Help with Red Rangers

[NewbieChickster]

So I went to Tractor Supply.... Don't stone me. And I purchased 6 straight run Red Rangers. I was told that they are good for laying eggs and for meat. I am discovering mixed messages on the internet and other sources. Some people say they have kept them and they lay eggs for them. My cousin said he had six red rangers and was getting at least 3-5 eggs a day from them. Then 5 of them turned on the one and killed it.
Other people say that they raise them for meat and kill them at 7-8 weeks because any longer and they get fatty and develop foot or heart problems. Some say they wait until 13 weeks so they are fully grown. Some say if you keep them for too long they develop a problem where they are too heavy that their legs can't support them.
Mine are about 4-4.5 weeks old. We hoped that we were getting hens and maybe one rooster, but I think they saw us coming, because I think we ended up with 5 roosters and 1 hen. Although, some people say you can't tell the difference until they are 2 months old, I think there is one that looks a lot different than the rest.
I will try and post some pick so people can give me some opinions on what we might have. Also, if you have any advice on what we should do next. We have a coop outside that they can be moved into that we just bought and put together, picture below.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Red rangers are meat birds. They don't grow as fast as CornishX so don't tend to have leg issues, though I did have one go lame. I just butchered it then. I usually butcher them at 3.5-4 weeks for Cornish game hens and 7-8 weeks as broilers.
Any hen will likely lay eggs but they're not great for egg laying.

As an aside, that coop/run looks very tight for 6 large fowl.

 

[NewbieChickster]

This is a picture of the one I thick is the hen (bottom of the picture) and one of the roosters (top)



One of the roosters? I think....



The hen? I think?



Confused as they are as what to do.

 

[NewbieChickster]

Yeah. They say it fits 6, but I didn't buy it when we bought it. So we are making a run to go with it and probably will end up either buying or making a second coop as well.

 

[ejcrist]

So I went to Tractor Supply.... Don't stone me. And I purchased 6 straight run Red Rangers. I was told that they are good for laying eggs and for meat. I am discovering mixed messages on the internet and other sources. Some people say they have kept them and they lay eggs for them. My cousin said he had six red rangers and was getting at least 3-5 eggs a day from them. Then 5 of them turned on the one and killed it.
Other people say that they raise them for meat and kill them at 7-8 weeks because any longer and they get fatty and develop foot or heart problems. Some say they wait until 13 weeks so they are fully grown. Some say if you keep them for too long they develop a problem where they are too heavy that their legs can't support them.
Mine are about 4-4.5 weeks old. We hoped that we were getting hens and maybe one rooster, but I think they saw us coming, because I think we ended up with 5 roosters and 1 hen. Although, some people say you can't tell the difference until they are 2 months old, I think there is one that looks a lot different than the rest.
I will try and post some pick so people can give me some opinions on what we might have. Also, if you have any advice on what we should do next. We have a coop outside that they can be moved into that we just bought and put together, picture below.

Your cousin got 3-5 eggs a day from them? I think you meant 3-5 a week maybe. If your cousin's getting that many then I must be doing something wrong. Anyway Chicancanoe is right on the money. The meat birds with health problems is mostly Cornish Crosses. I'd stick with laying birds if it's eggs you're after. And as was recommended, you definitely want to expand the size of your coop and run for 6 birds. Every commercial coop I ever saw was substantially too small for anything over about 2 birds. Even then I think they're tight quarters. Consider how easy/difficult a coop and run will be to clean as well. You don't want to be in there fighting the birds for space as you're trying to clean it. It's better if you can close them out of the coop for cleaning and re-open when done.

 

[ejcrist]

Oh, never mind - I re-read your post and saw he had 6 chickens getting 3-5 eggs a day from and not 3-5 a day from each one. Sorry - age does funny things to the brain when reading after a while.

 

[NewbieChickster]

Yeah, we are always the kind of people that jump with two feet first and then look to see we are jumping after the fact. So now that we have the coop in our backyard and the 4 week old chicks in our house, we need to figure out a plan as to what to do with them until we can get them to the point we can take them to the amish guy who will butcher them for us. So they won't be in their forever at least. But we should have spent the money we spent on it, on supplies and just built a bigger one in the first place. But hindsight is 20/20.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It isn't the worst thing. When you build the coop you want for the number of birds you want, you can use the one you have for a quarantine, invalid or broody coop.
It never hurts to have extra housing options.

Every manufacturer exaggerates how many birds their coops will hold.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I was under the impression the Red Ranger meat hybrid was butchered at 10-12 weeks of age. The coop you have may not be ideal for adult layers and wintering but it should hold you over raising six rangers to butcher age. Having an extra small coop is very nice. Currently using mine for broody birds and have chicks in brooder that will move out to it later. It's the grow out coop for my yearly spring chicks that are not reared by broody hens. Just an odd year of the brood going on here so had to use it to take back the layer coop nests and be able to collect eggs again. Small coops and pens are handy to have around. When you eventually get to having layer or dual purpose birds you'll likely be adding birds, rotating out birds in years to come. The coop you have would work nicely to raise birds to age and size before being introduced to your layer flock and coop. Introduced birds should be large enough to handle the pecking order that always ensues when merging flocks. Hence the grow out pen.

 

[ejcrist]

Yeah, we are always the kind of people that jump with two feet first and then look to see we are jumping after the fact. So now that we have the coop in our backyard and the 4 week old chicks in our house, we need to figure out a plan as to what to do with them until we can get them to the point we can take them to the amish guy who will butcher them for us. So they won't be in their forever at least. But we should have spent the money we spent on it, on supplies and just built a bigger one in the first place. But hindsight is 20/20.

Hey don't sweat it because I'm the same way. I finished my main coop about a day before my laying pullets were six weeks old and really needed to go out in it. I started in November and finished mid-February. I figured I had plenty of time and planned it out carefully but it just took a lot of time, and with the holidays and everything I just barely made the drop-dead deadline. I have a flock of Cornish Crosses going now and I'm keeping them in two pens but I really need a single, well-built, large pen for the numbers I want, so I'm planning on starting it next month for my next batch in October. My wife forbid me to order them this time until the coop is complete and we do the ribbon cutting ceremony.