Freedom Ranger Issue

[LilyD]

I went out to feed today and one of the 6 week chicks in the grow out coop was laying on the ground with it's wings spread. It's eating and drinking but not getting up and walking. Other than that one chick everyone else seems to be doing okay. Any ideas what it might be? I am at a loss since they have been doing well up until now.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

That does seem odd. I only have one experience with Freedom Rangers, having raised 35 last summer. While in my experience, they are healthier and more active than Cornish X, I did have one that seemed to have difficulty walking. He was one of the more assertive cockrels and up until about 6 or 7 weeks of age, he seemed larger than the others as well. Around that time I noticed that there was something wierd going on with his legs and I ended up butchering him a week earlier than planned because he was having difficulty walking.

I had something similar with the small batch of CX I raised this spring. One of the roosters was having real leg problems. Because of the condition of one of his legs, he tended to turn in circles when he wanted to go forward. As a result, he'd often put out one wing and drag it to try to steady himeself. He was butchered at 7 weeks while the rest of the rooster were done at 8 weeks and the pullets at 9 weeks.

So, you might pick this one up and examine its legs and then put it down and see if it could walk.

 

[LilyD]

That does seem odd. I only have one experience with Freedom Rangers, having raised 35 last summer. While in my experience, they are healthier and more active than Cornish X, I did have one that seemed to have difficulty walking. He was one of the more assertive cockrels and up until about 6 or 7 weeks of age, he seemed larger than the others as well. Around that time I noticed that there was something wierd going on with his legs and I ended up butchering him a week earlier than planned because he was having difficulty walking.

I had something similar with the small batch of CX I raised this spring. One of the roosters was having real leg problems. Because of the condition of one of his legs, he tended to turn in circles when he wanted to go forward. As a result, he'd often put out one wing and drag it to try to steady himeself. He was butchered at 7 weeks while the rest of the rooster were done at 8 weeks and the pullets at 9 weeks.

So, you might pick this one up and examine its legs and then put it down and see if it could walk.

I checked him out pretty thoroughly yesterday. He seems to be favoring his right leg. Not sure if one of the others maybe jumped on him or something. Other than the leg he is doing well and is still eating and drinking but can't move at all. I brought him in and have him in solitary where he doesn't have room to get up and walk hoping that with some rest maybe the leg will be okay. It doesn't look broken so I am hoping maybe a strain or something. Right now at 6 weeks old they are all too young to process so processing early isn't an option. If it seems to get worse and stops eating and drinking I will cull since I don't want him to suffer needlessly but as long as he is doing okay I will let him hang out in my office lol.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I kept one of my Freedom Ranger Roosters and two of my pullets beyond the normal butchering date in the hopes of hatching out some little FRs the following spring. At one point the rooster couldn't walk, other than sort of shuffling along on his heels. I put him in a wire dog crate in the garage and fed him separatly for awhile and he did get completely better. I think it may have taken several weeks before he seemed to have recovered from what ever had happened. I'm guessing he jumped down from something too high and injured himself, but it is only a guess. So, I hope you have the same success with this one. I think separating it so that it can eat and drink without being pushed around is a good idea.

 

[Life is Good!]

but as long as he is doing okay I will let him hang out in my office lol.

Be careful - this is how house chickens are 'born'!

 

[LilyD]

Be careful - this is how house chickens are 'born'!

I am very worried about that lol. My son just noticed it's a girl which means that we don't necessarily have to eat it. This is how I end up with most of my chickens hehe.

 

[LilyD]

Definitely going to extremes for this little chicken. Got home from work today and noticed that even though it hasn't moved it is still pooping ALOT. Took the baby out of the bucket and washed it's hiney and belly and changed all the bedding for her ( going to say her because if it's a her I won't feel bad about keeping her once she is recuperated lol). Looks like this might be a nightly thing until she is better and moving around. Don't want her getting burns from the poop staying on her too long. Still hoping it's just a sprain she will move her knee but very slowly and she isn't uncurling her toes at all. Fingers crossed she gets better.

 

[douglashawk]

Did you succeed in getting eggs and hatching them? I've always read that they won't breed true so you'll end up with regular sized chickens...

 

[LilyD]

Did you succeed in getting eggs and hatching them? I've always read that they won't breed true so you'll end up with regular sized chickens...

I have never tried but there are others on this forum who have mixed freedom ranger with other breeds and gotten larger chicks. I don't think they breed 100% true to the breed. So even if you breed two FR together I don't think you will get a chick that is as good as a FR but I was told that the girls lay well and you can cross them with other breeds and still get large chicks when you fertilize the eggs. If she makes it I might just give it a try.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I have never tried but there are others on this forum who have mixed freedom ranger with other breeds and gotten larger chicks. I don't think they breed 100% true to the breed. So even if you breed two FR together I don't think you will get a chick that is as good as a FR but I was told that the girls lay well and you can cross them with other breeds and still get large chicks when you fertilize the eggs. If she makes it I might just give it a try.

I tried last year, keeping one very fine rooster and two pullets from a batch of 35 Freedom Rangers hoping to hatch out some 2nd generation FRs this spring. I put them in with my 7 mature laying hens. 2 of my hens were Easter Eggers (blue eggs) and 2 were Welsummers (dark brown egs) 2 were Barred Plymouth Rock (light tan eggs) and 1 White Plymouth Rock (dark tan eggs). I figured the FRs would lay brown eggs of some color but if a few FR/BPR or FR/WPR eggs ended up in the incubator by mistake, the cross would probably produce a decent meat bird anyway.

My experiment was a complete failure. First of all the rooster, while a magnificent fellow was a brute and a rapist. He was easily twice the size of my smallest hen and whould chase all the girls around the run every day. There was no courtship or fancy dancing for the girls, only full out pursuit and then wrestling them down to mount them. Egg production for the whole flock dropped by about 75%. One of the FR pullets, his favorite I guess, was developing a bald spot on her back and when I picked her up to examine her more closely, I discovered that she had nasty open wounds on her sides under her wings from his sharp claws. I suppose that if they had been some kind of prize winning champions I could have purchased a chicken saddle and "rode it out" so to speak, but I scooped up the rooster that very day and put him in solitary until I had the time to butcher him a few days later. He weighed in over 8 lb fully dressed and made a delicious Coc au Vin.

The remaining 2 pullets became layers, first laying the most tiny pullet eggs I had ever seen, almost perfect spheres the size of a cherry tomato. They never were very prolific layers, not nearly to the standards of my other hens and they ate a TON. One developed a prolapse at about...7 or 8 months of age and I butchered her (very tasty Chicken Frickasee) and the other I decided to butcher when she was a year old (Chicken Cacciatore in the crock pot and one of the finest chicken meals I've cooked so far). So, the experiment wasn't a total failure after all. I've decided to keep a few of this year's pullets just to let them come to maturity because the taste of a mature hen, slow cooked is very nice. However, as layers or as a breeding program I'm not sure it makes sense to feed them all winter long so that I could have a few chicks in the spring.

If I decided to do it again I would have to have a coop and run strictly devoted to FRs so that the monster roosters couldn't harass my layers. I'd also probably only consider it if I lived in a climate where I could brood and raise chicks year round because they wouldn't be worth housing and feeding for the amount of eggs they produce. What I'd probably do instead would be to try crossing a FR rooster with a flock of something big and sturdy and more prolific like my BPRs or perhaps even some RIRs