Red Ranger Chickens

[meganblythe]

I raised 26 freedom rangers last year as meat birds, but kept 5 females to try out as laying hens. They started laying eggs early, at only about 16 weeks and got going pretty well. We had a lot of double yolks eggs too, but then things started to go badly. One of them started laying mostly softshells eggs and another laid very thin shells eggs. I tried supplementing with crushed oyster shell free choice, mixed in with the food and fed their egg shells back to them. Nothing helped. Within about 6-9 mon both of those birds died (not at the same time) and the necropsy I did one one of them showed that she had a blocked oviduct and a massive amount of egg yolk inside her. The other three birds kept doing well but two of them just kept getting fatter and fatter (even though I did not give them free choice feed). Both of those birds died at about one year old. A necropsy on one of them showed an absolutely ridiculous amount of body fat that appeared to just put too much pressure on her internal organs. There was a soft egg shell and fluid built up in her body cavity. The only one that is still living was the sole white chicken - she obviously had a different genetic make up than the others, has not gotten fat and was the best layer out of any of them. She is taking a break from laying this winter but hopefully she'll start back up in the spring. I hope the rest of you have better luck with lifespan than I did. These are easy birds and were pretty good layers. And as meat birds, they are phenomenal.

 

[JJason]

Hello, This is my first post on this site. I just joined because I have been looking into the "Freedom Ranger" I found a forum posting1 that claims the Freedom Ranger is the same as Hubbard breeders "Redbro"2 If this is correct then that would mean both are 4 way crosses and would hard to stabilize(breed true). Given that the last post says they can become fat and that you can buy them for just over a buck each I think I will just buy them. They do taste great.

1 http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/livestock-forums/poultry/342907-colored-rangers.html
2 http://www.hubbardbreeders.com/products.php?id=5

Jason

 

[lja440]

I just picked up 10 Freedom Ranger chicks and plan to keep them as layers and roosters to go with my normal egg layer pullets. I do free range and these were the only straight runs other than the standard cornish rocks. From research they are a mid range growing chicken so they should not have the leg problems of the fast growing breeds I've had other 'meat' hens and while they didn't lay as many eggs two were purchased in a group of 5 that I originally got as they were stuffed in a lot at the sale with some Buff pullets just starting to lay. Two of the old girls proved to be very broody all were very friendly and great at manure management LOL so they never had to worry about their necks.

 

[joshi]

#3 I think there purebred .

 

[sthrngirl]

The red rangers are a five way cross created at auburn university in alabama. We were the second people to have them from the guy that created them. We have since sold th all and concentrate on other rare breeds.

 

[Djcoak]

We had 10 red rangers. We lost 2 to a fox and process all but the two hens. The hens are good layers, one egg a day, and very docile birds. The Roos at 12 weeks dressed out to 7 pounds and taste great. We had no leg issues other than one hen limps but seems ok as she is almost a year old.

 

[ijon]

I have one twelve pound red ranger rooster and two red ranger hens that are three years old. You would think the rooster would be clumsy, but he is quite active and fast. He was in the garden jumping up to get some old raspberries.

 

[blueridgefarmer]

Thanks so much for your post!!! We had a bunch of red rangers and in the process of collecting them for processing one flew the coop!!! We do not process ourselves, and I see no point in taking her ( I have to travel quite a ways), I wasn't sure what to do with her?! I am going just going to keep her with the laying hens then.

 

[Dave C]

Hi, any chance of anyone updating me on how you got on breeding them this year ?

 

[organicchickgal]

Interesting read........We have raised primarily Dominique hens for layers with one Dominique rooster for reproduction, recently had some coyotes take out most of our flock.....we like to let them free range during the day. We have been managing the time now that we let them out to free range.....love living in the country, but sometimes it comes with consequences. Our Dominiques do pretty good at providing eggs. This year we were wanting to raise Red Rangers to put some meat in the freezer for the winter, we were going to order about 25 to start with. Really interested to know if the Red Ranger's can reproduce.....according to one of the previous posts looks like they can reproduce.

Does anyone recommend a good healthy hatchery to order a good solid breed of Red Rangers from??
Also does anyone know of any cons to hatching out and raising your own meat birds using Red Rangers??