Freedom Rangers or Red Rangers or .... ?

[Sid Post]

In the Spring, I want to start some meat birds. Reading the old threads hasn't been terribly helpful so, I thought I would start over with current information today.

I believe I want a Freedom Ranger or Red Ranger but, I could be easily swayed somewhere else. I'm having a hard time telling if there is any real difference in them or if it is all just hatchery marketing. I don't want to deal with the Cornish cross issues so, the longer grow out of the Red/Freedom Rangers seems to be a great option. Finally, what hatchery do you recommend?

TIA,
Sid

 

[blucoondawg]

I doubt you will see much difference between the hatcheries in the freedom/red ranger, there are some hatcheries that have various "colored broilers" which seem to grow out faster than the rangers so those may be more along the lines of a cx with color feathers I'm not real sure. Then you have the pioneers or Dixie rainbows which are quite comparable to the rangers. There's also a slow white at a couple hatcheries that I've considered, it is supposed to give a similar body shape of the cx but take a couple weeks longer.

Last year I did a mix of the rangers and rainbows I dealt with hoovers hatchery, I just searched the net and picked one with decent prices that wasn't horribly far away and went with that. They seemed to be good to work with and the birds grew out fine.

This year I'm considering going with the cx and limiting feed and ranging or a slow white simply because the white birds just clean up easier and I sell some so easy plucking with less noticeable pin feathers saves me time. I don't think they're bad to raise so long as they are limited on feed and have constant fresh water

 

[DGuy]

I did the red broilers from purely poultry(because I could get 15 with free [email protected] ea). The males dressed out between 4.4 - 5.7 lbs at 12.5 weeks(without giblets & necks). I meant to do them at 10 weeks but.... I don't know how much they gained after that. This is them at 6.5 weeks

 

[Sid Post]

I did the red broilers from purely poultry(because I could get 15 with free [email protected] ea). The males dressed out between 4.4 - 5.7 lbs at 12.5 weeks(without giblets & necks). I meant to do them at 10 weeks but.... I don't know how much they gained after that. This is them at 6.5 weeks

What were their personalities like? Did you free range them any? And thanks for the reference to Purely Poultry. Skipping the $20+ freight charge and the 15 count buy in puts these chicks within reach of a lot of people.

 

[yochickiemomma]

Sid thanks for starting this thread. I am also considering buying freedom/red rangers in the spring. I Really don't want the Cornish x. Our local hatchery offers them.

 

[blucoondawg]

They'll poke around and dust and roost like regular chickens but they are still a fairly fast growing chicken and will hit the feed very hard at least compared to what u expected, if I get them again I am going to limit their feed somewhat

 

[Fentress]

When I put chicks out on pasture, they are vulnerable to hawk attack. However, they learn after a couple of attacks that the big bird is not their friend and start to take precautions.These are your standard run of the mill chickens. Do you Freedom Rangers are smart enough to learn how to stay away from Mr. Hawk?

 

[blucoondawg]

I don't have hawk problems during summer in in the woods and one the leaves are in the trees I don't have a problem. They hit me in fall after the leaves come down. I'd imagine they'd learn, however a hawk isn't going to do much with them anyways unless they're chicks I've only had issues with hawks with banties and chicks. Owls are a different issue they'll take a large rooster.

 

[Fat Daddy]

I have the had the same experiance with owls as you Blucoondawg. Around here raptors, yotes and fox are a constant problem. I set up a trail cam to see what was feasting at night.... First night I found out.....

 

[WIchickens]

Wow! Amazing picture!

I have raised both cx and freedom rangers. The cx did have more health issues, but once we got past the first couple weeks, I didn't have any more losses. After 4 weeks, we put them outside on grass in a chicken tractor. They didn't eat much grass, but it sure helped with poop control!

Then in the summer we did freedom rangers. No health issues. But, they were supposed to eat a lot of grass, and they didn't. And they took a month longer to finish out. Since we are trying to sell them for profit, we didn't do so well on that round. Higher feed bill and lower finishing weights.

We did one more batch of rangers for us in the fall, mainly because I didn't have time to deal with cx health issues. Now this group did eat a ton of grass! And then they got cocci were stunted. So they took an extra month to finish out as well. That was just bad luck

The cx were actually rather friendly birds. The rangers were definitely more flighty!