What breed?

[greyfields]

http://www.jmhatchery.com/free-range-broiler/colored-range-chicks/prod_5.html

 

[CrimsonRose]

Quick question about the Free Range Chickens... I know you can't keep a few Cornish x back to breed and hatch eggs from the next year due to some sort of cross breeding... So Can you do that with the free range birds... I would like to find a meat bird that I can raise myself instead of having to put in an order to a hatchery every year...

 

[greyfields]

I have some Freedom Rangers (now called Colored Range Broilers) which are over 2 years old and doing fine. They just finished their molt and look fantastic. I have probably 8 of them from various crops over the years, as I always grant clemency to the nicest looking hen in each crop of broilers.

The largest broilers I have made myself were breeding my Dark Cornish rooster to the freedom rangers. They were significantly larger than any other standard breed crossbreeding I did.

However, you do not get the heterosis you do in the original broilers and by no means are they equivelant. Whenever you are rebreeding hybrids the results are random.

 

[CrimsonRose]

Quote:
Thanks for the info... I'm still trying to decide which type of meat bird to get in the spring... If I can get the pins built I want to try some of each... If I do get these I may keep a few hens back just to see what I can come up with