Red Rangers

[DeesChicks]

I'm so glad to hear the success stories on this thread! I ordered 25 of these birds. Lost 1 the first week, which wasn't too bad - I kind of expected that to happen. Then they started growing and growing - having similar results as RubyRamona. We bought 10 Easter Eggers at the same time, and we have the same growth rate going on. Then at 4 weeks, we lost one. The night before, everyone was active and no apparent problems, and I went in to check on them in the morning, and one was laid out flat, dead. Then Saturday, at 5 weeks, another one, same thing. Went in yesterday morning, and we've lost another one. I am really new to raising chickens. We purchased 25 Barred Rocks in August (got 26), and had a loss of 6, but that was all in the first few days, and was probably due to heat in shipping. No problems since then, and they are all happy, thriving layers now! Decided to order some EE for fun colorful eggs, and the Red Ranger Broilers to try our hand at meat birds. Once we got to the 3-4 week point, we thought we were out of the woods. Now I'm freaking out as they are dropping like flies! Does it have anything to do with altitude? The Cornish X we didn't end up purchasing, because it says not successful above 5000 feet, and we're at around 6500. Or is this just a normal circle of life thing, and as a newbie, I'm just going to have to get used to it? I was going to keep some of the Red Rangers and hatch out eggs to continue for meat bird production - but freaking out, I ordered 25 White Rocks to use as meat birds instead, since they are hardier, and we're having success with the Barred Rocks. Hopefully we have some last by the end of the 12? weeks to experience the flavor you are all talking about! Sorry for rambling!

 

[kapie9969]

I would just look over your setup.Any drafts? but still having fresh air? Else than fresh water and feed.I also provide some vitamins into the water on occasions.Like before and after bad weather.I also use a nipple waterer so the water stays clean. You give them grit of some sort? Good luck and i hope your birds stay alive.

 

[DeesChicks]

No drafts. Have two large vents in the top to keep air fresh. They poop so much, that I'm constantly shoveling out the coop - much more than I did with the Barred Rocks at this age. They have fresh water every day, and I use the nipple watering system, too. Only problem with that is, we do have some leakage and the ground gets wet right under the waterer. We have put a pan under there filled with pine shavings and dump that out all the time to keep the rest of the ground dry. Haven't put in chick grit yet. Will go do that right now!

Another one just died today - I just came in from discovering her. That's 5 total - the one that died early and the 4 that died in the last 11 days between 4 and 5 1/2 weeks old. They are all together with the Easter Egg birds I got at the same time, and those are all doing fine. Only the Red Ranger birds are dropping. So, my thought is it has to be more of a breed thing, since the Easter Egg birds are all OK. Hoping that whatever this is causing it stops soon, so we at least have some to actually eat!

 

[Elizabeth WK]

I raised 25 "straight run" Red Rangers this summer. The runt was sickly and had to be culled early, leaving me with 10 cockerels and 14 pullets.

Average weights:
Day 9 - 3.5 ounces
Day 11 - 5.4 ounces
Day 13 - 7 ounces
Day 17 - 1 pound, 1 ounce
Day 21 - 1 pound, 3.5 ounces
Day 29 - 1 pound, 11 ounces
Day 36 - 2 pounds, 5 ounces
Day 43 - 2 pounds, 14 ounces
Day 50 - 3 pounds, 7 ounces
Day 57 - 4 pounds, 3 ounces
Day 64 - 5 pounds, 2 ounces
Day 71 - 5 pounds, 13 ounces
Day 78 - 6 pounds, 6 ounces; Males - 7 pounds, 5 ounces; Females - 5 pounds 10 ounces
Day 85 - 6 pounds, 12 ounces; Males - 8 pounds, 0 ounces; Females - 6 pounds, 1 ounce

I kept some longer and had one cockerel weigh in at 10 pounds at Day 99, before going to "freezer camp." These were nice, healthy, active, handsome birds. They ate blackberries, apples, plums, half-rotten tomatoes, bugs, grass, and whatever they could dig out of the compost in addition to their organic grower feed. I have kept 6 females to see how they will lay. Got the first egg this morning at Day 123 (17.5 weeks old).

 

[snowflake]

we did FR las yr, they were very good and easy to raise, poop a little less the the cornish x free rangeing helped, with feed cost and poo control. Very tasty

 

[tdaigle]

Raising some right now. My first try with any meat chickens. Ordered 15 Cornish X and 15 Red Freedom Broilers. They were all free ranged. The RFB's taught the CX how to act like chickens! The CX would follow them around and scratch. Already process the CX and plan to process the RFB's in late October. Put them on pasture at two weeks, got away with that in the La. heat. They love it and handled everything, no problem. I lost three CX to disease/leg problems. No such issues with the RFB's. Tough as nails. They don't gain like the CX and the breast is smaller. But they seem to be more resilient and forage much better. So feed costs have gone down since processing the CX.

