My first experience with meat birds

[hoops]

After raising layers for the past year, and enjoying it, I thought I'd try raising meat birds. I ordered 25 Red Rangers from Mt. Healthy and set my mind on building a coop out of pallets.

I built the frame with pallets and used siding from Lowes. I put on a metal roof and used cedar for the doors and trim. I was pleased with the way the coop turned out (it's not quite finished off in the attached photo); a few years ago I couldn't have done this!






After about 2 weeks I noticed many of my chics couldn't stand or walk. I called Mt. Healthy and they said they had some trouble with this latest batch of Ranger chics--they were hatched too early or something like that. They suggested that I put the weak ones down, and they sent me a reimbursement check.

The remaining 14 birds made it 12 weeks. 12 of these 14 birds were very healthy, strong birds. They enjoyed foraging and looked and acted as the S&G or Mt. Healthy advertising says: strong, good foraging birds. I had what appeared to be many roosters, and by 12 weeks they were getting very aggressive--lots of fighting amongst themselves. Also, by the end of 3 months many were starting to get quite large. I didn't weigh them while they were alive, but I would have guessed the big ones were in the 6-8 lb range.

The dressed weights were as follows:

The biggest was 6.3 lbs dressed; the smallest 3.5 lbs. Two others were ~4 lbs and the rest were in the 5 lb range with several at 5.5 lbs.

We tried them the other night and they are some of the best chicken we ever had!




I found raising meat birds to be very different than layers. They eat so much more, make much more mess, and don't have the stamina that my lady layers do.

It was a great learning experience. I was waiting to taste them to decide if I'd do it again....I think I will, but will probably choose a different bird next time, given the problems that I had with these.

Thanks for reading!

 

[WinklerFarms]

If you weren't that pleased with the red broilers don't get the "Cornish x" white broiler. I raise them and wouldn't think about raising anything else but for someone like you who wasn't pleased with the reds I don't believe you would like the cx at all. Just my opinion. I could be wrong. According to my wife I am usually wrong

 

[hoops]

The chics started having problems when they were the size of a baseball. These weren't the common problems associated with growing too fast, rather, they were hatched prematurely which caused many to be too weak from the get-go.

 

[WinklerFarms]

What kind of bird are you thinking of raising next?

 

[hoops]

I'd have to research it more. Perhaps Freedom Rangers. If I were convinced that I wouldn't have the same problems with the S&G birds, maybe I'd be open to doing them again.

 

[wsmoak]

I was very happy with the batch of Freedom Rangers I raised this past Spring. All 26 made it to freezer camp, no leg or heart problems.

Not happy to hear of your problems with S&G, that's what I've got coming next month! I wanted to try them because they're much closer and they have more variety. We'll see...

-Wendy

 

[hoops]

Wendy--

You're trying the Red Rangers? I would be very interested to hear how they compare with Freedom Rangers.

I can't exactly recall what they said the issue was, but it was definately associated with the chics being hatched too early, which resulted in my receiving a bunch of premature birds. I know S&G sells thousands of these on a weely basis, so I imagine they typically have very good results and my situation was a bit of a one off.

When do you expect to get going with the Red Rangers?

Paul

 

[WinklerFarms]

Wendy--

You're trying the Red Rangers? I would be very interested to hear how they compare with Freedom Rangers.

I can't exactly recall what they said the issue was, but it was definately associated with the chics being hatched too early, which resulted in my receiving a bunch of premature birds. I know S&G sells thousands of these on a weely basis, so I imagine they typically have very good results and my situation was a bit of a one off.

When do you expect to get going with the Red Rangers?

Paul

Reds and freedoms are the same thing, just called different things. Much like the cx, there is some variation in what hatcheries call them. One hatchery may have both and they could have a little different growth rate but they are basically the same. Same as the jumbo Cornish x and the regular Cornish x.

 

[wsmoak]

You're trying the Red Rangers? I would be very interested to hear how they compare with Freedom Rangers.
[...]
When do you expect to get going with the Red Rangers?

Paul

I'm getting ten each of their Red Ranger, Rainbow, Heritage White and Naked Neck -- just to see if we like any of them better than the Freedom Rangers.

"Freedom Ranger" is somewhat of a brand name and I expect the Red Ranger to be similar. But, as I've seen reported here with the CX, different hatcheries have different breeding lines, and some are a better fit than others for a given set of environmental conditions.

They're set to arrive the week of 8/21. I'll start a new thread and post pictures, results, etc., like I did with the FR batch last spring.

-Wendy

 

[hoops]

I know that Red Rangers can be a generic name for very similar birds from different hatcheries, but I was told by S&G that their Red Ranger is not the same as others--it is their own proprietary line of birds. They sell wholesale, so their RR's are found in a few different outlets. I think the Freedom Ranger is a different bird with different lines.