Thinking of an experiment

[MissE]

I have a Rudd Ranger, Hoover's version of the Red/Freedom Ranger, rooster. He's a pretty good guy with me and the girls, and he is huge. I understand this variety is a hybrid and will not breed true.

I'm kicking around hatching some Speckled Sussex eggs. My rooster has been doing his job, and the eggs are fertile.

Has anyone tried this cross? I'm hoping for a good, solid body for meat. The SS are little bricks compared to my hybrid layers, and with the rooster's size, I'm thinking I could get a meaty table bird.

I'm not too concerned about longevity, as most would be processed for the freezer. My rooster is about 21 months old, and still going strong. Of the seven Rudd hens I kept, only two are still alive. They were all good layers of extra large eggs. Some eggs were cream and some were brown. The two I still have like to lay eggs that won't fit in a carton. Only problem with the hens is they look perfectly fine one day, and then dead the next, but again I understand they were not bred for longevity.

The SS are good layers, but their eggs are medium size at best. If I were to try this, most would go to freezer camp, but I would be curious to see how their laying abilities turned out. If I don't like the results, they could also be invited for dinner.

Any thoughts? If anyone has done something similar, I'd love to see pictures and talk about grow out time and processing weights. Egg laying too, if you let them go that long.

 

[Severne]

This is quite an interesting post, seems like a cool project!

Unequivocally, posts resembling this are those that are constantly and truly arousing my interest. GOOD LUCK!​

 

[MissE]

This is quite an interesting post, seems like a cool project!

Unequivocally, posts resembling this are those that are constantly and truly arousing my interest. GOOD LUCK!​

Thanks! I spent the morning looking at incubators. Still haven't ordered one yet, but I think I will. I want to be able to time a hatch rather than wait for someone to go broody.

When I was raising meat rabbits, I managed to breed a total mutt line that kept my freezer well stocked. It was fun, and you eat your mistakes.

I'm not stuck on a particular breed of chicken. Barnyard mixes as just fine as long as they do their job, which is to provide me breakfast or dinner.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

I cant wait to see the outcome of this! I just lost my huge barnyard roo whom I had planned to breed to make some faster growing mutts for the freezer. So now I leaning towards acquiring a ranger roo and seeing how it plays out. My RIR roo is big, but he is leggy and his offspring still take 5 months to reach a decent size.

 

[NatJ]

Any thoughts?

Just that I intend to watch and see how it goes

When I was raising meat rabbits, I managed to breed a total mutt line that kept my freezer well stocked. It was fun, and you eat your mistakes.

Sounds like my favorite kind of project: fun, but not impractical

 

[MissE]

Today is the day! I have 13 SS eggs and 5 Black Australorp eggs. Hoping to get a couple more today when they get off their lazy butts and clear the nest boxes.

Incubator is set up and has been running for 2 days. Not thrilled with it so far. It's set at 40 C (didn't realize it didn't have a F setting), but the two calibrated thermometers/hydrometers that read the same when next to each other, show one side of the incubator at 99.7 on one side and 100.4 on the other. Not only is the temp in the incubator wrong, the heat isn't even. When I switch them, the same thing happens. One side is just warmer than the other. There is a fan in the incubator. I will just need to turn the eggs several times a day. The incubator is round, and has an egg turner, but I have to manually push a button. It turns 180 degrees each time its pushed.

Will share some pictures once the eggs are set.

 

[MissE]

This is the incubator I got.

https://www.amazon.com/Nollapo-Incubator-Hatching-Automatic-Humidity/dp/B08R3CS3XG

It does have a styrofoam case it can fit in. Will try that to see if I can get a more uniform temp. Its upper 60's in the house, which I don't think is a "cooler" temp, but I'm in northern MN, so maybe someone else's idea of cool is different than mine. I was pruning plum trees in a tee shirt yesterday and it was 52 outside.

 

[MissE]

16 Sussex and 5 Australorp.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

So excited! ! Would you mind posting a pic of your RANGER Roo? Maybe next to an australorp. I am curious about his size.
I just ordered 25 Red Rangers strait run. I am going to try and keep a Roo or two from the batch also!

 

[theoldchick]

Fascinating!