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CricketYang, let me know how you like those. We thought about getting some but may wait till next year to take the plunge.
Ditto! Cricket are you going to free range those freedom rangers? I will be interested to see how they do. I have cornish crosses coming mid June and plan to do the hoop house pastured thing.
We plan to raise them separately from the rest of the babies because of the differences in feed; we have a big horse barn so it won't be a problem. I plan on feeding them 24% non-med chick feed for the first two weeks then switching to 20% to finish them out. DH and I built a PVC tractor for our sheep and that seems to be holding up well, so we're going to build another one for the F-Rangers and covering some of it for shelter. After they feather out we plan to just keep them in the pen and move it frequently around the yard so they can scratch and forage. So they won't be TOTALLY free-range, just because we don't want them getting into anything like the other chickens feeds. The plan is to get them processed at the new processor in Fowlerville, which isn't too far away from me, at about 10-11 weeks. I also want to get a few CXs after three weeks and raise them with the F-Rangers so they can all get processed at the same time, just so I can see if there's any taste difference between the two, also to see what the feed conversion between the two breeds are.
I hope they taste more chicken-y than the CXs. We processed our CXs last year at around 9 weeks and they were too light on taste for us, they were like a tofu-chicken lol. But I don't want to have to wait 4-8 months for a DP breed. I am very excited to start this adventure! They're apparently like regular chickens, active, free-range a lot and can still walk after a month!
We ordered from The Free Ranger Hatchery in PA, 25 chicks for $60 out the door, $2.50/chick, not bad at all. The gentleman that runs the place with his wife is very nice; I called him to get the earliest shipment possible, let me pick the date myself, was VERY polite, and not some rude hick that hates life and then thanked me for my business afterwards.
CricketYang, let me know how you like those. We thought about getting some but may wait till next year to take the plunge.
Ditto! Cricket are you going to free range those freedom rangers? I will be interested to see how they do. I have cornish crosses coming mid June and plan to do the hoop house pastured thing.
We plan to raise them separately from the rest of the babies because of the differences in feed; we have a big horse barn so it won't be a problem. I plan on feeding them 24% non-med chick feed for the first two weeks then switching to 20% to finish them out. DH and I built a PVC tractor for our sheep and that seems to be holding up well, so we're going to build another one for the F-Rangers and covering some of it for shelter. After they feather out we plan to just keep them in the pen and move it frequently around the yard so they can scratch and forage. So they won't be TOTALLY free-range, just because we don't want them getting into anything like the other chickens feeds. The plan is to get them processed at the new processor in Fowlerville, which isn't too far away from me, at about 10-11 weeks. I also want to get a few CXs after three weeks and raise them with the F-Rangers so they can all get processed at the same time, just so I can see if there's any taste difference between the two, also to see what the feed conversion between the two breeds are.
I hope they taste more chicken-y than the CXs. We processed our CXs last year at around 9 weeks and they were too light on taste for us, they were like a tofu-chicken lol. But I don't want to have to wait 4-8 months for a DP breed. I am very excited to start this adventure! They're apparently like regular chickens, active, free-range a lot and can still walk after a month!
We ordered from The Free Ranger Hatchery in PA, 25 chicks for $60 out the door, $2.50/chick, not bad at all. The gentleman that runs the place with his wife is very nice; I called him to get the earliest shipment possible, let me pick the date myself, was VERY polite, and not some rude hick that hates life and then thanked me for my business afterwards.
