Freedom Rangers only for meat???

[Mommysongbird]

Hi, I am looking at Freedom Rangers and they might be what I ended up with last spring from TS, but not sure.

I was told that the birds we got with our Cornish X were called Red Rangers, but as I look through photos of Red Rangers and Freedom Rangers, they are are bit different and the FR look more like what I have.

So my question is, can these Freedom Rangers be used for egg production as well and how well will they lay??

 

[Kev]

Got freedom rangers directly from the Freedom Ranger hatchery.

tried to keep a couple cockerels and some hens for breeding..

First.. they are NOT heat tolerant. No rooster only two remaining hens due to this reason. They were fine as young birds, up to the recommended butcher age of 10-13 weeks. Past that they were getting really big their heat tolerance went down.

The hens being one year olds now are very fatty. So fatty they waddle. Really skeptical about them surviving this summer since they are so much bigger and heavier than they were as young birds last summer.

They were decent layers, although the eggs were small-medium, a bit surprising considering the size of the hens. They are still not yet laying after their fall molt.

The pictures of the other 'rangers'- reds, pioneers etc look to be lighter in weight, especially some red ranger pictures, perhaps they will do better as keepers for breeding/layers? The freedoms are truly massive, it's very plain there is cornish in their breeding.

 

[Mommysongbird]

Got freedom rangers directly from the Freedom Ranger hatchery.

tried to keep a couple cockerels and some hens for breeding..

First.. they are NOT heat tolerant. No rooster only two remaining hens due to this reason. They were fine as young birds, up to the recommended butcher age of 10-13 weeks. Past that they were getting really big their heat tolerance went down.

The hens being one year olds now are very fatty. So fatty they waddle. Really skeptical about them surviving this summer since they are so much bigger and heavier than they were as young birds last summer.

They were decent layers, although the eggs were small-medium, a bit surprising considering the size of the hens. They are still not yet laying after their fall molt.

The pictures of the other 'rangers'- reds, pioneers etc look to be lighter in weight, especially some red ranger pictures, perhaps they will do better as keepers for breeding/layers? The freedoms are truly massive, it's very plain there is cornish in their breeding.

Thanks for the info. The one we have is HUGE, she might dress out right now at almost a year old, at about 10 pounds, possibly more. The one that we butchered last year was a bit smaller than her and it dressed out at around 8.5 to 9 pounds. This one that we have, the big one as lost weight since she is able to run around in the penned area with our other birds and she can now jump up on things, still not the roosts, they are too high. But we have a crate in the run that is about 24 to 30 inches high, and she can get up there now, where she could not before.

The other one that we have looks the same as Big Momma, but is much smaller and they are the same age. :/

 

[Kev]

Yeah I noticed a big variation in the size too.. several pounds difference. Differences in body type too, some were taller, others very short legged and extremely broad.

The size of the big hen does sound like the freedom rangers I have. The smaller one does like to walk around however the bigger one prefers to sit around. Both sleep right on the ground..

It is not a good idea to let them roost too high as birds of their proportions can get hurt coming down- breeders of the show stock cornish have low roosts for this reason.

Are your big ones laying right now? as of yesterday, still no eggs from either of them...

 

[Mommysongbird]

Yeah I noticed a big variation in the size too.. several pounds difference. Differences in body type too, some were taller, others very short legged and extremely broad.

The size of the big hen does sound like the freedom rangers I have. The smaller one does like to walk around however the bigger one prefers to sit around. Both sleep right on the ground..

It is not a good idea to let them roost too high as birds of their proportions can get hurt coming down- breeders of the show stock cornish have low roosts for this reason.

Are your big ones laying right now? as of yesterday, still no eggs from either of them...

My other birds have domain over the roosts, so the new ones aren't allowed on any of the roosts, even the lower ones. :/

I think both of them may be laying, but I can't be for sure. I need to take a pic of both of them to see if they truly are Freedom Rangers or just plain old Red Rangers (what I purchased). LOL