Freedom Rangers 16-18 week dressed weights?

[U_Stormcrow]

I've butchered 6+ pound freedom rangers in just under 9 weeks so I'm sure another week or two and they would be 7+ easily in your time frame.

Live weight, that seems very reasonable and consistent with other reports. But OP was looking for a 7# carcass. Have the Freedom Rangers come that far in the past decade???

 

[iwltfum]

Live weight, that seems very reasonable and consistent with other reports. But OP was looking for a 7# carcass. Have the Freedom Rangers come that far in the past decade???

Absolutely. I've got a 18ish week old Freedom Ranger roaming around the farm that weighs almost 10 pounds on the foot. He's been free range and has lived with our laying flock since he was 8 weeks old when he weighed 4 or 5 pounds, which is when we usually butcher them. He's a bit of a wildcard, mixed-managed escapee, but I have seen 6 pound dressed carcasses from freedom rangers pretty consistently under 10 weeks. Depends on how they are fed and how much exercise they get. Generally we raise them for 7 to 10 weeks in salatin-style pasture pens moved daily across good pasture land with lots of clovers so all those numbers are based on that style, which is rather intensive I guess. It seems that most people that raise freedom rangers like to completely free range them from out of the brooder, which is great and definitely easiest, but the best growth out of them is them is with a closely managed feed ration and movement control - would be the same with any chicken I imagine.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Absolutely. I've got a 18ish week old Freedom Ranger roaming around the farm that weighs almost 10 pounds on the foot. He's been free range and has lived with our laying flock since he was 8 weeks old when he weighed 4 or 5 pounds, which is when we usually butcher them, but I have seen 6 pound dressed carcasses from freedom rangers pretty consistently under 10 weeks. Depends on how they are fed and how much exercise they get. Generally we raise them for 7 to 10 weeks in salatin style pasture pens moved daily across good pasture land with lots of clovers so all those numbers are based on that style, which is rather intensive I guess. It seems that most people that raise freedom rangers like to completely free range them from out of the brooder, which is great and definitely easiest, but the best growth out of them is them is with a closely managed feed ration and movement control - would be the same with any chicken I imagine.

Starting to reconsider my choice not to bring some Rangers in - Yes, I've a culling project, not a breeding project, but if they've come that far.... Hard to say no. I'd stick with current management - free range all day, and a good feeding by me in the evening.

 

[Geena]

As everyone else has stated, you wouldn't want to let the boys get past 12 weeks, as soon as their hormones start flowing the meat gets tougher and they also become harder to process. But you could grow the girls out to 16 weeks to put more size on them, that's what we generally do.

 

[itsmatt]

As everyone else has stated, you wouldn't want to let the boys get past 12 weeks, as soon as their hormones start flowing the meat gets tougher and they also become harder to process. But you could grow the girls out to 16 weeks to put more size on them, that's what we generally do.

Thanks for the response. This is good to know.
Curious how your female freedom rangers dressed out at 16 weeks. Did you see an appreciable increase in size?

Thanks muchly,
Matt

 

[Geena]

Thanks for the response. This is good to know.
Curious how your female freedom rangers dressed out at 16 weeks. Did you see an appreciable increase in size?

Thanks muchly,
Matt

Sorry, I'm not sure, it's been awhile since I raised rangers. We usually raise our own blend of meat mutts. But they definitely put on enough weight to make it worthwhile to wait, for us anyway. Our meat birds are pastured though, it might not be economical if you are pen raising them.

 

[itsmatt]

Sorry, I'm not sure, it's been awhile since I raised rangers. We usually raise our own blend of meat mutts. But they definitely put on enough weight to make it worthwhile to wait, for us anyway. Our meat birds are pastured though, it might not be economical if you are pen raising them.

No worries - definitely will be pasture raising them.
Make it a great day,
Matt

 

[Isadora]

Hi Matt! I've only raised the rangers to 12 weeks. Our average weight was 4.5 lb.

 

[Geena]

Hi Matt! I've only raised the rangers to 12 weeks. Our average weight was 4.5 lb.

I guess much depends on which hatchery you order from, as is so often the case with chickens. The last two batches of rangers we raised got just as big and just as quickly as CornishXs. The cockerels dressed out at around 7.5 lbs @ 12 weeks.

 

[Isadora]

I guess much depends on which hatchery you order from, as is so often the case with chickens. The last two batches of rangers we raised got just as big and just as quickly as CornishXs. The cockerels dressed out at around 7.5 lbs @ 12 weeks.

We got ours from the freedom ranger hatchery in PA. Where did you get yours from? That is an amazing growth rate. Did you free feed them?