Freedom Rangers available June 29

[JanetinTenn]

Hello to All,

The Freedom Rangers breeding stock were housed at Heying Firms Inc. of West Union Iowa.
After the business break up, they were sold to JM Hatchery in New Holland Pennsylvania. JM sells them under the name of Red Bro (Broilers) and told me yesterday that the next batch will be available June 29.

They can be ordered thru their site: www.JMHatchery.com
or by phone at: 717/330-3247

I have heard so many good things about these birds that I am really looking forward to having them! Janet in Tenn

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

They have french muscovies! Been looking for those! FR's and french muscovies this is a great find!

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Is it me, or are their FRs expensive?

Are FRs an F1 cross, or do they breed true?

-Kim

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

Quote:
Just looked and...they are. I could get cornish rocks for sixty cents each.

 

[SimplyAbundantFarm]

Don't forget that shipping is included with the JM birds. I had Freedom Rangers ordered before they went out of business and my shipping for 50 birds was going to be close to $30 to Maryland -- bringing the cost to about $1.30 per bird.

I got 100 and kept 60 for myself -- so mine actually ended up being cheaper than my original FR order would have been. They still aren't going to be as cheap as your $ 0.60 Cornish Crosses...but they're great birds and worth the extra money, in my opinion. I am going to process mine in two batches -- the bigger cockerels at the end of June and the pullets a week or so later. They are great birds -- fast growing, healthy and active. I couldn't be more pleased. Plus, Joel -- the owner of JM is really easy to work with and a really nice guy.

Kim -- they are a hybrid, so they will not breed true.

 

[SimplyAbundantFarm]

One other thing you will want to be careful about is not using the term Freedom Rangers when describing these birds. There was a post about a month ago where someone had been in touch with Barbara Aaron (the Freedom Ranger people) and she made it clear that the name Freedom Rangers is a proprietary name. Joel Martin is not advertising his birds as Freedom Rangers -- but they are of the same Hubbard colored broiler genetics. I just want to make sure we're not getting anyone into any trouble here and to lead people to believe that they are advertising something that they are not legally entitled to call them.

I know this because I made the same mistake earlier...and got kinda beat up over it on the forum.

 

[pips&peeps]

I hate to get off the subject of the original post, but Mary did the original people patent or trademark the name?

They are technically freedom rangers aren't they? That's like buying a Ford and once you get it off the lot you can't call it a Ford anymore.....

 

[SimplyAbundantFarm]

It is my understanding that they do, indeed, have proprietary rights to the name -- they spell that out very clearly on their website (www.freedomrangers.net). Bear in mind that they were not the 'inventors' of this bird -- for lack of a better word. They were, however, in my opinion, brilliant marketers of a very catchy trade name.

Actually, I think it is more like Jell-O or Kleenex. People use these trade names as a sort of catch-all, generic term for flavored, colored, sweetened gelatin or tissues in a cardboard box. However, the local store brand cannot be called Jell-O or Kleenex -- even if these items came from the very same manufacturer and are made from the very same ingredients as the Jell-O or Kleenex brand items.

The actual stock for these birds -- whether it be Joel Martin's Red Bro Broilers and MT-DI's Color Pak Broilers or the Freedom Rangers were from the Hubbard Breeders Color Range Broilers, as far as I can tell. Same genetics, same birds...but just a different package.

The other thing that intrigues me about this whole thing is the fact that so many people (including the FR website, as a matter of fact) refer to them as the Freedom Ranger 'breeds'. If they were an actual breed, they would breed true. They're actually a hybrid -- a great hybrid, I might add -- but certainly not a new breed of chickens.

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
Ok, several points to make here:

1) Heying did not have all the breeding stock. The stock was spread out amongst several farms, including some amish who were raising them.

2) Everyone already knew that the Red Bro's were identical to the Freedom Rangers. Your story does not match with what JM told me, which is that they got their breeding stock directly from Hubbard.

3) I still find it offensive that you witheld the information... but find it simultaneosly commical that everyone already knew the Red Bro's from JM were the same bird.

Well done.

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
No they are F1 and do not breed true.

They are not expensive when you consider you don't have the 25% mortality compared to normal cornish crosses.