Red Ranger Chickens

[Kefa55]

Hi Folks,

I am new here and glad I found this site. We have chickens more as something to do and as a novelty. We live/take care of a 130 acre farm. We have the chickens just because we can.
I purchased 5 Red Ranger Chickens the other day. I bought them just because I liked the looks of them. They will be free ranged with our other 6 laying hens and I will keep you folks informed as to how they work out.
So far the chickens are doing well and are very submissive to the other chickens. They are eating the larger pieces of cracked corn that the smaller Rhode Island reds and Plymouth rocks don't care for. They are eating cracked corn, laying mash, and wild apples all over the place.At this point I have no idea how much they are eating. After I get them out today to free range with the other chickens I will try to figure out how much they will eat. I am hoping with the free range exercise they will not get to fat. Of course they were penned up and they have had very little room to get any kind of exercise or movement.
We have been blessed and we have not lost one chicken during the day time free range. I used to lock the chickens up in a small 20 x 20 covered pen at night attached to their chicken house.. A coon got in the pen one night and killed one of the chickens. I lock them up in the building at night now.
I will try to figure out how much the eggs cost but I have a feeling they will be good to look at and not even break even with the eggs. A neighbor has had a hawk take 2 of her smaller laying chickens. I bet a hawk won't go after these big chickens.

P.S. My wife has the chickens so spoiled that the chickens lay around and on her feet when she goes outside to sit and read a book.

 

[Kefa55]

So far 5 chickens with 6 eggs today.

 

[Elizabeth WK]

I raised Red Rangers this summer and have kept 6 pullets to see how they will lay. Got the first egg this morning (a smallish one) at age 17.5 weeks (123 days).

They are very healthy, active birds that like foraging. The largest cockerel I sent to "freezer camp" at 14 weeks old was over 10 pounds.

 

[call ducks]

I got 10 meat chicks called the Red Rangers and have a few questions. We also have laying hens but i might keep 1 to see how it does for laying eggs, for the heck of it.

1- I am curious does anyone know what breeds went into developing the red ranger meat chicken? I would think road island red and...?
2- Are they the same as the freedom ranger meat chicken?
3- Has anyone tryed seeing how they do laying eggs?
4- Do they have problems with there legs like other meat breeds?

Thank you

1) I mixture of different breeds. If these are Red bros then no one really knows.... Upwards of 10+ breeds may have been used.
2) Maybe... I have not looked into it.
3) They would not be great layers.
4) No. The skeletal structure develops in a different way ( and they grow slower preventing issues)

 

[Elizabeth WK]

Update on Red Rangers laying: I saved six birds to see how they would lay. The first started at just over 4 months old. They are now not quite 5 months old, and 4 out of the 6 are laying. I got 14 eggs last week with just 3 laying. The weather is starting to get very cold here, and the days are getting short, so the birds might not be at their best laying capacity. Still, I am very pleased with how these "meat birds" are doing as layers. Had I known how well they would perform, I'd have kept the other 5 pullets that were instead sent to "freezer camp." (3 additional pullets went to a friend's farm, and are reported to be doing well also.)

 

[ijon]

I have two that are laying. Mine lay different size eggs. I was working in the coop and one of them starting making a noise like a engine starting. She laid an egg the size of a duck egg.

 

[Elizabeth WK]

I love it when they make egg-laying sounds! Mine also lay eggs of widely varying size. I've had a couple of double-yolked eggs and a couple of other jumbo-sized eggs; but most are small-to-medium-sized. I suspect that a lot of the variation comes from the birds being so young and just starting to lay.

 

[GreenTopFarms]

I'm on my second batch of raising 50 Red Ranger chicks. They grow slower than Cornish Rocks but do not go down in the legs like Cornish. When you butcher them, you'll notice their legs aren't as meaty as the Cornish. Of the 100 I've raised, I've only had one have leg issues but it got stepped on by the others and wasn't a genetic issue.

 

[debbyvenus]

I am not sure what difference there is in the freedom rangers vs. red rangers but I got 25 red rangers in spring of 12' and I was amazed at how easy they are to raise. I mean they seem to raise themselves! No leg problems, and no over-eating. They are great at ranging for food themselves and very, very active. I kept one nice rooster and 2 hens for the winter. The hens began laying at 4 months vs. my BR at 5 months. The eggs are very nice size and pretty steady layers. They wintered over and in the spring the rooster mated very well mannered (did the dance as they say) however I felt he was just causing too much activity for the 9 hens and butchered him. I put eggs in the bator and they hatched well. I had let the red ranger mate with the barred rock thinking isn't that how the Cornish/rock was crossed? The results were very good. All the hens (7 out of 10) were black some with red necks and some so black they were purple, green and blue. The roosters that were crossed looked like barred rocks but a little bulkier and one pure one red ranger I should have kept. The barred rock looking roosters did not dance just chased and raped the hens which I did not tolerate and butchered them. The hens (half red rangers half barred rock) are now laying at little less than 4 months old (quicker then the pure Red rangers) and are doing very well. My problem now is that I don't have a rooster to keep this line going next spring. It is so much less stress without a rooster however. I think I could be on to something and heard that your rooster should be the meat chicken and the hen a heavy bred of some kind. The cross was excellent. I don't know what I should breed the half and half's with tho. I'd like to keep the line going. Anyone have thoughts on this? Thank you.

 

[jedgell]

Interesting reading here. I have only had layers or DP birds so far, and have not eaten any of them. I am beginning to think about raising some chickens for the freezer next year. I am thinking the rangers are more my style than the cornish x. I am glad to read that the rangers can be kept into adulthood without leg issues. Those are some nice looking birds in the picture that was posted.