Want something other than Cornish X

[jaku]

Quote:
That goes for about 90% of the threads in this part of the forum. Gonna make them all stickies?

Somebody asks a question, let people who want to answer it do so, those that don't, don't.

I agree. And Cornish X's will move if you give them incentive to do so. With a stationary coop and a feeder that stays in the same spot all the time, they have no need to do anything, as they don't forage much. Then the poo builds up too. Thats why a tractor works so well. Or, if one wants to free range them, you have to just keep moving the feeder around. Believe me, they'll follow it.

 

[CoopCrazy]

I am going to try the freedom rangers next time as well... i feeel so bad for the lil mutants... It is freakinsh how fast they grow.. and the way they fill their crops to the max worries me.. No more cornish x for me ...

 

[95yj]

as everyone else said feedom rangers, or if you want to go really old school you could buy a bunch of laying hen breed roosters really cheap, I'v heard they'll forage like mad. Next year i kinda want to try buying 30 straight run chicks keeping the hens and butchering the males. I know what your saying about the cx's, they kinda scare me too, yay for selective breeding...

 

[MarriedToTheFarm]

We raised Colored Rangers from JM last year for the first time. Our customers loved them! Our processor said they even looked nicer than the Cornish after processing. I can't say enough good things about them. They grew bigger faster than even the hatchery had told us to expect. We plan to butcher at 10 and 12 weeks this year and expect 3.5-6.5# overall. The split processing dates work well for us. It gives us some smaller birds for customers who want "fryers" and allows us to rotate through fewer pens. We raised ours on the day range model with shelters and electric poultry nets. They don't appear to consumer a lot of green matter but they do love to explore the grass. The are very personable - good luck not getting attached!

 

[snowhorse]

Wow. Very helpful thank you!

I do have to say however I processed my 7 week old meaties yesterday (Cornish X) and they were anywhere from 4 ot 6 lbs, had one for dinner tonight and it is fabulous. Juicy, tender, it just fell apart I have never had chicken just fall apart unless you boil or cook in a crock, I just had it in the oven!

But since this is all new to me, I am going to try out the Freedom Rangers next year. Sounds like a lot of people have had good luck with them, and I would really prefer they free range. I know they grow slower but that would make me feel better. The guy at the slaughter house was impressed that none of my chickens had broken legs

gross.

So now that I have had these, I will be interested to see if the Freedom Rangers taste better because they can free range and move around more? I mean I just plain felt bad for these birds, they just looked so miserable not being able to move around so well.

 

[tlaikman]

i HAVE FOUND THAT BUFF ORPS MAKE A GOOD MEAT BIRD AND THEY ARE CHEAP