunt” along with the greens and bugs. At 9-10am I fill a 3lb hanging feeder and three troughs. I move them a second time and refill the feeders sometime between 4-6pm. I’m going through about half a 5 gallon bucket a day. And 6 gallons of water. I’m thinking I might want to feed a bit more, as they seem to be plateauing in weight.

I’m down to 38 birds now in a 6x8 tractor. (One ended up on its back and died) I also lost the Barnvelder I was going to cross them to, so am now considering my two smaller ones or buying some heritage Meat stock ($$$) sooner than I originally expected. I’m wondering if I can maybe borrow back the one I sold for stud purposes. Far too much of my feed is coming as dust, so I’m thinking when I’m through this pallet I may switch suppliers.

I’m going to set my layer eggs in the incubator tomorrow, Blue Wheaton AmeraucanaXMarans? over a Columbia Rock and HyLine red layer hens and some pure Marans/ MaransX’s.

 

[Compost King]

My rangers are a lazy bunch. I’ve quit giving them breakfast first thing to force some foraging. About 6-7 am I move them to fresh pasture in the morning and scatter about 2lbs of feed into the grass for them to “hunt” along with the greens and bugs. At 9-10am I fill a 3lb hanging feeder and three troughs. I move them a second time and refill the feeders sometime between 4-6pm. I’m going through about half a 5 gallon bucket a day. And 6 gallons of water. I’m thinking I might want to feed a bit more, as they seem to be plateauing in weight.

I’m down to 38 birds now in a 6x8 tractor. (One ended up on its back and died) I also lost the Barnvelder I was going to cross them to, so am now considering my two smaller ones or buying some heritage Meat stock ($$$) sooner than I originally expected. I’m wondering if I can maybe borrow back the one I sold for stud purposes. Far too much of my feed is coming as dust, so I’m thinking when I’m through this pallet I may switch suppliers.

I’m going to set my layer eggs in the incubator tomorrow, Blue Wheaton AmeraucanaXMarans? over a Columbia Rock and HyLine red layer hens and some pure Marans/ MaransX’s.

Sometimes I wish there were farms locally that kept all roosters that people could borrow or rent out for studding. Many people do not want to have a rooster full time and would just like fertile eggs in late winter or early spring. I may consider it after I move, since its just the manure I want but then I would need to find clients. They could trade me eggs for stud service. I would also have to acquire the roosters and have top quality roosters... something I do not have an eye for. Maybe one day I will get interested in Standard of Perfection (instead of Standard of production which i currently concern myself with) and be able to do something like that. The Roosters are so much better looking and fun to spend time with.

 

[BlueBaby]

Sometimes I wish there were farms locally that kept all roosters that people could borrow or rent out for studding. Many people do not want to have a rooster full time and would just like fertile eggs in late winter or early spring. I may consider it after I move, since its just the manure I want but then I would need to find clients. They could trade me eggs for stud service. I would also have to acquire the roosters and have top quality roosters... something I do not have an eye for. Maybe one day I will get interested in Standard of Perfection (instead of Standard of production which i currently concern myself with) and be able to do something like that. The Roosters are so much better looking and fun to spend time with.

I don't think that I would just rent out rooster's like that. You'd never know what kind of diseases that they could bring back to your other boy's upon return. Not everyone takes precaution's, and thing's can happen.