Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[aliciaplus3]

I got out with my camera today to get some pictures of this spring's hatch. First picture is of the lone Red Ranger chick with Mom. It's not a great picture, but I'm starting to get a rooster vibe out of this one.

Next is my second broody -- she has 5 chicken total, with 3 of them being Naked Necks. And last, a good close up of two of the NNs. I can't wait to see their adult feathering.

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I love my nn.... right now we have a Lot of dominant white in ours. I do have a couple red rangers from this spring that look to be hens that I plan to try and keep for a similar project. I really enjoy seeing your projects and where they ste going.

 

[Compost King]

I ended up with a Rhode Island White Cockerel at age 15.5 weeks, he weighs 3.8 pounds. Anyone experienced with raising Heritage Cockerels for meat and wants to share their thoughts on weather I should keep him for crossing with my Red Rangers and other meat birds or should I just Camp Freezer him. In my mind he seems pretty big for his age but due to a lack of experience with cockerels/roosters I have no idea if he has an above or below average growth rate.

 

[Compost King]

I snagged a picture of Rhode Island White. He some how ended up in a White Leghorn Pullet Pen but just had a big bulky shape and was starting to resemble a rooster... and leghorn roosters have much larger comb and waddles. I knew I had a RI white straight run somewhere in my flocks. Now I gotta figure out what to do with this impulse buy from TSC.

 

[Molpet]

I ended up with a Rhode Island White Cockerel at age 15.5 weeks, he weighs 3.8 pounds. Anyone experienced with raising Heritage Cockerels for meat and wants to share their thoughts on weather I should keep him for crossing with my Red Rangers and other meat birds or should I just Camp Freezer him. In my mind he seems pretty big for his age but due to a lack of experience with cockerels/roosters I have no idea if he has an above or below average growth rate.

well maybe the BR cockerel I got from big R was larger than normal, because he dressed out at over 3 lbs without the skin or wing tips at 16 wks

 

[Molpet]

a couple of weeks older

https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/fnc12-866/

 

[Compost King]

Thanks for the chart @Molpet .. I am going to keep him, he seems a bit large compared to other birds I bought at the same time, at least a large frame. I like the color too (white) which is ideal for meat birds. The Yellow skin is ideal too. I will weigh him at 18 weeks and 4 days and if he is 4.5ish he is a keeper. Now the only problem is making him a pen as I am maxed out on Rooster capacity. He might have to live in a ground tractor until a new Rooster apartment pops up.

 

[Kris5902]

Thanks for the chart @Molpet .. I am going to keep him, he seems a bit large compared to other birds I bought at the same time, at least a large frame. I like the color too (white) which is ideal for meat birds. The Yellow skin is ideal too. I will weigh him at 18 weeks and 4 days and if he is 4.5ish he is a keeper. Now the only problem is making him a pen as I am maxed out on Rooster capacity. He might have to live in a ground tractor until a new Rooster apartment pops up.

Sounds like me... I like the rooster, he’s great, but where the heck can I put him? I need more pullets, if just to keep the boys sane. I’m really considering sending a couple of my roosters in on Thursday as well as my meat birds... but I just love them too much, their conformation and sizes are great for DP/layer breeds... but the cockerel pen idea didn’t work out for me at all. My husband refers to the three remaining as “the prison yard gang” for good reason.

 

[Kris5902]

Well today was processing day! Yesterday I sorted out my *hopefully* pullets, only one of which I am 100% certain of, and this morning I packed up 30 rangers for slaughter. $212 for the birds, and due to a equipment malfunction I’m going to double my ferry fare to around $100 and we can’t get the birds until tomorrow. 5 had breast blisters from lying down too much... “broken toes”, the “girl who couldn’t walk”, and probably a few other really lazy ground feeders. $105 cost for 30 birds plus $40 ($80 shared) shipping fee. I have yet to figure out my exact feed costs, as I’m going to have to reverse figure from my remaining bags.

I should have dressed weights and average cost per bird figured out by the end of the week. These Ranger holdbacks might actually be my most expensive breeding pullets yet! So I’m onto phase two... growing these girls out so I can start crossing them. I’m planning two or three more Meat batches, one of Mistral Gris in about a month, and a second Ranger/Dark Cornish batch about 4 weeks after that. So if I’m still short Ranger pullets for breeding I can supplement my stock with those.

With the heat and transportation challenges in getting them to the abbatoir, it’s a good thing I didn’t start another batch two to four weeks after these ones. I may look into eventually buying a small boat, which would reduce travel time from 4 hours to 1, and allow us to get them in in the early morning, before the heat of the day.

 

[123RedBeard]

I may look into eventually buying a small boat,

If I lived on an island ... I would definitely own my own boat ... can come and go at my own schedule, and cost ... just keep extra spare fuel on island, fill/top up before leaving mainland ...

 

[Kris5902]

Well, technically we have 2 boats on the farm, they just aren’t “Practical”. One is a 20’ Sail boat that's barely wide enough for a chicken crate, and the other (the original “Farm Truck” from before the “illegal” road went in , thanks neighbors!) is up on blocks in the horse field and will one day probably be turned into a B&B type accommodation/glamping.

Mostly we rely on the 4 ferries/day for transport, otherwise we would need a vehicle on both sides of the water for shopping and such. I do have a spare truck we could park on the island the other abbatoir is on. My Husband works there several days every week or so. We could time things out I’m sure, but that will be a long term goal.

The “Island conundrum” is primarily why I’m looking to get a solid meat hybrid cross I can hatch at home... shipping rates plus cost of chicks is much higher due to having to fly them in. For personal use I’m happy to process my own behind the barn, but for sale I need to have them done in an inspected facility that will do chickens. It’s not that we couldn’t, just that the owners won’t do them