FunClucks
Crowing
Background:
This thread is to document my experiences with Freedom Ranger hatchery's White Rangers (3m broiler very similar in appearance to CX) and New Hampshires optimized for meat production. My previous meat bird experience has been with a straight run 25 bird batch of Cornish Rock Cross from Welp hatchery and two generations of Ginger Broilers from Murray mcMurray - generation 2 I hatched myself until I decided variability in adult size, small eggs with shell issues and low fertility, and mean-ness of the roos made it undesirable to continue to hatch these. So I'll be comparing WR with NH and with the meat birds I've previous tried.
Here is a thread where I polled the community and got good input on White Rangers and New Hampshires from FR. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...chery-results-and-experiences-anyone.1580018/
I was very happy with the CX from Welp, they were great as far as CX go, but I did have 2-3 birds die from heart attack, one whose hocks gave out, and one who got stuck on her back and I was able to flip her over before she passed. I processed those from 5-9 weeks, and after 6 weeks I parted them all out since they were so big they wouldn't have cooked evenly as a full carcass, or fit in my freezer well. Also, they weren't sustainable. I tried to keep a hen or so back, and they were just too big - I should have fed them less from the beginning in order to keep one back, and I didn't. They were always RAVENOUS!!! Seriously obsessed with food.
The Ginger Broiler roos I got from Murray McMurray were mean as snakes, the hens were okay, but extremely variable in size. The first hen I kept back was the largest at 9 lbs (measured live weight), but she had poor egg quality - one or more double yolkers a week, malformed shells every week or two, mostly a daily layer. Her offspring (2nd gen) varied in size and were mostly daily layers, but for some reason couldn't get enough calcium in their shells, and their eggs were small size, and often busted in the nest box, issues with shell-less eggs. [Did not treat with human calcium citrate, set out bowls of oyster shell. Probably stressed from rooster injury.] Gave 4 of their eggs to a broody and tried to incubate about 12 more, and none of the 2nd generation's eggs made it to hatch. Either they weren't fertilized, or were quitters. The 2nd generation roos were ganging up on the females and cutting up their sides. I could have dealt with the side cutting using chicken saddles, but the gang mating against the hen's wishes was a step too far. Some human aggressiveness was also becoming evident as they aged. I had to incubate 15-20 eggs just to get 6 or so GBs that lived in the second generation, and those numbers were even worse for generation 3 incubation, so I just decided to eat the second generations birds and see how the WR and NH do.
Ginger Broiler processed weights and experiences for 1st generation GBs: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...tage-crosses-meat-birds.1612476/post-27515247
Ginger Broiler processing challenge and pressure cooking issue thread here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...g-where-did-i-go-wrong.1607990/#post-27405672
The CX were hands-down the best meat producer, and I liked them, but they were definitely management intensive, and processing 21 birds all by myself at once with no plucker took way too much time when I still have a 40 hr a week day job and young kids to manage. I thought the White Ranger 3m broilers would be a good compromise - almost as much meat with increased livability and flexibility on processing date. I also wanted to see how a dual purpose bird optimized for meat like the FR NH would turn out.
I've made a number of posts regarding these topics on other people's threads, and a few of my own, and have received a few requests to consolidate things, so here it is in one location, to the best of my memory, mainly focused on the White Rangers and New Hampshires and how they are working out.
Caveats: I'm not great with putting birds on scales, so most of my weights are estimates. I'm more concerned with getting a population of meat birds that I can hatch from and keep going over multiple generations than getting every ounce of meat that I can out of them - there's a tradeoff between size and health that I'm investigating. I haven't kept meticulous feed records to the gram/lb. But hopefully my general observations will be helpful and give others an idea of what to try themselves.
White Rangers and New Hampshires
I'm currently raising a batch of White Rangers and New Hampshires from Freedom Ranger Hatchery that hatched March 11, then shipped from FR hatchery to North Alabama, USA. No delays in shipping, all arrived healthy. FR put in one extra WR and 2 extra NH. I added my 4 home bred/incubated/hatched olive eggers to the brooder with them, since they were only a week older. Raised six of the combined chickens in a large 30 gallon tote with hardware cloth lid, and the rest of them in a 48"L x 30"W x 32" H wire mesh dog crate (zip tied old plastic feed bags to the inside of the crate over the entire bottom and about 1/3 of the way up the sides to keep in the shavings, and set the crate pan on top so it would hold the shavings. Everything fit really tightly, and I'd scoop out the shavings with a dust pan every 2-3 days.) Used heat lamps for both brooders, brooded in my garage on pine shavings until 4 weeks, then put them out in my covered run on several inches of mulch from a tree service. I don't have coops, since my climate doesn't require it, so they perch on a branch or on top of isolation cages within the covered run at night time.
