Mt. Healthy Hatcheries Red Rangers

[shadowmane]

Okay, I ordered my broilers yesterday from Southern States. They get their birds from Mt. Healthy Hatcheries. We ordered 12 Red Rangers from them. Anyone have any experience with this breed? The site says you grow them out to 12 weeks.

Also, I'm considering a 4' x 4' tractor to put them in. Would that be too small? I'm going to be putting chicken wire around it and letting them range a little bit, but my back yard is probably about an acre. I don't want to put them in the coop with the layers. There just wouldn't be room. I got 1 1/3 sq ft per bird from a Salatin publication. If I up it to 2, I might not have the wood laying around to take care of it. What to do? What to do?

 

[wyoDreamer]

A 4x4 tractor is 16 square feet. If you put 12 birds in it, they will have an area about 16"x12 inches each - slightly larger than two sheets of regular letter size paper set next to each other. That equates to 1.3 square feet per bird.
And you need to have room for the feed and water.
My guess is that there isn't much "grazing" going on at that density.

I see that many people here raise meat birds in tractors with that density with success.

Personally, I would make it larger if you can, if only to spread the poop out over a slightly larger area between tractor moves.

 

[shadowmane]

Yeah, I may have to either split the flock, or make a bigger tractor. I've looked at the cattle fencing tractors, and I may have to try one of those. Cattle fencing is relatively cheap at $20 for a 16' section. I don't know how hard it is to bend, but I'm up for trying.

 

[shadowmane]

I got them and they're in the brooder now. We'll see how they do. I'll be feeding them on fermented feed up to between 12 and 16 weeks. I think I'm looking for somewhere between 4.5 and 5 lbs.

 

[Life is Good!]

I've got 25 rangers in a 8x8 tractor. They're now just about 5wks old - and it's WAY too small for them. There is very little grazing (except for when I first move it onto fresh grass) although they're dandy bug catchers!

I'm building out a second run for my layers (to switch back and forth so the grass can recover). These next three - four weeks, the rangers will use it and have an area of about 50'x20' to play in. That should help with density. The odor is a bit more concentrated than I realized...so I'm having to rake and hose down the last place the tractor was at daily. Due to the high concentrations of manure, I'm afraid I've burned the grass in those spaces as well. Time will tell.

The tractor worked well for weeks 3-5, but it's time for something a bit bigger. They're almost big enough to let free range on our 2acres - but I'm on a meadow with at least 4prs of hawks nearby...so I'm waiting until they're nearly finished before sending them out to range. I simply don't have enough cover for them to be secure.

 

[shadowmane]

You could just build another tractor and split the flock.

 

[shadowmane]

Here's some pictures of the Red Ranger at two weeks old. There are 5 Golden Comets in there, and I suspect one of them is a Banty that got in there by mistake, too. Oh well, if the Banty is there, it'll just be one more chicken to keep up with. The joys of keeping a flock.





The one with its head up is one of the Golden Comets. You can tell the difference in their plumage.



Another Golden Comet.









This one is quite obviously a Roo. He's get that red on his comb. There are a couple other ones with big combs, but not the red.



The one on the bottom is the one I think is a banty that got mixed in at the feed store that ordered them for me.



The blur in the middle flew across when I was snapping the picture. They're kind of flighty when we put them out in the pen.



The chicken shepherd at work. He loves to sit with the chickens, both these and our 13 week old layers.





10 more weeks till Freezer Camp!!!

 

[shadowmane]

Well, I butchered two of the roosters today. They both weighed in around 7lbs live. After all was said and done, I had a couple of 4lb birds to go in the freezer. 2 down, 9 to go. It took us 2 hours from start to finish. This was my first time ever doing it. I had to cut the first one twice, as I didn't get the jugular with the first cut. The second one I got the jugular on the first try. But the second one let out a squawk just before it died. I have two more roosters set aside for tomorrow. After that, I'll do the 7 hens next week. I have to work the weekend.

 

[wsmoak]

Congrats on your first time! Did you pluck them or just skin them? -Wendy

 

[shadowmane]

Thanks. We plucked them. It was quite easy to pull the feathers off without breaking the skin.