Freedom Rangers

[PurpleCArTires]

Good Morning! I am thinking of buying some freedom rangers as a project to breed out some birds specifically for meat. (Right now i just process my extra Roos)

Does anyone have experinace with them? Will they breed on their own? How is their breast meat size in comparison with cornish cross? Do they develop the health issues if trying to keep a breeding stock? Whats the average weight you can get from them?

Any details are helpful! Thank you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I get my rangers from a hatchery here in Wisconsin, not sure if I can put the name or I violate terms of service.

You can mention hatcheries. We talk about where to get supplies and such, there is even a forum section to talk about chicken breeders and hatcheries. They are not supposed to advertise on here without paying the forum owner but we can and do mention them.

What you are not supposed to do is mention or link to other chicken forums. Something that would be a competitor to this forum.

 

[TOR]

I have never raised cornish cross, but have raised rangers. Yes they will breed though I have not hatched any eggs from them. Nor have the hens become broody at least so far.
Cornish cross have more breast meat and rangers will have more leg meat.
I have not had any health issues from Rangers. I still have 4 hens from last year I use for egg laying.
I have kept the Rangers about 16 weeks and 5 to 10 lbs. Rosters being the heaviest of course. At about 12 weeks seems to me was about 3.5 to 8 lbs. I did not keep records dont really remember the exact details anymore. This is roughly my weights.
This last year I left some roosters for later harvest and they were 20 plus weeks old and they were some big boys and extra fat inside also. This last year was store bought food and free range.
At about 12 weeks we butchered a few and if I remember correctly was roughly $2.00 pound to raise them (after butchering). This was with store bought feed and not much free ranging. I also figured in direct and indirect cost.
I get my rangers from a hatchery here in Wisconsin, not sure if I can put the name or I violate terms of service.

There is many youtube videos rangers vs cornish cross and many articles. I really liked this series on youtube. They did a series on raising both varieties. I thought the series was done very good and there is several videos.

Hope this helps some.

 

[Ridgerunner]

From what I understand, they do not breed true and have dwarf recessive gene that shows up when interbreeding.

They are crosses and will not "breed true", that is correct. What does "breed true" mean? The offspring will not be exact copies of their parents. They will all have some of the genetics that causes them to put on a lot of meat quickly, but some will have more than others. They will not be consistent. All of them should have enough that they will be better than a dual purpose bird, probably a lot better, but every one will not be perfect. Is this a case of reaching for perfection keeping you away from something that is still really good and better than many other alternatives?

I don't know which Rangers have the dwarfism gene and which don't. There is an easy way around that. Dwarfism is a sex linked recessive gene. If the line of Rangers you have does have the dwarfism gene, only the boys will have it. If you only breed the girls it will not show up.

Do you have any recommendations for a good heritage meat bird? Not dual purpose

I do not. I don't think you will find one from a hatchery. Hatcheries stopped breeding heritage breeds for meat back in the middle of the 1900's when the Cornish X took over the commercial meat industry. If you go for over 60 years of not breeding for meat bird qualities those flocks will not have great meat bird qualities. Some breeders may have some that come fairly close, there are several people on this forum trying to breed their own, but don't expect to find that in a hatchery.

The Rangers were probably developed to fit that niche, better for pasturing than the Cornish X. But they are still meat birds, developed to grow to butcher weight pretty quickly with a decent feed to meat conversion rate, and to then be butchered. They are not bred for longevity. If you want them to have a long life you have to manage them a bit differently than just growing them out to butcher. That generally means watching their diet.

Do you pluck or skin when you butcher? If you skin it doesn't matter but if you pluck you get a prettier carcass if the feathers are light, such as white or buff. When you pluck you always leave pin feathers and some fluff behind. Those show up better if they are dark so white or buff gives you a prettier carcass. Color genetics can be tricky but if you are looking for a dual purpose rooster to put over a Ranger hen and you pluck your birds I'd look for a white one. White is a hard color to work with because there are different ways to make white. You can try a White Rock, White Wyandotte, or White Chantacler, these probably will work but I'm not sure. Delaware and Light Brahma use Silver to make white, they should be a good choice. I'm sure there are others.

 

[MissE]

My experience with them is they don't live that long. I bought 24 straight run in June of 2019. Butched all but one roo, and decided to keep him and the 8 hens through the winter. I was down to 3 ISAs and wanted the extra heat in the coop. The plan was to butcher them in the spring. Then I changed my mind and just kept them. The hens turned out to be pretty good layers but 5 have just up and died. (Another one was put down due a run in with my butthead GSD) Of the 2 that are left, one lays a cream colored egg and the other lays a brown egg. Eggs are large to extra large size. The roo is doing well and is the mellowist roo I've ever seen. I thought about hatching the eggs just to see what happens, but my understanding is they don't breed true.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

From what I understand, they do not breed true and have dwarf recessive gene that shows up when interbreeding.

