Verdicts in on Freedom Rangers

[RoosterGeek]

I'll be processing my FR this weekend (12 weeks and 3 days) and we have a big range in size. One looks like a small turkey! Another is comparable to my red star hen. This will be my first batch so I don't know about Cx. I'm kind of wanting to try a few in the spring.


Like ChickeeMomma, we will be holding back a few hens for eggs.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
The Cornish Crosses have a better feed conversion rate than the Freedom Rangers.

There really is no getting around the Cornish Crosses being cheaper to raise.

The Cornish Crosses are also more consistent in their weights (from what I have read).

All that having been said, I've raised Freedom Rangers the past two years and will again next year. They're just more chicken-y to me and I like that. If I were going to raise meat birds for sale, I'd likely go with the Cornish Crosses because they are cheaper and quicker.

 

[Salt and Light]

I'm no chicken connoisseur, but I can't tell any difference between CX and FR meat. However, there's a HUGE difference in raising these breeds. CX's are much more sedentary and thus make a huge mess. I have no idea of cost difference in raising the birds, but how much difference can it be?

For me, it comes down to raising, not eating the birds.

 

[Dandelion Acres]

I keep reading about CX's "free Ranging" hmmm... never had them do much but sit around. I have raised them both in a coop with free run of the yard and in tractors and all I see them do is walk out of the coop and plop down. I have also made them scratch for feed in order to make them work. I don't know about anyone else, but that is not normal chicken behavior, LOL. That being said, they do taste good, and customers buy the heck out of them. I will be trying Freedom Rangers This year. I want a chicken that acts like a chicken I guess. I am ok with a longer grow out, and more feed cost, if it means the bird will actually get out and hunt and peck a little....

That all being said, I will still raise a few CX's but I will try and get them to work a little harder for what they do get. To me they are definitely bred for confinement houses (which they were), so trying to change them seems a little like a pointless task. But you cannot argue with production rates...it's a viscous cycle I tell ya....LOL

I have honestly thought about ordering all Barred rock roo's or other breeds just for meat birds, but the grow out on those would be like 20 weeks. I think one could still make some money on them if they had enough area to free range, and a good supplemental feed. I don't know....with meat birds it just seems like one extreme or the other......

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

I've raised both at the same in the same pen 'free range'. Pen meaning the house they go into at night, during the day the go where ever they want. Feed is in one spot and water is a good distance away, out of the pen, which keeps them moving. Weight gain was the same, the rangers did move about more and range a little farther (they ripped up my Iris bed

where the CX's lift those alone) the big difference I found was the fat, the rangers had large amounts of fat in the cavity, one hen had more than a Lb.
in my opinion the rangers are not worth the extra price and shipping, i can get CX's from my local co-op for less then $1 each