Trouble with colored rangers already... (in a good way?)

[vermontgal]

I received my colored rangers yesterday, and I can already tell you these are going to be big trouble. All 102 arrived healthy and apparently happy. Many of them went off to other homes.

I have never raised Cornish X, but even in the feed store and in photos here, those things are butt ugly. These colored rangers, on the other hand, are too dang cute. How am I ever going to be able to eat these guys?

 

[Judy]

Well... what else would you do with 102 birds?!!! (Or however many you have.) I wouldn't want to feed them for 10 years! At least that's what I'd be telling myself (and yes we eat our chickens.)

Guess you'll just have to start working on your mindset, collect chicken recipes, read in the meat section here, think about how much healthier the meat is, and how much better a life they have while growing to butcher size....

They won't be so cute when the roos start tearing up the hens and fighting!

Good luck. You can do it. Most of us have had to deal with this.

 

[CoopCrazy]

From what Ive seen they wont stay cute for long... And the AMOUNT OF POO

 

[shelleyb1969]

I've got Colored Rangers too...not near as many as you, though.

They are cute, and the older they get, the prettier they become. I've got all different colors. I can say this...they definitely don't poo as much as Cornish X chicks...not at all. And they don't smell near as bad either. I love mine...but I'm distancing myself from them as much as possible. Otherwise, I don't know if I'd be able to dispatch all of them.

Just picture them with no feathers...that'll make it easier to imagine how good they're gonna taste.

 

[TimG]

I picked up 8 colored rangers today, they are just a few days old. I have put them in a cage with 12 Cornish crosses that are a week older (and at least twice as big). I'm a little concerned about the size difference. Anyone want to tell me everything will be fine? Or, that I should do something about it immediately...

Edit: they appear to be doing just fine together. The rangers are much more active, when they want in the pile, they just run over it to the spot they want; when they want out, they have no difficulty extracting themselves.

 

[vermontgal]

Hey TimG in Maine - congrats on getting some rangers. Glad that worked out.

I have 12.

 

[mcdaid36]

I completely understand. We are also just starting out on the meat bird adventure, and have processed our first batch of cornish roasters last week. It went great, never lost a bird, and they dressed between 5 and 6 lbs. We now have a batch of 10 day old Colored Rangers, and the difference in how I feel towards these birds is apparent. You are right, they are cute!!! The cornish were always ugly and I had no problems thinking of them as meat birds, but the colored rangers remind me of my laying chickens! I keep wanting to go pick them up and pet them, but I know that would just make the end harder!

 

[HeatherLynn]

I'm working my way toward accepting that my too many roos must become dinner. The plan is I can act with them the same way I did when I thought they were hens. I sing to them and try to make them as happy as possible.

When the time comes my husband will do the deed as kindly as possible and I will not see them again until its time to cook them. At that time I am going to pretend I bought them from the store.

That's my plan personally. Its all about lying to yourself.

 

[vermontgal]

I've planned all along that this year, I will have them processed. Next year, if I am up to it, I will try to process them. But I might decide:
(a) to go back to being a vegetarian afterall (I was a veggie from ~1992 to 1998).
(b) raise Cornish X next year so the meaties are ugly enough I can kill them
(c) continue to have someone else do the processing
(d) find someone with similar flock raising ideas to swap birds (alive) - I kill & eat their birds, they kill & eat my birds. No personal connection to the birds being eaten.
(e) switch to raising backyard tilapia instead

The chicks are now 5 days old and still very cute. I've had to hold them because a couple have had pasty butt. They are all of course scared of "the hand." I tell them, it's OK, I'm not going to hurt you for another 11 weeks.

 

[zephyrcreek]