I favor 5 gallon buckets with nipple waterers for chickens 4 wks and older. Also all my egger feed is 20% chick starter, unmedicated, usually Dumor, occasionally Purina or Nurture Right if I can afford it. Had FR birds vaccinated for coccidiosis and Mereks, just for the heck of it at the hatchery. At 5 weeks or so treated all my coops, including the meat birds, with CORID - it really firmed up their poops.
I'd heard that WR and these NH were more hardy than CX, but in some ways this doesn't appear to be the case. I've had one varus/valgus deformity in the NH, and multiple cases of "angel wing" in both breeds. They're 11 weeks now and still moving very well, so that's good, but the WR have the same habit that CX have of sitting on their hocks/bellies all day. The NH are doing much the same thing, but aren't quite as big, maybe 20-30% smaller at this point. The WR grow almost as fast as CX but not quite. They may turn out to be something I can breed, which is one thing I was looking for, if I keep them on 20% protein, we'll just have to see. Both of these breeds appear to be good candidates for keeping on no more than 20% protein feed through processing in order to have breeding stock.
For the CX I raised, I'd restricted meat bird feed (23-24% protein) 12hr on 12 hr off from day one to 4 weeks, then switched to unlimited 23-24% meat bird feed (they ate only during daylight, and we had about 12 hrs of daylight so I didn't bother pulling the food) from 4 wks until harvest at 5-9 wks.
For these NH and WR, they had 20% chick starter for the first two weeks, then 23-24% meat bird feed until 4-5 weeks, with a couple of days of 20% here and there when I ran out of meat bird feed, then I started seeing the varus/valgus deformity and "angel wing" (Emergency Forum post here for exact details and dates: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...hampshire-can-i-fix-it.1621937/#post-27726267 ), so I put them all back on the 20% chick starter after I saw the angel wing. (Emergency Forum thread on angel wing here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...e-rangers-wondering-causes-solutions.1624071/ ) I processed the NH with Varus/valgus deformity around 6 weeks because I thought it was a slipped tendon or something and he was in pain, but it turned out to be varus/valgus birth defect - the joint was fine but the leg grew at a 35 degree angle towards the outside of the bird.
I also processed one of the WR at around 5 wks, and it made a nice 4+ lb carcass, delicious oven roast chicken at 300F. The 5 wk NH was maybe 1-2 lbs, not worth processing if I hadn't thought he was in pain.
I've seen no signs of the WR or NH getting stuck on their backs, no heart attacks, no circulation issues (purple comb), all of which I saw in CX, and the WR and NH are still flying up on top of a 4ft tall dog crate isolation cage in order to sleep. They also fly up and perch on their 5 gallon bucket waterer and feeder. So they're not perching on 3" diameter tree branches, but I'm surprised they can fly up there to sleep on top of the dog crate on their bellies (the dog crate pan is placed on top of the cage, so it's a big flat surface. The CX had trouble going over sticks or changes in elevation in the covered run, but these both seem to be doing fine. They both walk like meat birds, and the WR def look like CX, but besides the angel wing and varus/valgus deformity, they have been more healthy than the CX.
I've got two NH over in another coop that have been on 20% protein from day one, and they are about 30% slimmer, and just look like large eggers rather than meat birds. So that would be a good way to raise breeding stock, and then use descendants for meat.
Both NH and WR are a bit skittish, but there's at least a couple who like me and don't mind being petted, the WR more than the NH. I plan to keep back a few hens and a roo of each and see how that goes.
The NH could use another month or two to give a 7 lb or so bird, but the WR are ready now. I'll work on processing them over the next month. The WR have just started to crow, and I think a couple of the NH also. Could get noisy soon.
I've been raising them all together, about 10 NH and 10 WR in with 4 of my adult eggers in 150 sq ft covered run. I was hoping my egger hens could teach the roos some manners. My eggers are still top hens but have been a bit stressed at the space limitations this past month, and will be happy to see many of the meat birds go. I wouldn't raise the meat birds in any smaller of an area. The poo load has been slightly less than 21 CX in the same area. They drink a full 5 gallon bucket nipple waterer worth of water per day, and consume at least 15 lbs(?) or so of feed (estimate). I need to verify how much my hanging feeder holds - we fill it daily, and they have a 5 gallon bucket with two PVC pipe feed ports as backup.
