Freedom Rangers - I will give you the true story-

[barbaraaaron]

Good day everyone. Janet has invited me to join your forum and I am very happy to do just that.

First of all I want to thank everyone one of you that over the past and recently have posted such complimentary things about our birds.

The Freedom Ranger breeds were not a new breed , yes they are a Hubbard hybrid bird from the genetic pool from label rouge in France.
We never suggested that we had developed this breed always telling the story of the 'breeding company' who had the 52 pure lines and the generation progress to the birds we sold as day old chicks.
We marketed our birds as Freedom Rangers in order to establish a 'brand' that would , hopefully, become a name that was significant with quality breeding and a source of knowledge about our birds, free for the asking.
Our experience comes from our 15 years of working with these birds, and our 'hands on' work as breeder owner, hatchery and grower .

We truly believe that these breeds are the bird for the future of 'alternative' poultry enterprise in the USA. Our knowledge of the expansion of these breeds in Europe allows us some insight into what we think will surely happen here in the USA.

We cannot speak highly enough of Hubbard as breeding company. They have a dedicated and
highly qualified staff, some of whom Brian and I know personally.We consider their colored birds, the best in the world.

We wanted to supply 'the little people' those that the big companies prefer to forget. We wanted to give you all the experience of raising a bird that actually liked to roam and forage, and had a taste
so superior that it was hard to describe.

So let's put some facts straight.

Our breeders were our property and we had all of our breeders with growers in and around Hillsboro Wisconsin. Heying Firms was a contract hatchery only, they held no breeders only provided hatching for us.

Until last week we had no idea who had purchased the young breeder flock, as we had to relinquish ownership back to HUbbards.

Joel and I spoke last Thursday for the first time, and I am satisfied and happy that he is a caring and a genuine person and our birds are safe in his care. We are hoping that the Freedom Ranger name will live on and be prominent in the future, but I cannot be more specific at this time.

Joel already had a small flock of Hubbard Redbro
which is the Bronze Ranger.His main market is the live bird market in New York.

I am sure that Joel and I will be talking again , we are anxious to assist him in any way possible with these birds.

As far as the closing of our business.
We were forced to close due to financial pressures that we could not overcome. Most of these were a result of a business contract that failed and left us in an untenable position.

It has been a very difficult time for us, but we are aware that sometimes in business these things happen. We still have our knowledge and perhaps someday we will be able to use that as an income source or just, for myself, the pleasure of speaking to small producers about these birds.

To see our Freedom Rangers' name survive and the business expand to where we truly believe it should be, will be a source of pride to us. We will feel that our work was not for nothing.

I will be happy to answer any questions you may need answered , or any misunderstandings which I can clarify.
Barbara Aaron

 

[greyfields]

Barbara, thank you for posting here. I'm personally sad to see the Freedom Ranger's go, but it's also a boon that Joel is now carrying the same birds. He seems to be trying very hard to meet demand and believes in his product.

I have my last 50 gold rangers about ready to be processed, with 50 of the Red Bro's following 6 weeks behind them. I hope the transition is seamless.

I've had the pleasure of eating the label rouge birds in Europe and they got me excited about eating chicken again. I think the quality of bird for eating is fantatsic, and ultimately they are more profitable as you're not deailng with the obscene mortality like with the jumbo Cornish Crosses.

Finally, throw us some advice. What was the investment like to be able to get the breeding stock from Hubbard? Would it all be feasible for small producers (of maybe 500 or fewer broilers per year) to have a standing breeding flock? Or, are the contractual difficulties simply too difficult to deal with?

Best wishes and please come back to visit often.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Barbara great to see you here!

I'm so sorry you had that contract loss, it was great seeing your birds do so well and be so well liked. Hope you can get back into it soon.

Please keep in touch and especially let me know if you get anything going in Canada. Or if anyone gets these birds going in Canada!

April

 

[greentree]

Barbara, Thank you!!

I also hope to hear from you on the breeder investment....

Nancy

 

[barbaraaaron]

Hello everyone

Thankyo for your posts regarding breeder flcoks for small producers.

I spoke with HUbbard recently and asked them if they would consider selling small batches of breeders. They want a minimum of 1000 breeders for an order. I sked them if they would consider selling1000 but shipping to 3 different places? I am waiting to hear what they have to say.

Ok let us talk a little about breeder flocks. First of all the birds cost, at day old , about $8 per bird. Then you have the vaccinations, and the growing until about 26 weeks before you get a hatchable egg. At this stage the bird will be worth about $18 per bird.

Start with how many chicks you want per week, or can sell per week.

Say that number is 1000 , then you will require 1000 chicks divided by 80% x 100 = 1250 eggs to be in the incubator.
So divide the 1250 by 7( days eggs are laid per week)
so that will give you 178 per day . Divide 178 by 80 and times by 100 = 223 ggs per day required ( hens laying at 80%)

So you would require 223 breeder females.

The problem comes with the facts that the breeder hen will lay x number of eggs in her laying lifetime ( usually 37 weeks) if you only require chicks in the season ( say 20 weeks) then you will have to throw away eggs or compensate $ wise if you are selling chicks.

Also do not forget the hen lays all year, it does not stop for the season. This is a bird that you will cull at 66 weeks.
Why? because the egg will become too big and the shell too thin for hatching.

We kept 3 flocks on at any one time, first flock young and not in lay, main flock laying, 3rd flock laying but going out of lay. This will keep you hatching egg level even at all times avoiding peaks and valleys.

After all this if any of you are still willing to give this a shot, we can get together on line. This is not for the faint hearted and you should have some disposable $$ behind you.

There are many reasons why we think more regional breeder flocks will be the way to go, but you need to be
a risk taker and enjoy a real challenge.

Hope to hear from some of you entrepreneurs out there.

Barbara

 

[greyfields]

I was hoping to do something in the 2-3 eggs per day category.

 

[dixygirl]

How can I get a few of these or the Label Rouge birds? Can anyone describe the difference in flavor?

 

[greyfields]

They taste of chicken, real chicken.

There is a long list of husbandry standards required to sell under the Label Rouge scheme, or the Organic rules under the soil association in the UK for that matter. They're a bit ahead of us on that front... ok, way ahead of us.

 

[kstaven]

Quote:
I do hope they show up in Canada in the near future.

 

[blue90292]

hi barbara, glad to see you here.

it would be nice to know if we could get a third. you spoke to my friend rachel and she had called hubbard to get those details and we knew we couldn't do a 1000 at $8 a bird.

but we could do 300....

also, were the golden rangers hubbard's also?

michele