I may raise some CX again in the near future....not sure. I will definitely raise the RFB's. They have been so easy and so fun!

 

[aoxa]

Raising some right now. My first try with any meat chickens. Ordered 15 Cornish X and 15 Red Freedom Broilers. They were all free ranged. The RFB's taught the CX how to act like chickens! The CX would follow them around and scratch. Already process the CX and plan to process the RFB's in late October. Put them on pasture at two weeks, got away with that in the La. heat. They love it and handled everything, no problem. I lost three CX to disease/leg problems. No such issues with the RFB's. Tough as nails. They don't gain like the CX and the breast is smaller. But they seem to be more resilient and forage much better. So feed costs have gone down since processing the CX.

I may raise some CX again in the near future....not sure. I will definitely raise the RFB's. They have been so easy and so fun!

How do you feed them? The CX. Do you offer it free choice?

Never EVER had issues with legs in my CX that were free ranged. They were fed only twice a day for a total 30 minutes of feed choice in 24 hours.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-cornish-x-for-meat-the-truth
You can read about how I raised my CX here. Total processed this year: 44 so far. 21 left to go

Loss was 6 due to cocci in the first two weeks. I lost more layers than CX though.

 

[birdhouse2]

Did your birds have free ration or was it measured daily?

 

[Farmer-John]

I'm horrible about getting online.. so I am sorry for not getting the info out on the red rangers I raised.

I'll give you a quick and short break down of how things went.

I raised 50 straight run, they did well free range with minimal issues with only a few having abnormal foot growth. they dressed out quite well at 16 weeks averaging a processed weight from 5.5 up to 9 pounds.

I will tell you this, they eat an absolute ton of feed, and I did not feed them free choice.

From a monetary perspective, they are not very economical... however, they are great birds with a lot of personality, produce a lot of meat. at the end of the day each bird cost approximately around 10 dollars.

I held back four hens just to see how they would do.... a year later they are managing quite well with the rest of the flock, not as active as my heritage breeds but lay absolute giant eggs and are quite regular layers.

As far as taste and texture, I'd rate them somewhere in between the standard broilers and my rocks. overall, a good bird, a lot of breast meat and quite tasty.

If it's money you're trying to save, get the Cornish cross, if you want a bird that lives like your old world birds, these guys do very well.

I have 50 layers right now of mixed breeds... starting to hammer the eggs since the day light has increased.

next order is for Khaki Campbell ducks for egg productions and 15 broad breasted white turkey for the late summer cookout.

hope this helps some of you out..

Good luck..

Farmer John

 

[LindaB220]

I'm horrible about getting online.. so I am sorry for not getting the info out on the red rangers I raised.

I'll give you a quick and short break down of how things went.

I raised 50 straight run, they did well free range with minimal issues with only a few having abnormal foot growth. they dressed out quite well at 16 weeks averaging a processed weight from 5.5 up to 9 pounds.

I will tell you this, they eat an absolute ton of feed, and I did not feed them free choice.

From a monetary perspective, they are not very economical... however, they are great birds with a lot of personality, produce a lot of meat. at the end of the day each bird cost approximately around 10 dollars.

I held back four hens just to see how they would do.... a year later they are managing quite well with the rest of the flock, not as active as my heritage breeds but lay absolute giant eggs and are quite regular layers.

As far as taste and texture, I'd rate them somewhere in between the standard broilers and my rocks. overall, a good bird, a lot of breast meat and quite tasty.

If it's money you're trying to save, get the Cornish cross, if you want a bird that lives like your old world birds, these guys do very well.

I have 50 layers right now of mixed breeds... starting to hammer the eggs since the day light has increased.

next order is for Khaki Campbell ducks for egg productions and 15 broad breasted white turkey for the late summer cookout.

hope this helps some of you out..

Good luck..

Farmer John

Farmer John, this is no nice of you to give a follow up of your endeavors. So often the thread just goes dead, leaving us to wonder what, how ,why. Thanks again.

And you know, I'd try to raise some CX's and let them free range. Several people have had great success. It takes a little longer, maybe 12 weeks or so instead of 8 but no leg problems. Feeding once a day with a snack later is the best way to do it. Leaving feed out for them after the first week or so is asking for health problems.