Freedom Rangers - I will give you the true story-

[carugoman]

Hi Barbara!
We've just bought 12 acres, mostly grassland and bordering a spring fed 64 acre lake, contiguous to our farm. We're looking to expand our operations and this sounds like an opportunity that might dovetail nicely with our near- future business plans. Our local and regional market research has shown a consumer willingness to pay "extra" for higher quality chicken product and we have always offered free- ranged non- caged coop raised meat + brown egg birds of heritage breeds. Cornish crosses never fit into our plans nor did our customer base desire them. Please Post a message and I'll return an E-mail post haste.

Carl & Marilyn

 

[Joel Martin]

Hello Everyone, Janet invited me to share on this forum to help clear up any misinformation or confusion about our situation in relation to the Freedom Rangers and what we have to offer at JM Hatchery.

I would first like to say I was saddned to here about the situation at Freedom Rangers. I had the opportunity to speak with Barbara last week for the first time. She is a wonderful persn and shared with me the situation that brought them to the point that they could not continue.

I first became involved in the situation when Hubbard contacted me and ask if we would be interested in purchasing one of the flocks the Freedom Rangers owned, but were unable to keep. The reason they contacted us here at JM Hatchery was because we had been using the same breeding stock since 2006. We now have several breeding flocks in production and are supplying the live markets in New York City with thousands of Color Range broilers each week. We were also suppling some of the Pasture Poultry Folks who alreaky knew we had this free range colored broiler.

Initially, when Hubbard ask us to purchase the flock, we said no because of the logistics of moving the flock or shipping the eggs to PA. We also knew it would bring quite an increase in orders that we needed to be prepared to fill during our busiest time of the year.

After realizing we had the very bird that so many wonderful people were looking for and would be extremly disappointed if they were unable to purchase them, we reconsidered and decided to purchase the flock in Wisconsin so we would be able to keep up with the increase in orders.
We now have one breeder flock in Wisconsin and two larger ones here in PA near our hatchery. All three flocks are from the Hubbard alternative line of Colored Range Breeders from Europe.

The Wisconsin flock is now coming into peak production, we are still a bit behind on our orders because of the many peoole who have been ordering these great chicks. In 4-6 weeks we should be able to fill all the orders for all the wonderful folks who have come to love this bird.

Here at JM Hatchery we have the Red, Golden, Tri Color, and the Bronze Color Range broiler chicks available. Later this year we will also have the Black Color Range chick.
We will be undating our web site in the next several weeks to better show everone what we have available.
These birds will be hatched year round at our Lancaster County, Pennsylvania hatchery.

If we can help anyone get back on schedule with these birds, let us know. Our web site is JMHatchery.com

Joel Martin, owner of JM Hatchery

 

[greyfields]

Joel,

Thank you so much for coming to join us and for your wonderful customer service so far on selling us all broilers. These are the kinds of birds backyard people should be raising rather than the traditional jumbos. I'm glad to see you really believe in the produce and have been supportive of us "small guys" out there.

Now, if you want to slip a few breeders into my next purchase of day olds, I'd be eternally grateful. No one but us needs to know.

Loren

 

[JanetinTenn]

Hey Joel, I'm glad you joined this forum, but I have to warn you; It's addictive !!

I have been around chickens almost all my life (one of my jobs as a kid was cleaning out my mothers chicken house) and I really enjoy reading the stories folks post on here about their chicken adventures!

As I told you when I last talked to you, I started posting about "Freedom Rangers" just to keep the name alive and generate conversation about that type of bird, in the hopes that someday it will come to replace the pathetic, Frankenbirds that are now the main stay of the chicken industry in the US. We deserve a better quality bird! I know you agree.

Good luck to you, and I am looking forward to receiving my Free Ranging Birds, Janet

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barbara, I hope it doesnt offend you, but I really like the name Freedom Rangers, and I'm going to refer to the ones I get from Joel, as Freedom Rangers from now on. Maybe you can lease the Freedom Ranger name to him for a time.

Its good to have you here, and good luck in whatever you do, Janet in Tennessee

 

[greyfields]

I don't think re-using the Freedom Rangers name is something that will be worked out honestly... but it would be great if Joel could pick a name other than "Red Bro". It's too confusing with the Red/Black Broilers which Ideal (et al.) sell, which are "slow cornish". I think your customers are well educated and would love to see a bit more technical info about what they are purchasing.

 

[greyfields]

I am bumping this because I've been asked 3 times this morning what the deal with FR's was. This is not permission for anyone else to bump posts!

 

[JanetinTenn]

Barbara, if you are still reading this thread, please tell us more about the breeding history of these birds.

I am also curious what types of feeds are fed to the meat birds grown for the European markets. thanks, Janet

 

[Gallina]

I think if you perform a Google search on Poulet Rouge Fermier North Carolina, you will find quite a bit about these birds. You can then go to the Hubbard website and click on the "Classic", mate it with the Naked Neck rooster, and you will get an extensive genetic background on these birds. I am sorry I am being lazy and not posting the actual links, but it is fairly simple.
BTW, I had the "Poulet Rouge" at Lupa Restaurant in Manhattan this past weekend....it is incredible. It was very thin skinned with what can only be described as a "chicken" taste. I am in love with this chicken!

 

[greyfields]

Chicken skin is the best part of the chicken!

 

[Gallina]

Quote:
This skin was aweome! It was perfectly thin and crispy, granted the crispy part had a lot to do with the chef!