They are crosses and will not "breed true", that is correct. What does "breed true" mean? The offspring will not be exact copies of their parents. They will all have some of the genetics that causes them to put on a lot of meat quickly, but some will have more than others. They will not be consistent. All of them should have enough that they will be better than a dual purpose bird, probably a lot better, but every one will not be perfect. Is this a case of reaching for perfection keeping you away from something that is still really good and better than many other alternatives?

I don't know which Rangers have the dwarfism gene and which don't. There is an easy way around that. Dwarfism is a sex linked recessive gene. If the line of Rangers you have does have the dwarfism gene, only the boys will have it. If you only breed the girls it will not show up.

Do you have any recommendations for a good heritage meat bird? Not dual purpose

I do not. I don't think you will find one from a hatchery. Hatcheries stopped breeding heritage breeds for meat back in the middle of the 1900's when the Cornish X took over the commercial meat industry. If you go for over 60 years of not breeding for meat bird qualities those flocks will not have great meat bird qualities. Some breeders may have some that come fairly close, there are several people on this forum trying to breed their own, but don't expect to find that in
Do you pluck or skin when you butcher? If you skin it doesn't matter but if you pluck you get a prettier carcass if the feathers are light, such as white or buff. When you pluck you always leave pin feathers and some fluff behind.

From what I understand, they do not breed true and have dwarf recessive gene that shows up when interbreeding.

They are crosses and will not "breed true", that is correct. What does "breed true" mean? The offspring will not be exact copies of their parents. They will all have some of the genetics that causes them to put on a lot of meat quickly, but some will have more than others. They will not be consistent. All of them should have enough that they will be better than a dual purpose bird, probably a lot better, but every one will not be perfect. Is this a case of reaching for perfection keeping you away from something that is still really good and better than many other alternatives?

I don't know which Rangers have the dwarfism gene and which don't. There is an easy way around that. Dwarfism is a sex linked recessive gene. If the line of Rangers you have does have the dwarfism gene, only the boys will have it. If you only breed the girls it will not show up.

Do you have any recommendations for a good heritage meat bird? Not dual purpose

I do not. I don't think you will find one from a hatchery. Hatcheries stopped breeding heritage breeds for meat back in the middle of the 1900's when the Cornish X took over the commercial meat industry. If you go for over 60 years of not breeding for meat bird qualities those flocks will not have great meat bird qualities. Some breeders may have some that come fairly close, there are several people on this forum trying to breed their own, but don't expect to find that in a hatchery.

The Rangers were probably developed to fit that niche, better for pasturing than the Cornish X. But they are still meat birds, developed to grow to butcher weight pretty quickly with a decent feed to meat conversion rate, and to then be butchered. They are not bred for longevity. If you want them to have a long life you have to manage them a bit differently than just growing them out to butcher. That generally means watching their diet.

Do you pluck or skin when you butcher? If you skin it doesn't matter but if you pluck you get a prettier carcass if the feathers are light, such as white or buff. When you pluck you always leave pin feathers and some fluff behind. Those show up better if they are dark so white or buff gives you a prettier carcass. Color genetics can be tricky but if you are looking for a dual purpose rooster to put over a Ranger hen and you pluck your birds I'd look for a white one. White is a hard color to work with because there are different ways to make white. You can try a White Rock, White Wyandotte, or White Chantacler, these probably will work but I'm not sure. Delaware and Light Brahma use Silver to make white, they should be a good choice. I'm sure there are others.

Yeah, i dont want to recreate the wheel lol. Just want to improve my stock a bit for meat.

I do pluck and agree the pin feathers are a pain. We dont sell the birds, so I am not too worried about the look, as long as it tastes good. Lol

Thanks for the info on dwarfism. If i can get a few ladies to adulthood and breed them with my RIR, hopefully they grow a little faster than a normal RIR but retain their large size. At least thats the dream lol

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I also checked out some other articles where they said the Rangers had more fat and way more flavorful than CX. But are more expensive, so i dont want to buy them every year lol. And CX (if thry are like the grocery store meat...) No thank you. Lol. It tastes like Styrofoam to me.

I like to let my chickens free range so i thought Rangers would be a better option and maybe find some of their own food lol

More flavorful, yes. Less fat, certainly less subcutaneous fat, but perhaps marginally more intramuscular fat. Some of that is genetics, some of that is lifestyle. My Cornish X free ranged with the rest of my flock this year, I took one male to 26 weeks, another to 30 weeks (don't ask). Great flavor. Neither had much fat, so little in fact I needed to get oil down to add to the drippings in order to make gravy. If you haven't recently either poured off, or threw away before baking, big chunks of subcutaneous fat from a store bought bird then you have not bought a bird at the store recently.

