Poultry Enthusiast - On Ideal's website they call it a red broiler... Here's what it says on the website about the red broiler:
Red Broilers are efficient producers of broiler meat for those who do not wish to have white plumage broilers. When broiler rations are fed, producers can expect to have six pound broilers in seven weeks or less. Since red broilers are more active than Cornish Rocks and grow slightly slower, they rarely experience leg weakness or Ascite, which is fluid in the body cavity. Red Broiler hens are not a good choice for efficient production of brown eggs.
You're probably right about the freedom ranger part, they're not the same thing BUT they're still supposed to grow large quicker than normal dual purpose breeds. Which they are growing faster than my RIR's, the pullets are about the same size.
I just checked the freedom ranger site and this is at the bottom of the page:
Based on the results and experiences of our own flocks and our customers flocks, the Freedom Ranger assortment will reach 5 to 6 LBS Live Weight in a minimum of 9 weeks and a maximum of 11 weeks. In no way does this data constitute a warranty or guarantee of the same performance as conditions of nutrition, management, health, density or physical and biological environments (weather and relief) vary from producers to producers.
I like the flock raiser as well, it did awesome for the CornishX in the middle of summer. I had good sized chickens and didn't lose 1! (except for the lack of water on a really hot day
)
I think the fact that this winter has been bad for TN is affecting the growth, December is NORMALLY WARM! This time we had several snow days and icy rain. My mom informed me that this was the first white X-mas since the 70's.
