Freedom Ranger update @ 7 weeks Lots & Lots of PICTURES!!!!

[moenmitz]

YUM! PC, those look good enough to eat! Mine just started trying to crow too- it is this horrible strangled sound-absolutely hysterical! Gotta tell ya, thanks for the chicken hypnotizing trick! Makes it SO much easier to weigh them...and it is just hysterical to watch...well, for me anyway, but then, my world is pretty small! We did it to my brown leghorn rooster, who gets spitting mad when you pick him up- he goes out so fast his head falls backward and his eyes roll back in his head. He lays there with his feet twitching for a good 3-4 minutes. Then he wakes up, jumps up, and fluffs up his feathers, and struts away crowing...trying to re-establish his manhood I think....

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Here's a new question: With all the mileage these meat birds are getting ranging around the yard, does it make their meat tougher? Or just help them to be more muscular & meaty?

I always try to confine my meat birds to a pen or tractor so they won't run around as much. I'd even give them recliner chairs and a big-screen TV to keep them more sedentary, but they'd just poop all over them.

Can you really let these Rangers free-range? Does the varied diet make the meat taste better? Does it reduce the amount of feed they require? Does it distribute their poops over a farther range, rather than having it all pile up in the coop? Is their meat as tender as confined Cornish Xs?

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
They are good enough to eat but they are so darn friendly I'm having a hard time.
Half of them rush me for scratch. I'm choosing which one gets culled based on which one
won't eat out of my hand. Stupid huh? You have them so you know how cool these
birds are.

Glad the hypnotizing thing works for you. I just set my son loose on them.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
All I can say, since I've never raised Cornish other than the 20 cornish babies I have
in the brooder, is cornish are fat, lazy, piggy, fast growing, stinky birds.

My rangers have been in my barn, fed very well, allowed to range a little, and taste great.
It's not like a cornish but it's the next best thing. Flavor and texture is better to me but
taste is a personal thing.

 

[the1much]

you all need to STOP saying things like this,,,,,GEESH,, i dont want to have to build MORE pens!!

do ya feed them starter the whole time? ,, man i think that stuff gives a bird a nasty flavor.



uhoh,,, i think im starting to drool

 

[moenmitz]

Quote:
Well, I have not eaten mine yet, so I can't speak from personal experience, but from what I have read-yes, they will have more muscle, yes, the texture will be different than that of "sedentary" birds- I have had plenty of very well exercised free- ranged chicken (just not Rangers) and I personally enjoy the texture more. I would compare it to being somewhat like turkey- you know how it is kind of "stringy" (that soudns bad, I know) but it comes apart when you fork it? It is more like that. Typical chicken reminds me of pressed wood....little bits all compressed and mushy- after becoming used to the other, I can't stand the "mouth feel" of confinement raised chickens. That may be somewhat psychological on my part though. I have a real issue with animals being raised in confinement-their real or imagined happiness plays a role in my enjoyment when it comes to eating them.

Yes, they really do range, quite well. The varied diet makes OTHER chickens taste better, more intense flavor-honestly, store bought chickens to me have almost no taste- they are just sort of ...there...Greyfields swears by the taste of the Rangers...I am REALLY looking forward to seeing if mine live up to it!

Yes, the poop is nicely distributed around the pasture, no poo-piles outside, and even in the coop, it isnt bad as they are only in there at night.

 

[moenmitz]

Quote:
You DO realize there is no end to this chicken madness? I have just accepted it...."resistance is futile...."

As for the starter----I honestly don't knwo how it will affect flavor, I have never raised these, or any chickens, before! I feed mine organic starter mixed with organic un-ground grains, and honestly, it smells WONDERFUL. Not all organic is created equal. I buy my grains direct from a friend with a certified farm, and the feed comes from a local mill (well, about an hour away) They never mix it up until I call to pick it up, and it is super-fresh. Not a thing in it you can't eat yourself, and the lady that mills it said she frequently DOES snatch a handful, just cause it smells so nice. In contrast, the organic starter I got from Purina was just not appealing at all. It had kind of a beige cast to it, not like the bright gold and brown of this stuff, and it smelled kind pueey. I am a firm believer that we are what we eat, so hopefully, this nice stuff will have a positive effect on their taste. They also get a nice assortment of juicy bugs, grass and weeds, since they are outside roaming 12 hours a day. Some chickens grabbed a frog the other day though- that was brutal. Not quite sure how frog might affect the flavor. Wait...it occurs to me....that is almost cannibalism, since evrybody says frog tastes like chicken!!!

 

[moenmitz]

Quote:
I made a point to NOT make friends with these guys-having already gone that unfortunate road with the turkeys, the ducks, the geese...I really CAN'T keep 100 pet meaties! So, I feed em, water em, and DON'T spend too much time watching them lest I start getting attached. I love watching them charge out of the coop in teh morning though-for some reason, they STILL think today might be the day they can fly. Watchign their fat little butts waddling really fast, flapping their wings just as hard as tehy can, really cracks me up. They definitely have a can-do attitude!

 

[SandraMort]

Mine DEFINITELY can fly! Will they stop being able to fly?

 

[Cason]

Frog definately does NOT taste like chicken!