Red Rangers vs Freedom Rangers

[grammiekims]

Hi,
How did your experience with raising Red Rangers go? I raised some for the first time this year - May-July 2014 and have been disappointed. They are so flighty that I have not dared to let them range, but they have had access to fresh grass daily in a fenced area. They concentrate on the grain and act starved ever since I have started feeding them 2-3x daily rather than freefeed. They had been freefed, but when I found one dead of no apparent cause, I thought they might be eating themselves into heart attack. I've now lost two that way.

My neighbor tells me that they raise Black Rangers with very different results as they seem to be a much more mellow bird, (e.g. they can be walked up to and picked up.)

Thanks,

 

[grammiekims]

hmm, when I ordered my Red Rangers I was told to butcher at 9-11 weeks. I've already lost two of the original 20 ... just keeled over dead .. heart attack from growing too fast? And they were not good at ranging .. too flighty so I kept them in a grassy fenced in area. The concentrated a lot more on the grain than on the foraging.

 

[Berisas]

In my experience I raised freedom rangers pioneers (rainbows), and red rangers. The freedom ranger , hands down is a better meat bird than the red ranger. Although some people say they are the same, they are similar, but not exactly the same. The freedom rangers grow faster, their dispositions also a bit different I found the freedom rangers not to be flighty at all, a bit more aggressive and actually brave. As for the Pioneer good meat bird and probably one of the gentilest chickens I have raised. If Interested I keep growth charts I could send you, of my experiences with these.

 

[Kev]

Interesting. I have the blacks and freedoms. They, especially the freedoms are very mellow to the point of being naturally tame. I don't let mine range at all so no comment on that.

 

[Charlean]

I would like to see your growth chart for the meat birds. Thanks

 

[Purebreed]

FYI. My Red Rangers hit the 9 week mark early this week and I scheduled butchering the first batch yesterday. I got everything set up and went out and picked one of the roosters that looked large compared to the others. I was pretty unimpressed when I had him plucked and even less impressed when I finished butchering him and he weighed in at 3 lb 5 oz. While decided that all the rest had at least another week to live and get bigger.

For comparison, I butchered 4 Freedom Ranger roosters and 1 pullet when they were 9 weeks old last summer. The pullet was the smallest at 3 lb 15 oz and the roosters all ranged between 4 lb 1 oz and 5 lb even.

So, while far from scientific (since I didn't weigh all of the chickens at 9 weeks, only looked around and grabbed what looked like the largest) I thought I'd share my limited results. I'll post more next week.

Ik, I'm very late to join the discussion but did you notice any health difference between the two breeds. For example, were the red rangers healther, less death rate, and I'm especially wondering which breed had more leg problems than the other.

 

[mrs_organized_chaos]

I just raised my first batch of Freedom Rangers and was very pleased. We grew them out until 10 weeks. After being processed my smallest was 3.63 and the largest was 4.93. They were active and not flighty. The last week the roosters got a little more contankerous with my other chickens and started laying down a lot more.

I plan to do another batch of meat chickens before fall, but it will probably be a Cornish X do to time constraints before cold weather hits. I will do the Freedom Rangers again in the spring

 

[lazy gardener]

old thread. It might be a good idea to start a new thread, perhaps referencing the old one.

 

[Goshen Acres]

I have raised hundreds of red rangers over the last few years. I have not raised freedom ventures. I have found out that freedom rangers are full size (4.5lb carcass) at 12 weeks while red rangers take 2 weeks longer. Red rangers are really Hardy.

FYI.

My Red Rangers hit the 9 week mark early this week and I scheduled butchering the first batch yesterday. I got everything set up and went out and picked one of the roosters that looked large compared to the others. I was pretty unimpressed when I had him plucked and even less impressed when I finished butchering him and he weighed in at 3 lb 5 oz. While decided that all the rest had at least another week to live and get bigger.

For comparison, I butchered 4 Freedom Ranger roosters and 1 pullet when they were 9 weeks old last summer. The pullet was the smallest at 3 lb 15 oz and the roosters all ranged between 4 lb 1 oz and 5 lb even.

So, while far from scientific (since I didn't weigh all of the chickens at 9 weeks, only looked around and grabbed what looked like the largest) I thought I'd share my limited results. I'll post more next week.

 

[oldrooster]

I have raised hundreds of red rangers over the last few years. I have not raised freedom ventures. I have found out that freedom rangers are full size (4.5lb carcass) at 12 weeks while red rangers take 2 weeks longer. Red rangers are really Hardy.

I think the freedoms are the original ranger type breed, so likely the others may be better or worse than they are and likely worse in some slight way, just because they have had less time to "perfect" their lines, not saying they are bad, please don't read my comment as such, that may explain the 2 week difference in weight gain, but that may or may not matter if they the reds are more hearty in your area because fewer losses may wipe out the feed/time factor for you...