Got 'em! 150 Colored Range Broilers (aka Freedom Rangers)

[greyfields]

I would process them now. You really don't want a freezer full of 8 lb dressed chickens, do you? It's *very* hard to sell birds over 4 lbs and I notice amongst my customers they buy the chickens from smallest to largest. A 3.0 lb chicken is my best seller, not the 5.0#'rs

And your feed bill is really going to hammer you soon. ><

I process my CRB at 9-10.5 weeks depending on appointment date at the processor. And still some come out too large and are either the last too sell, or we eat them ourselves because people just won't pay more than $20 for a chicken.

I have been saying for quite awhile that CRB's are *not* 12 week birds and I'm glad you're posting the evidence which corroborates our position to the nay-sayers.

 

[UncleHoot]

2550 lbs of feed used so far as of this morning's fill-up. Since they are now eating 500+ lbs per week, I'm obviously going to be over my feed estimate at 12 weeks (estimated about 3100 lbs [EDIT: WRONG!]). So, I hope their weights are also above my estimates. They're not quite 10 weeks yet, and as GreyFields pointed out, their FCR's are going up.

Well, it's all an experiment, anyway, so we'll just have to see how it all plays out.

EDIT: I mis-remembered. My initial feed estimate was around 3750 lbs, not 3100 lbs. I stated "just under 2 tons" in an earlier post in this thread. With an average 5 lb dressed weight, and a 5:1 FCR (dressed weight) it works out to exactly 25 lbs of feed per chicken. I'm thinking (and hoping) that my FCR is a bit better than that, and that they dress out at around 5.5 avg at 12 weeks.

 

[bearfretworks]

Thanks for posting this info, it is greatly appreciated! I can't imagine raising 150 at a time! Got any pics?

Quote:
My little batch of 31 @ 12 weeks of age dressed out at and average of 5.5lbs.

 

[UncleHoot]

2800 lbs of feed.

I'm planning to take more pictures right around 12 weeks, which would be in a week or more.

Thoughts:
The crowing is getting louder, and they're getting better at it. It's still not too loud, though, and with daylight not occurring until about 7am, it's not as big of a deal as it would be if it was 5am. I doubt the neighbors can hear it unless their windows are open.

Their processing is scheduled for Oct 1 and Oct 8. In retrospect, I should have done half of them a week earlier, but too much is already set up at this point.

 

[Olive Hill]

Do mind my asking where you're getting them processed? (I'm local.)

I can't remember for the life of me how much we paid this spring without looking it up -- but am curious if you're using the same processor... though I thought we paid under $2.00.

 

[wookiee]

I've been following with interest. I have a small batch of 21 which are roughly the same age. I was processing some old hens today and decided to process a Ranger roo as well to compare. I weighed him live and he was 7.75 lbs at 9.5 weeks. He dressed to 5.25 lb, a perfect 67% dressed to live ratio.

I am very, very impressed with these birds. They look the part, unlike me dual-purpose layers. I will do the rest next weekend. At this point, I too am worried they will get too big. I weighed the same roo last week and he weighed a pound less. Yowsers!

Next year, I am just planning to do them all at 9 weeks. A 5 lb bird is plenty in this family of two.

Keep up the good work and thanks for all your posts.

 

[UncleHoot]

Quote:
I'm using a local processor that processes basically on his farm. It is a separate facility, though. They do a lot of meat processing there.

I will PM you with his name and number, as I don't want half the meat bird forum calling them.

 

[UncleHoot]

3200 lbs of feed.

I weighed a few as well as I could. The males that I grabbed weighed between 7 and 9 pounds (at about 10 1/2 weeks), and the females were between 5 and 7. So, I'd guess the average weight might be around 7 lbs right now. That should work out to carcass weights of around 3.5 to 6 pounds, probably with an average of around 4.75 if I processed them at 10 1/2 weeks.

Granted that I didn't weigh every single one, but that's right about where I expected to be at this point, giving me a FCR (live-weight) of right around 3. And I think I used some conservative estimates also, which would probably give them a FCR of closer to 2.8 or 2.9.

My current conclusion is as Greyfields suggested. You could certainly raise these chickens to market weight at 10 or 11 weeks. I think I'm going to end up with some pretty big chickens at 12 weeks, and the other half is going to the processor at 13. I would guesstimate an average of 6 lbs overall average. That is on the big side. I was more worried about being on the small side when I set up my processing dates.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

I'm glad you did this, as I have been looking at these with intrest ever since the debate on which is better about a year ago... LOL..

Anyhow... 9 weeks is better from an economical stand point than 12 weeks. Reguardless of how the cornish preform, they still are ready by 8 weeks. From these post... looks like they are ready around 9-10 weeks.

When my cornish x hit 5 lbs live weight reguardless of age... they are processed. That's how I go about doing it. Lately I have been processing males at 7 weeks and females at 8 sometimes I have been waiting until 9 weeks. Which from a money standpoint sucks. Males should be ready at 6... females 7.

Anyone have pics of a processed CRB? How do they dress out as far as pinfeathers, as they are a red/ dark bird it's easier to notice a mistake or flaw.

Little late this year as I'm wrapping up my last batch of broilers in the brooder now. I debated on getting more but with winter quickly approaching I'm not one to take that risk. (don't have the inside room).

I did notice that Harp raised theirs early in the spring and I recall a couple of pics with snow in them. Do these birds take to temp changes better than the cornish. I do cover the pens up at night if the temps go below 60 to help hold in their body heat. Would I have to do this for the CRB too?

Greyfields... I will try them in the spring... never thought I would as I'm one of those "na sayers" for these birds.

I think a side by comparison will be best so I can see the difference between the two as they grow.

 

[UncleHoot]

Quote:
The likelihood of extra pin feathers seems to be greater with these, just judging from the looks of the ones I had processed last year, but that's all I have to go by.

The temps have dropped below 40 degrees at night here on at least 2 occasions. I keep them in a tractor with a tarp roof. They're big enough that they are fine. I moved them outside at 2 weeks, as night-time temps were forecast near 60 degrees at night at that time. In fact, I haven't had any die since the first 2-3 days after arrival.

I took some pictures last year, as I raised these side by side with my cornish x's. I'm not sure there's much mystery there, however. They seem to take 50% longer to grow out and reach the same size. 9 weeks is a 6-week cornish, 12 weeks is an 8 week cornish, etc. Or maybe it's more like 40% longer, as you are probably more likely to have a 7 lb Ranger at 12 weeks, than a 7 lbs cornish x at 8 weeks. But they forage better, and obviously look prettier, and are generally more active.

Even though mine spend almost all of their time in the pens, I sometimes let them out in the evenings, and they run around the yard for a couple hours. From about 6 weeks on, they don't seem to forage in the pens, which also makes me think I've got too many per pen (around 75). 50 in a 10x12 pen should probably be the limit for these, as they spend a larger number of days of their lives as big birds.