MEAT BIRD'S " TELL US HOW YOU DO IT"

[bobbi-j]

got to tell bobbyj shawn likes his but then again he has a market for his. from a personal stand point i like the cornish x a lot. i free range mine. they are active and healthy.
when i do the x's .they are all uniform in weight. i raise last batch to 13 weeks and wights went from 8 1/2 to 11.4 dressed out for the oven. also got 5 lbs. of organ meat.
the rangers i raised to 15 weeks.and weights were every where. the average was 3.75 dressed for the oven

the rangers are very rough with the pullets.and some less dominant cockerals .
the cornish x very friendly no fighting at all.

i would not recommend raising cornish x for 13 weeks. the conversion from feed to meat is not worth it. they stop really putting on weight after 11 weeks.

as far as uniformity my rangers had bigger thighs and legs . breast meat only fair compared to the cornish x

just my take on it

Thanks for the input, Bruce. I've raised Cornish X from the hatchery in the past, but the ones I've had were not very healthy or active. Lots of leg problems, even with the very small chicks. Some dropping dead for no apparent reason. Lazy things that just laid around waiting to get fed again. It was rather discouraging. We didn't let ours get much past 8 weeks.

 

[loanwizard]

Just for the record, I like my freedom rangers.... BUT.... they are the only meat birds I have ever raised. I am pretty sure why Bruce doesn't like them. Not to put words in his mouth, but from what I hear, they do not have the phenomenal growth rate of the Cornish.

The reason I raise them is the reason I got into this business to begin with.

I have a small 4 acre homestead. I was given my first chickens. I bought a side of beef and it was so different than what I can get in the grocery store. I decided to raise a hog to eat. Searched the internet and met a guy by the name of David Fogle of Springhill Farms.

He told me to research the Tamworth breed of hog and mentioned chickens for meat and cooperative production. Through my research I discovered the way that the factory farms raise birds and hogs. I heard the horror stories of the cornish crosses.

So, I decided to raise the freedom rangers and the tamworths.

I have had in depth discussions with my chicken processor, an Amish guy that will process 60,000 birds by the end of the year.

In his professional and personal opinion, the cornish are easier to process but there is no comparison in flavor, the red rangers taste better by a mile.

That said, I plan to raise some cornish cross my way just so I have a hands on experience with them.

I know how to raise them to better weight faster. If I keep them closer to full feed, they will gain faster.

I pen my birds and give them, regardless of whether there are 100 or 150 birds a 5 gallon bucket per day until 5 weeks, then 2 5 gallon buckets about every other day.

I could also limit their movement by keeping them in a tractor but I refuse to do so.

Next year it is my intent to change their feed a little bit so that after 5 or 6 weeks I pour the feed on for the remaining 65-6 weeks to get a larger bird.

 

[debbiej]

This was the second year for me raising Freedom Rangers. I went in with some friends and we bought 100 between 3 of us. We paid $3.50 a chick. Rick lost4, Monika lost 2 and I lost none. Last year I lost 2 but that was because momma turkey flattened them so no fault of their own. I feed chick starter for 3 weeks then changed them to grower ration which is 20% protein. I occasionally put vitamins in their water. I gave scratch and veg scraps when they were a bit older. They lived in a 30'x 20 yard and their barn.
Last year I butchered at 13 weeks, my smallest was 5.5 pounds the largest was 9.8 pounds dressed ready for the oven weight with no organs in the bird.. Best tasting chicken I've eaten.
This year the roosters were driving me crazy crowing early and breeding the poor hens. So I took them in at 11 weeks. My smallest was 5 pounds largest was 8.5. t cost me a total of 16.00 per bird that includes the processing at Al's Feather Be Gone. He priced them at 4.00 per pound and the 2 I gave to a friend the other day were priced at 28.00 and 32.00.

Next year plan to raise Freedom Rangers and Mistral Gris, perhaps some Cornish X at the same time to compare the growth and end product.

