Possible to free range meat birds with egg layers?

[YellowBird0]

Hi All,

My husband and I want to get Freedom Rangers next year for meat birds. I have a flock of egg layers that free range our 3-acres all day, and then go home to their coop every night. The layer pellet feed is in the their coop. I'm mulling over the idea of letting the Freedom Rangers free range with the egg layers, but train the Rangers to home in on a protected stable that would contain their meat bird feeders and waterers.

Has anyone ever tried this before? Or, am I looking at mass chaos with everyone roosting in whichever chicken housing they want, eating whatever feed they are locked up with overnight? I can always build a chicken tractor, but I thought it would be kind of fun to have everyone running around our property together during the day.

 

[FunClucks]

Best decision IMO is just to feed everyone one feed. 20% chick starter/grower is a good year-round all-flock feed. Add a bin of oyster shell and a separate bin of grit, and the hens that need the oyster shell will eat as much as they need. If you can get pelleted 20% feed, all the better. Meat bird feed is usually 23-24% protein, but that is designed for CX in a tractor or chicken house, to be slaughtered at 6-8 weeks, and they often end up with leg issues. By feeding a slightly lower % protein, you can slow that growth down a bit and reduce issues for CX for longer live times.

For free range meat birds, Freedom Rangers, 20% should be plenty, and they'll eat insects and stuff to increase their protein as needed. They don't need the 23-24% meat bird protein unless you want to give it to them.

I have New Hampshires from Freedom Ranger hatchery, and they are humungous. They're designed for meat and eggs, and have been on 20% since the beginning. They're almost as fat as the White Rangers, but not quite, which is good, because it means they can still lay eggs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

am I looking at mass chaos with everyone roosting in whichever chicken housing they want, eating whatever feed they are locked up with overnight?

Possibly, but where is your sense of adventure? If it doesn't work out, eat them and try something else.

Cornish X were designed to be tightly controlled. Every bite they eat is carefully controlled. You cannot beat them for what they were designed for. Some people do free range CX and make it work but that is not really what they were designed for.

Freedom Rangers were designed to free range. You still need to feed them well to get good growth rates and butcher them when they are ready but they can get a fair amount of their food from free ranging on forage. Since they are designed to grow fast they will eat more than your egg layers. That means they will poop more. You need to be ready for that.

I haven't tried this myself. If I did, I'd feed them all the same feed with oyster shell on the side. I'd have a few widely separated feeders. I'd try to train them to sleep in their own areas at night more from a poop control effort than anything else.

I do not know how it will work for you. You may learn a few things by trial and error or decide it just will not work for you. Good luck and let us know how it goes if you try it.

 

[Molpet]

I gave CX to my Turkeys to raise. I had poults too so everyone was eating turkey starter.

 

[YellowBird0]

Possibly, but where is your sense of adventure? If it doesn't work out, eat them and try something else.

I love this attitude Thank you for the advice! If it is chaotic and messy, it's only for a season or so!

I think I'm going to try this out and see what happens. You're right, they're called Freedom Rangers for a reason. I'll give updates and let everyone know what's working, what's not, and what factions have formed in each chicken house!

 

[YellowBird0]

I gave CX to my Turkeys to raise. I had poults too so everyone was eating turkey starter.

This is such a cool setup! Thanks for sharing!

 

[YellowBird0]

Best decision IMO is just to feed everyone one feed. 20% chick starter/grower is a good year-round all-flock feed. Add a bin of oyster shell and a separate bin of grit, and the hens that need the oyster shell will eat as much as they need. If you can get pelleted 20% feed, all the better. Meat bird feed is usually 23-24% protein, but that is designed for CX in a tractor or chicken house, to be slaughtered at 6-8 weeks, and they often end up with leg issues. By feeding a slightly lower % protein, you can slow that growth down a bit and reduce issues for CX for longer live times.

For free range meat birds, Freedom Rangers, 20% should be plenty, and they'll eat insects and stuff to increase their protein as needed. They don't need the 23-24% meat bird protein unless you want to give it to them.

I have New Hampshires from Freedom Ranger hatchery, and they are humungous. They're designed for meat and eggs, and have been on 20% since the beginning. They're almost as fat as the White Rangers, but not quite, which is good, because it means they can still lay eggs.

Thank you for this advice! This is encouraging, I'm relieved to hear they can more or less all be on the same feed. My egg layers already have an oyster shell station, and they can show the meat birds where the grit station is (though I'll add a few more to help spread everyone out).