Feedin Rangers?

[sfgwife]

We have had 33 rangers for two and a half weeks now. These lil buggars are eatin us out of house and home nearly. Gah! We did cornishx in the spring and they didnt eat nearly this much (a bag and a lil over half of a 50lb feed)... and we only had five fewer birds then. I guess we were under the impression that these surely wouldn't eat anymore than the cornishx as far as crumble goes... were we wrong in thinkin this after readin tons of stuff on them? the cornishx only started usin pretty close to a bag of feed at round five or six weeks old. I know that they forage better so hopefully when they go into the tractor they will eat less..... and then (they are goin out tues because of bad weather this week end) they will be on the 12 on and 12 off feed schedule. But since these are so different from the crnish should we feed of a mornin and all they can eat for like 20 or so min then take away and again right before dusk? Or will the 12 on and 12 off be ok? Or are we missing something with these lil food mongers?

 

[blucoondawg]

They are still meat birds, they are going to eat alot, and they do way more than CX being that they take much longer to grow out. I leave feed available to them at all times and they can forage around as well but they still eat the food. If I had a batch I could free range all the time I'd experience with limiting feed to a more reasonable amount and make them forage more, see what the results are as far as time to grow out. I prefer raising CX my last batch foraged well, I had some rangers and later chicks with them, maybe they learn the behavior from the other chickens I don't know but they did good and I much prefer them for processing ease

 

[Eckielady]

I'm new at this but we have 12 13 week old red rangers. They are weighing between 7.5-8.5 lbs. We fill their bowls at 5:30 when we lock them up. In the morning they come out and free range until their evening feeding.

 

[sfgwife]

I'm new at this but we have 12 13 week old red rangers. They are weighing between 7.5-8.5 lbs. We fill their bowls at 5:30 when we lock them up. In the morning they come out and free range until their evening feeding.

We can't free range sadly.. Hawks have been floatin round a lot this year and one of our dogs still hasn't gotten the memo that thhe birds are not play things to chase and eat. :/. She is awesome with her commands on most everything except for anything low to the ground that moves. Silly thing! But we are workin on it.

 

[Nekatlla]

We can't free range sadly.. Hawks have been floatin round a lot this year and one of our dogs still hasn't gotten the memo that thhe birds are not play things to chase and eat. :/. She is awesome with her commands on most everything except for anything low to the ground that moves. Silly thing! But we are workin on it.

Try a chicken tractor, I built some from some plans I got and I'd put it against any hawk and most predators any day. It also has Room! I didnt like the ones that gave them no room. Might be an option for you.

 

[sfgwife]

Try a chicken tractor, I built some from some plans I got and I'd put it against any hawk and most predators any day. It also has Room! I didnt like the ones that gave them no room. Might be an option for you.

They were evicted to the tractor TODAY. LOL! We are also gonna get for this round a premier one chicken fence to attach to the tractor so they have more eatin space and dont need be moved every day.