Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[Compost King]

they are smaller than a typical dual purpose, kinda leghorn sized. And from my crossings with meat birds I believe that Fibro (black meat). trait stunts growth because I am finding that my attempts at making black meat birds that the crosses that come out normal colored are larger than the siblings that come out with black or grey/Silver meat. I can't confirm this as truth because there are other factors but its something that I am taking note of for now.

 

[VanUnamed]

all i can say on my personal experience, (i did not use rangers breeder this year) that the boy matters a LOT. I had boys being born from my rooster and various hens of no specified breed and not even that big, reaching 15lb in 4 months. I have saved a dozen mixed breed + ranger girls this year, next spring I do ranger + my rooster. I do know they will grow slower, but thats for the best.

 

[jolenesdad]

I get so behind on your thread!

just thought I’d pop in to say I found another bit of info about the Freedom Ranger hatchery Delawares. They are from the old Whitmore Farm line.

So they ARE fairly utility. They are not much improved beyond that.

so those Whitmore farm line birds are now at a minimum:

Deer Run Farm (working on utility)
Freedom Ranger Hatchery (working on utility but such large program it’s probably a little less utility based)
Dawnridge Farm (crossed with another line 6-7 years ago maybe and improved somewhat)

looks like the freedom ranger birds are a good source for a line to work with, but may not necessarily be the biggest straight out of the gate.

 

[Newyorkrita]

Good information to have.

 

[Kris5902]

Power has finally been restored to most of my area and I have internet again. Things are returning to normal.

So, the hatch is now complete. I had 4 strong, healthy Moyer broilers hatch and the 1 NN/BO cross. A 5th Moyer broiler hatched, but unfortunately it hatched with yolk and a large bloody mass outside it's body and I had to cull it. I think it must have something to do with the damage done to the eggs and air sac during shipping. This is the second time I've had to cull a chick like this, and both times they were from shipped eggs that came looking half scrambled.

The 5 chicks have been moved to my converted rabbit hutch/outdoor brooder. This is the first time I have brooded outside from day 1. I've got a Brinsea eco-glow brooder set up for them, as I wanted to get away from heat lamps. It got down into the 40s last night, and I was up at 3 and 6 checking on them, but did fine. Brinsea says their brooder was not for outdoor use and should used in rooms where temperatures don't drop below 50, so I was little worried. I did add a heating plate on the side of the brooder, wedged between the wire cage and outside insulation and it did keep the temperature inside of the brooder about 15 degrees warmer than the outside.

Here are pictures of my set up and the chicks. The NN/BO cross as a fairly well feathered neck, although their is a bit more pink showing through than normal, which you can kinda see on the last shot. Interested to see how it feathers out.

View attachment 1931906 View attachment 1931907 View attachment 1931908 View attachment 1931909 View attachment 1931910

Did you have any issues with the chicks trying to eat the foam board? I caught my RR and CX girls snacking on some foam insulation that blew out of my truck bed in a windstorm, and I know mice will eat it as well, so I’ve been a little leery about using it around my chicks (I had planned an insulated huddle box for my 3 week olds I’m going to have to cut off heat soon)

 

[Compost King]

Did you have any issues with the chicks trying to eat the foam board? I caught my RR and CX girls snacking on some foam insulation that blew out of my truck bed in a windstorm, and I know mice will eat it as well, so I’ve been a little leery about using it around my chicks (I had planned an insulated huddle box for my 3 week olds I’m going to have to cut off heat soon)

Sometimes Styrofoam gets loose where chickens have access and I noticed they always eat it. I guess they just poop it out because I haven't had sick chickens afterwards.

 

[Molpet]

The problems with styrofoam is not immediately. It is an estrogen mimic and is thought it can cause cancer later.
In the short term people have reported an increase in egg production

The only scientific study I have read is on sea turtles.

Did you have any issues with the chicks trying to eat the foam board? I caught my RR and CX girls snacking on some foam insulation that blew out of my truck bed in a windstorm, and I know mice will eat it as well, so I’ve been a little leery about using it around my chicks (I had planned an insulated huddle box for my 3 week olds I’m going to have to cut off heat soon)

Sometimes Styrofoam gets loose where chickens have access and I noticed they always eat it. I guess they just poop it out because I haven't had sick chickens afterwards.

 

[Trimurtisan]

Did you have any issues with the chicks trying to eat the foam board? I caught my RR and CX girls snacking on some foam insulation that blew out of my truck bed in a windstorm, and I know mice will eat it as well, so I’ve been a little leery about using it around my chicks (I had planned an insulated huddle box for my 3 week olds I’m going to have to cut off heat soon)

I had a couple of ducks go to town on a styrofoam insulation board. They ate about 2 square for of it. There was no long term effects. The only thing that happened was they had really strange poop for a day.

If it's there to be found, they'll find it.

 

[Compost King]

My chickens didn't get the chance to eat much of the styrofoam, I got it up and into a garbage bag pretty quick. I have seen them eat Cardboard too but not much of it.

 

[Kris5902]

And I’m all caught up here... looks like there was a lot going on while I was a bit distracted by goings on here on the farm for the last several weeks!

I’m sad to say I lost my Red Ranger Hen a few days ago, at about 6 month of age. So my Red Ranger crosses will have to wait until I’ve grown out the next batch of chicks. I still have 2 CX girls the same age in with Roostie, and have moved them into the 4x8 brooder in the barn for their own safety. “Big Red” appeared to have been jostled onto her back during the night or early morning and unable to get turned right side up.

I was pleasantly surprised at the results of crossing my AmeraucanaXMarans Rooster over Hyline production red Layers. The cockerels weighed in at 3.5-4lbs at 17 weeks dressed and overall the only real disappointment was the very small breasts, something I was hoping to improve be crossing with the Rangers. There were quite a few large and fast growing boys in this batch.

Due to some “housekeeping” my notebook has been temporarily mislocated, so I can’t really give a good cost analysis/profit margin on the feed, but I’m now considering crossing their Sisters to the Random “Red Meat Breed” “heritage” rooster I was planning on breeding Big Red and the CX with.

In the Background of the second picture is “Goose” my third CX girl we culled due to a leg problem. One Bone in Breast on her priced out at $18 and feeds three people with enough leftovers to keep my two cats very happy for the next 2-3 days. At about 5 months old she was actually quite tough and required moist cooking (baked covered with a little water in the pan) comparable in texture to my 19-20 week old layer cockerels.