...and yes, seems like every hatchery in the Nation is currently selling some bird with some play on the "Ranger" name, its the current buzz. HUGE differences between the hatchery stock, and generally most posters here tend to agree that they still show moderately high egg production relative to meat. Though still better on average than a DP bird. There are some small breeders who have re-emphasized meaty-ness (that's a word?) in their breeding stock with success, but I can't name any off the top of my head.

I have no rangers myself - combination of a lack of good info, and a lack of available birds when I assembled my flock.

Finally, this site is littered with the posts of those who thought they were going to create a breed, or otherwise engage in a long term breed improvement project. Hell, I have one myself ("Lemonade"). Most start with a bang, and 6 months later are abandoned. Its a long haul, of uncertain reward, and great effort - particularly for those not in the business, with relatively small flocks. Not to discourage you, just to fairly characterize the size of the plate you are considering ordering.

 

[August Coldwell]

My experience with them is they don't live that long. I bought 24 straight run in June of 2019. Butched all but one roo, and decided to keep him and the 8 hens through the winter. I was down to 3 ISAs and wanted the extra heat in the coop. The plan was to butcher them in the spring. Then I changed my mind and just kept them. The hens turned out to be pretty good layers but 5 have just up and died. (Another one was put down due a run in with my butthead GSD) Of the 2 that are left, one lays a cream colored egg and the other lays a brown egg. Eggs are large to extra large size. The roo is doing well and is the mellowist roo I've ever seen. I thought about hatching the eggs just to see what happens, but my understanding is they don't breed true.

Late to this conversation, but interesting year with Freedom Rangers. This is my experience with the breed:

I bought six Freedom Rangers chicks in March of 2020 to add to my flock. I figured dual purpose was not a bad thing, given the way things felt back then.

The chickens grew freakishly fast, fastest I've ever seen. And they became huge by 12 weeks. They were raised with a few Sebright chicks and even though they always towered over them, they were always sweet towards the Sebrights, almost nurturing.

Around week thirteen, two of them just died suddenly. I never weighed them, but my neighbor, a homesteader with a mixed flock, picked one up and said it felt like a small turkey. He said, thinking that they were more for meat, "They seem like they should be in the freezer." They were ginormous.

Two turned out to be roosters, Hector and Billy Bob. I have never known stranger roosters. Hector was free range most of the time and took to hiding in the bushes to ambush us from behind. We separated the two because Hector was just brutal to Billy Bob, chasing him and ambushing him whenever he could. It was almost embarrassing seeing these two fat roosters running, one chasing the other. We are not allowed to have roosters in our town, and they were crowing rarely so we thought we might hang on to them. Well, one day a switch was thrown and they both started singing to each other every minute on the minute, it seemed. So we decided to process them. I gave Hector to my neighbor to process and I processed Billy Bob. On the day the neighbor took Hector,
he chokingly yelled to Billy Bob, "Hey do you want one last shot at this guy, Billy Bob?" and he held Hector about a foot off the ground. Billy Bob made a sprint right up to Hector and pecked him right on the head. It was stunning.

The meat was excellent. The skin very yellow and fatty.

The two girls remaining, Hellen and Gertie, are good egg layers and gave us eggs through most of this winter. They lay medium sized brown eggs. Helen is at the top of the order and Gertie is her enforcer.

Compared to my Australorps and Marans, Hellen and Gertie are not particularly friendly and on the flighty side.

I would not buy this breed again. If I was raising birds to process in the tenth or eleventh week, I would consider them, however.

 

[iwltfum]

Thank you for all the info!! Good to hear they wont have heart attacks if i tried to keep a few!. I will check out the video also!

Freedom rangers are different specifically from "red rangers" from your average hatchery. They are a proprietary breed that comes from France and no other hatchery has the same cross. Mostly red rangers from other hatcheries are all different mixes. Just know that all rangers are not created equally. They will all give you different results. I raise about 250-300 freedom rangers every year but have never kept them longer than 10 weeks. From what I understand, they do not breed true and have dwarf recessive gene that shows up when interbreeding.

 

[MissE]

sorry to hear about your loss! But thank you for the heads up of them just keeling over. I dont want to wake up to a dead chicken either :/. I also dont want to let them get too big and they live horrible lives. Lol

They don't seem too big. Certainly not freakish like cornish cross. They have no problem flying up on the roost or racing around the yard. They were bred to be dinner, not for longevity, so I think that is the main issue. One option would be to wait until they are 18-24 months old and then only breed those ones. Granted, that does mean the possibilty of dead chickens.