My 5 week old Colored Range Broilers aka "Freedom Rangers"

[pat3494]

Five weeks ago I received 26 colored range broilers from Randall-Burkey. I checked with them and they are the same birds known as Freedom Rangers from other hatcheries. These birds are not in the catalog but are on their web site. Anyway, I ordered 25 and they sent me 26. One died at about 4 days and one is a "runt". It is about 1/4 the size of the other birds and seems to have a weak leg but it gets around. Randall-Burkey credited my account for the runt. Compared to 2 other groups I raised last year, both primarily Buff Orpingtons, the Colored Broilers eat, drink and poop substantially more. They are also substantially bigger at the same age. These birds are scheduled to be processed at 9-11 weeks of age and I think they are on track. Since I haven't processed one of them yet I can't comment on carcass size or flavor yet but it seems that they are growing into good sized broiler chickens as advertised, despite some very high temperatures here in Florida. So far I am pleased with the results of my experiment raising these broilers.