freedom rangers

[jodiv]

wow, quite a few so far with good results with their FR, only wish I had the same experiance, but alas, I didn't.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
What did you feed and how were they raised? Could it be they had a parasite, worms, tapeworms, coccidiosis? There have been posters on here complaining of performance in Cornish X before to find out they had huge parasite loads or low level cocci infections, enough to severely effect growth/performance.

 

[jodiv]

No they didnt have anything that I was aware of. They were and are being raised in a 20x 5 run with an attched shed with perching. They are out all day long after there first feeding in the morning of grower, and scratch. Then a noon time snack of grower and scratch with garden scraps and whatever they have foraged for during the day, then again at night before they roost, they get another grower and scratch. I would say about 15 pounds of food a day they are eating right now, but dont qoute me on it LOL it may be more.

I have about 30 or so remaining, but before when i had over 75 they were eating alot more than this, I would go thru about 4 to 5 bags of feed a week with them. insane. anywho, thats the scoop.

 

[bwmichaud]

That's a bummer. We did Cornish Cross in the spring and Freedom Rangers in the summer. I was much happier with the taste and juicyness of the Cornish. Don't get me wrong, the Freedom Rangers were fine and put on weight better than I thought they would but the Cornish were just juicier birds. For chicken parts, the Freedom Rangers are fine but for roasting whole birds, the Cornish can't be beat. Also, make sure you age your birds in the fridge for at least a day after slaughtering before eating them or they'll be tough.

 

[DenverBird]

Neighbor and i split a batch of 25 last spring, grew out to 11 1/2 weeks, and we've been very pleased. Most were in the 5 - 6 lb range and taste delicious. I had fried chicken at an expensive "farm to table" organic restaurant the other day and it was bland compared to our FRs. We've got the second batch at about 6 weeks now, they seem bigger than the others at this age, maybe because of the warmer weather.

No complaints here.

-DB

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
You may want to get a fecal sample to the vet to check for worms and coccidiosis. It's a little late to help with this batch but at least you would know. You can't see worm eggs with the naked eye. Also, are they cleaning up the meals or do they have enough to eat all day?

 

[mstricer]

My father said the skin was like shoe leather, and the meat was quite stringy.

That was due to the length of time you are growing them. They are meant to be butchered at 10 to 12 weeks. As for you saying grower feed, what brand is it? Mine are just are almost 3 weeks and probably and are a good size now, I feed mine Purina Start and Grow. 12 hrs on 12 hrs off and they forge. They do drink an excessive amount of water. I have 11 and they don't even eat 3 lbs a day. Probably close to 1 1/2 to 2 lbs a day right now. It is probably the quality of food. My kids have been outside for a little over a week and even with the cold and rain snap last week are still on track. If you don't want anymore leathery meat I would butcher tomorrow they are getting old. (I had some that age and they dressed out at 10 to 12 lbs)
Good Luck​

 

[DenverBird]

BTW - we've been baking our birds covered at about 325 for 2 or 3 of hours, checking with the meat thermometer and pulling them out of the oven when it reads about 180. Meat's been quite tender and delicious. Skin is soft and tasty.

These birds got 10 lbs of medicated crumbles to start (between 25 in the brooder) with since have been fed a 19.5% organic grower grain feed that comes from Fehringer Farms in Sidney, Nebraska.

Here's a good article on cooking heritage and older birds like they used to do.

And here's something that I just thought was worth sharing...

-AH

 

[Tracydr]

I tried to search for the thread a couple of months ago. Somebody posted that her Cornish X were 6-7 weeks and she wasn't sure if they were even Cornish X, they were so small, perhaps they were leghorns, but they were eating a lot. Turned out they were loaded with worms. All the food was going to the worms and they couldn't put the weight on, were starving to death despite eating all day.
Does anybody remember that thread that could find it?

 

[jessicayarno]

I am considering raising these guys, is it okay to start them on a 25% broiler starter and then keep them on a 20% grower??? That is what I am using for my cornish X.. I have heard you can breed these guys too, is that true?? thanks