Butchered my first Freedom Ranger today.

[bobbi-j]

I had two that had been limping for a couple of weeks (likely the result of an unsupervised 6-month old pup) so we decided to butcher the one that appeared to be having the hardest time getting around. He was 9 weeks old today.
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He weighed just shy of 5 lbs. and I think the carcass is a lot nicer than the DP and extra mutt roosters we butchered a couple of years ago at roughly this same weight. This one appears to be meatier. The others looked rather scrawny through the breast area. Looking forward to some grilled chicken tonight! I know, I know, you're supposed to wait a few days, to let rigor pass and all that, but we've had them fresh off the chopping block before, and it's been fine.

 

[Corazon Ranch]

Wow, that looks great!

I'm interested in your experience raising the Freedom Rangers. I have raised DPs and Cornish x Rocks in the past. The DPs (Brahmas) were a terrible mistake. The Cornish x Rocks produced a lot of very tasty meat, but they were super aggressive critters. They would kill and eat each other if anyone had the slightest boo-boo, plus they broke their legs and had heart attacks in the heat.

This year I am raising Red Rangers from McMurray. So far I really like their temperament, but they are much smaller than I thought they would be. Possibly I would have gotten better results over the winter.

Please let me know how that chicken tastes! I'm always looking for a better meat breed.

Thanks,
Sara

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Thanks for the pics. I ordered some FR this year as well as giving the CX another chance. I will be butchering a few CX hens in a few weeks for some yummy cornish game hens. I plan to wait until at least the 14 week mark to finish off the years butchering with the Rangers, maybe even 16th week if they are still doing well. Enjoy dinner!

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm happy to report that it was delicious! A little chewy, but I expected that since we didn't let it rest a few days. I was just too hungry for fresh chicken! The meat was very flavorful. There was enough left on the carcass after I cut off the legs, wings and breast meat to boil it until the meat fell off the bones and I will be freezing that broth with the meat for chicken soup this winter.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Wow, that looks great!

I'm interested in your experience raising the Freedom Rangers. I have raised DPs and Cornish x Rocks in the past. The DPs (Brahmas) were a terrible mistake. The Cornish x Rocks produced a lot of very tasty meat, but they were super aggressive critters. They would kill and eat each other if anyone had the slightest boo-boo, plus they broke their legs and had heart attacks in the heat.

This year I am raising Red Rangers from McMurray. So far I really like their temperament, but they are much smaller than I thought they would be. Possibly I would have gotten better results over the winter.

Please let me know how that chicken tastes! I'm always looking for a better meat breed.

Thanks,
Sara

Sara,

I've got my third batch of Freedom Rangers in a brooder in the garage. They are my favorite meat breed so far. I raised a batch of 35 the summer of 2012 and were very pleased with them. They sent 36 but I lost one. All the rest survived and thrived until butchering day. However, we were evacuated due to a forrest fire with those chickens plus 8 laying hens and my husband requested that I never have that many chickens on the property at one time again. Since the FR hatchery requires a minimum order of 25, I tried several other options in 2013, including a small batch of CX from a local feed store, followed by 18 Red Rangers from Mc Murray and another small batch of Jumbo Cornish from Myer. I had poor luck with both CX batches, I think due to the fact that we live at 8,000 of altitude, losing an unaccecptable percentage of them prior to butchering. The Red Rangers were healthy and all 18 remained that way until butchering date, but I had to push butchering date out several weeks past what I'd planned. They weren't nearly as large as the Freedom Rangers were at the same age. This year I ordered 35 more Freedom Rangers (got the OK from hubby) and tried 20 DP roosters. I'll never get the roosters again. We butchered the three largest DP roosterslast weekend at 17 weeks of age and the largest of the three was only 3lb 9 oz.

You asked about taste. I've been very pleased with the FRs as a table bird. They don't have as much white meat and their legs are longer than the CX, but butchered at 11 or 12 weeks, the meat is tasty and of a nice texture. At 11 weeks the pullets were between 3.5 and 4 lb dressed and the cockrels were 4 to 4.5 lb on average. At 12 weeks, add about .5 lb to those averages.

I have 43 three week old FRs in the brooder right now. I received 45 but have lost two early on. I think that is to be expected, although I mourn the loss of every one.

 

[Corazon Ranch]

Woo-hoo! Homemade chicken soup! There's nothing better!

 

[bobbi-j]

Woo-hoo! Homemade chicken soup! There's nothing better!

I know - I won't even eat the stuff from the grocery store anymore...