Breeding Freedom Ranger

[BlendedFamilyFarmSilkies]

Purchased 10 freedom rangers to add to my egg layer flock until freezer camp when laying slows down. I was reading they’re (terminal crosses). What the heck does this mean? Do I need to separate from my egg layer flock and Roos because I will get monstrosities? Lol

I currently have silver laced wyandottes, RIR, BCM, 1 blue rock that was lonely lol.

Planning on getting BCM roo and blue egg layer roo or maybe olive egger?

Want interesting crosses all around and worried I just messed everything up

 

[Molpet]

Purchased 10 freedom rangers to add to my egg layer flock until freezer camp when laying slows down. I was reading they’re (terminal crosses). What the heck does this mean? Do I need to separate from my egg layer flock and Roos because I will get monstrosities? Lol

I currently have silver laced wyandottes, RIR, BCM, 1 blue rock that was lonely lol.

Planning on getting BCM roo and blue egg layer roo or maybe olive egger?

Want interesting crosses all around and worried I just messed everything up

Just means they are end result of crosses. They don't breed true. People have used them to increase the size of their birds.
Breed the best and eat the rest.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Freedom Rangers are specifically bred to be meat birds but not to grow as fast as Cornish X. Instead of being kept in a pen and fed everything they eat, they are more designed to free range and be butchered later, usually around 12 weeks instead of 6 to 8 weeks like the Cornish X.

If you kept Cornish X they would probably eat themselves to death before you got any eggs unless you greatly restricted their diets. Cornish X are hard to keep alive.

You can have these issues with Freedom Rangers, especially of you feed them a lot. If you somewhat restrict their feed they have a better chance of living longer but they are not bred to live very long.
They are usually not very good egg layers either. You can get exceptions but expecting 2 or 3 eggs a week for those that make it that far is probably more realistic than expecting 5 or 6 a week. And they eat a lot. The eggs you get will be costly in feed costs unless they forage for most of their food.

I'll link an old thread that gives you different people's experiences with them. As you can see the experiences vary. It is totally your choice but they were designed to be eaten at around 12 weeks of age. That's what I would do.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/freedom-rangers-as-laying-hens-impressed-so-far.735932/

Good luck!

 

[BlendedFamilyFarmSilkies]

Just means they are end result of crosses. They don't breed true. People have used them to increase the size of their birds.
Breed the best and eat the rest.

Perfect. I may incorporate the best into my lines and butcher the rest when I figure out which layers are superior. Thank you!

 

[BlendedFamilyFarmSilkies]

Freedom Rangers are specifically bred to be meat birds but not to grow as fast as Cornish X. Instead of being kept in a pen and fed everything they eat, they are more designed to free range and be butchered later, usually around 12 weeks instead of 6 to 8 weeks like the Cornish X.

If you kept Cornish X they would probably eat themselves to death before you got any eggs unless you greatly restricted their diets. Cornish X are hard to keep alive.

You can have these issues with Freedom Rangers, especially of you feed them a lot. If you somewhat restrict their feed they have a better chance of living longer but they are not bred to live very long.
They are usually not very good egg layers either. You can get exceptions but expecting 2 or 3 eggs a week for those that make it that far is probably more realistic than expecting 5 or 6 a week. And they eat a lot. The eggs you get will be costly in feed costs unless they forage for most of their food.

I'll link an old thread that gives you different people's experiences with them. As you can see the experiences vary. It is totally your choice but they were designed to be eaten at around 12 weeks of age. That's what I would do.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/freedom-rangers-as-laying-hens-impressed-so-far.735932/

Good luck!

I do have two orders of Cornish x coming in this year. Just wanted to see the meat difference with the red rangers and possibly incorporate into my egg laying line if they’re of good quality. Thank you so much!