Got 'em! 150 Colored Range Broilers (aka Freedom Rangers)

[UncleHoot]

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And?

I did my first (and last... ugh) batch of Cornish X's back in the early summer, and am presently 6 weeks into a mixed batch from S&G which includes their Red Rangers, Dixie Rainbows, Johnny Grays and Naked Necks.

We still haven't eaten one, and now my wife is heading off to Canada for a week, so it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Well, I'll probably fry-up some pieces, but that's just not the same. I can fry.

I'm really interested in your opinion on their Naked Necks. Supposedly, naked necks have a thinner, crispier skin. They are grown for meat quite a bit in France. Why is it that the French eat so much better than we do...?

 

[Bossroo]

Simple, my dear Watson... They can cook !!! I know, I married a French gal and whithin 3 monthsI had to buy new clothes.

 

[StillwaterCreek]

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I'm curious to see how they turn out as well and will try and remember to report back when they graduate in mid-November.

I bought 20 each of S&G's breeds to see how they perform in my pastured system (a slightly modified version of the Salatin method) and how they turn out. Thus far the Grays are noticeably larger than the others and seem to "rule the roost."

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Also interesting to note how the French approach the raising and preparing of their food. For example, in the US it's illegal to sell an unwashed egg. In France, it's illegal to sell a washed egg. They understand that there is a natural protective coating on the eggs that ideally should be left intact until the egg is used. The USDA prefers we scrub them in (filthy, recirculated) egg wash containing chlorine and the unavoidable chicken poo remnants. And remember, egg shells are porous and therefore absorb some of whatever they come in contact with...

 

[greyfields]

I ate my last CRB of 2009 last weekend.

I need to save more for myself and sell fewer.

Also, I assume a FCR of 3.0 for planning purposes when buying feed. In reality, I take mine in at 9.0-9.5 weeks so probably land closer to the 2.5-2.8 range.

I'm completely and entirely pleased with the CRB's and a keep a pullet or two from each crop to add to my laying flock. They're lovely birds.

 

[UncleHoot]

On Tuesday afternoon, I used up the last of my feed, 4000 lbs. So, that evening I had to give them about 20 lbs of my layer feed. That was their last meal, other than whatever grass they got.

So, give or take perhaps 50 lbs, it was nearly exactly 4,000 lbs of feed. 2 tons. We'll be weighing tonight's birds, so I should be able to get a better FCR estimate. Maybe it was just my imagination, but there seemed to be more females in this group, so the average may actually go down. Hard to say, though. The runt also went to the processor, so I may simply exclude his weight from the average. I'd be surprised if he's more than 2 lbs dressed. If I could have thought of any reason to keep him around, I probably would have. It hardly seemed worth it to pay someone $2.25 to dispatch him.

I saved two of the girls. One almost looks like a banty. She has very short legs. I put them in with my hens, and one poor girl was bleeding all over her head. I took them back out. I figure I'll let the two of them live together for another month and get a little bit bigger, so that they can hopefully defend themselves better.

 

[UncleHoot]

Yay! We (actually my wife

) cooked one up yesterday. She didn't use a lot of spices this time, so it was more of a true chicken flavor. It was very good. I think my cornish crosses are very good, but this was better. The skin seemed especially good. It's normally the best part anyway, but this time it was even better.

On the down side, our processor admitted that he had trouble plucking these birds, as the skin is tougher and the feathers don't come out as easily. As a result, there were some pieces of the feather shafts still in the skin. I noticed it on a bunch of the birds we unloaded yesterday too. I never noticed that problem on my cornish x's. But, I just didn't eat that part of the skin, or else I pulled them out. It's not a big deal for me to eat it like that, but it may have turned-off our customers. That much bothers me.

*Edited to add that we had 3 chickens over 8 lbs, dressed. 2 of them were just shy of 8 1/2 lbs. I think the smallest was just over 4 lbs, other than the runt, which actually surprised me at a whopping 2.8 lbs. That little guy had been free ranging 24/7 for the past several weeks (in addition to the feed we gave him), and as a result, he was very yellow inside. I'm actually looking forward to eating him, just to see if free ranging would make a difference. The others only got out a few times in the evenings.

 

[tnchicken]

Hey UH,

Thanks for taking the time to keep us up to date. Unless I missed it above somewhere, do you have an average weight of the second batch so the FCR can be viewed for those extra weeks.

Thanks

 

[UncleHoot]

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We forgot to write down the weights before we stuffed them into our freezer. They're all weighed and labeled, but we'd have to pull them out, write it down, then stick them back in. I am planning to do that, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I'm a bit of a stats geek. Attaching numbers to things and trying to extrapolate information is fun for me. Plus, it's always good to know what to plan for, and to know if you're actually making or losing money. So, I will get around to it eventually.

 

[greyfields]

UH,

The sticky feather issue is largely due to their age. I think you overshot your processing date by a couple weeks. But, for me, another chicken skin fancier, I manage to work around it.

When you see the Label Rouge birds in the grocery stores in Europe, you will notice the black shafts occassionally. They are not pristine white commerically, either. It doesn't seem to be a hang-up for people not raised on US industrially raised birds.

 

[UncleHoot]

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Yep, 11 weeks probably would have been ideal.

I didn't know that about that Label Rouge birds. Thanks for sharing.