 

[bruceh]

thats is some good weights on them birds bobbyj. oh would i would do to be in vancouver. love it there. spent a lot of time there. grandville island the best. gastown pretty cool.

shawn. maybe these birds i got were not the best .after talking to george at mt-di poultry he was quite surprised as well about my results. i held over some of the birds for layers i got to take pictures to send to george. he can't beleave they are rangers.

so now the rangers have a hung jury.

 

[loanwizard]

This was the second year for me raising Freedom Rangers. I went in with some friends and we bought 100 between 3 of us. We paid $3.50 a chick. Rick lost4, Monika lost 2 and I lost none. Last year I lost 2 but that was because momma turkey flattened them so no fault of their own. I feed chick starter for 3 weeks then changed them to grower ration which is 20% protein. I occasionally put vitamins in their water. I gave scratch and veg scraps when they were a bit older. They lived in a 30'x 20 yard and their barn.
Last year I butchered at 13 weeks, my smallest was 5.5 pounds the largest was 9.8 pounds dressed ready for the oven weight with no organs in the bird.. Best tasting chicken I've eaten.
This year the roosters were driving me crazy crowing early and breeding the poor hens. So I took them in at 11 weeks. My smallest was 5 pounds largest was 8.5. t cost me a total of 16.00 per bird that includes the processing at Al's Feather Be Gone. He priced them at 4.00 per pound and the 2 I gave to a friend the other day were priced at 28.00 and 32.00.

Next year plan to raise Freedom Rangers and Mistral Gris, perhaps some Cornish X at the same time to compare the growth and end product.

How much feed did you go through for 33 birds?

Thanks,
Shawn

 

[Beekissed]

This was the second year for me raising Freedom Rangers. I went in with some friends and we bought 100 between 3 of us. We paid $3.50 a chick. Rick lost4, Monika lost 2 and I lost none. Last year I lost 2 but that was because momma turkey flattened them so no fault of their own. I feed chick starter for 3 weeks then changed them to grower ration which is 20% protein. I occasionally put vitamins in their water. I gave scratch and veg scraps when they were a bit older. They lived in a 30'x 20 yard and their barn.
Last year I butchered at 13 weeks, my smallest was 5.5 pounds the largest was 9.8 pounds dressed ready for the oven weight with no organs in the bird.. Best tasting chicken I've eaten.
This year the roosters were driving me crazy crowing early and breeding the poor hens. So I took them in at 11 weeks. My smallest was 5 pounds largest was 8.5. t cost me a total of 16.00 per bird that includes the processing at Al's Feather Be Gone. He priced them at 4.00 per pound and the 2 I gave to a friend the other day were priced at 28.00 and 32.00.

Next year plan to raise Freedom Rangers and Mistral Gris, perhaps some Cornish X at the same time to compare the growth and end product.

Do you guys pay $16~$32 a bird if you buy it locally, or do you sell them for that much?

 

[bruceh]

i got a real surprise today. i got a chance to weigh the chickens. the average weight is 5.5 lbs.

cost summery

5.5 x 12 = 66 lbs dressed ( no organs , feet, or neck )

cost of $ 99.00 / 66 lbs = $ 1.50 per pound

i did not weigh organ meat. i am guessing by feel 7 lbs

i may try another batch in the spring depending on how they taste. the rangers have spoken


$ 3.50 a bird is a lot of money to start in my opinion. mt-di poultry has rangers price per 100 @ $1.45 jm hatchery has rangers for @ $1.15 per 100

these do not include shipping.

i want everyone to know my birds are not put on a timeline. i look for overall health and maximum weight.. i waited 2 extra weeks to see if any real weight gain was noticeable
it was not. in fact fat was starting to get thick around the organs. so the extra 2 weeks added fat not real meat

 

[bruceh]

holy chicken poop. if you guys pay $16.00 or more for a chicken, bee build me a room i am moving in. we are going to raise chicken full time.

 

[bobbi-j]

Chickens at our local food coop are priced at $16 a bird. They're cornish rocks.

 

[Beekissed]

Well, no wonder you feel like you are getting off cheaply by raising meat birds for $16 per! If you could raise the same birds for $4-$5 per bird would you do it?