The White Rangers are slightly less obsessed with food than the CX were, and have some ability to wait in line - the CX would all push in at once and slice up each others' rear ends with their claws, and were absolutely RAVENOUS all the time. The WR would also scatter back as chicks, where the CX wouldn't - you had to physically move them out of your way to put a waterer or feeder in the brooder or you'd squish a chick. So it was nice that both the NH and WR behaved like normal chickens in that respect. They both scatter as adults too, but you may have to tap them with your foot. The WR have feathered out better than the CX, but still have the typical CX feathering pattern and body shape, very low # feathers and many naked areas. They look like CX, but are definitely a 3m broiler instead based on how quickly the weight goes on them.
The NH have pronounced wing claws, which I didn't expect, as I thought this physical characteristic was generally rare except for CX. Wondering if they're pure NH? They don't look like they're a mix, but I've never had regular NH before to compare to. At some point I'll try and get some pictures to load up on here.
Hope this is helpful to someone. I'll update periodically, and try to get better about obtaining live and carcass weights.
This thread is to document my experiences with Freedom Ranger hatchery's White Rangers (3m broiler very similar in appearance to CX) and New Hampshires optimized for meat production. My previous meat bird experience has been with a straight run 25 bird batch of Cornish Rock Cross from Welp hatchery and two generations of Ginger Broilers from Murray mcMurray - generation 2 I hatched myself until I decided variability in adult size, small eggs with shell issues and low fertility, and mean-ness of the roos made it undesirable to continue to hatch these. So I'll be comparing WR with NH and with the meat birds I've previous tried.
Here is a thread where I polled the community and got good input on White Rangers and New Hampshires from FR. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...chery-results-and-experiences-anyone.1580018/
I was very happy with the CX from Welp, they were great as far as CX go, but I did have 2-3 birds die from heart attack, one whose hocks gave out, and one who got stuck on her back and I was able to flip her over before she passed. I processed those from 5-9 weeks, and after 6 weeks I parted them all out since they were so big they wouldn't have cooked evenly as a full carcass, or fit in my freezer well. Also, they weren't sustainable. I tried to keep a hen or so back, and they were just too big - I should have fed them less from the beginning in order to keep one back, and I didn't. They were always RAVENOUS!!! Seriously obsessed with food.
The Ginger Broiler roos I got from Murray McMurray were mean as snakes, the hens were okay, but extremely variable in size. The first hen I kept back was the largest at 9 lbs (measured live weight), but she had poor egg quality - one or more double yolkers a week, malformed shells every week or two, mostly a daily layer. Her offspring (2nd gen) varied in size and were mostly daily layers, but for some reason couldn't get enough calcium in their shells, and their eggs were small size, and often busted in the nest box, issues with shell-less eggs. [Did not treat with human calcium citrate, set out bowls of oyster shell. Probably stressed from rooster injury.] Gave 4 of their eggs to a broody and tried to incubate about 12 more, and none of the 2nd generation's eggs made it to hatch. Either they weren't fertilized, or were quitters. The 2nd generation roos were ganging up on the females and cutting up their sides. I could have dealt with the side cutting using chicken saddles, but the gang mating against the hen's wishes was a step too far. Some human aggressiveness was also becoming evident as they aged. I had to incubate 15-20 eggs just to get 6 or so GBs that lived in the second generation, and those numbers were even worse for generation 3 incubation, so I just decided to eat the second generations birds and see how the WR and NH do.
Ginger Broiler processed weights and experiences for 1st generation GBs: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...tage-crosses-meat-birds.1612476/post-27515247
Ginger Broiler processing challenge and pressure cooking issue thread here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...g-where-did-i-go-wrong.1607990/#post-27405672
The CX were hands-down the best meat producer, and I liked them, but they were definitely management intensive, and processing 21 birds all by myself at once with no plucker took way too much time when I still have a 40 hr a week day job and young kids to manage. I thought the White Ranger 3m broilers would be a good compromise - almost as much meat with increased livability and flexibility on processing date. I also wanted to see how a dual purpose bird optimized for meat like the FR NH would turn out.
I've made a number of posts regarding these topics on other people's threads, and a few of my own, and have received a few requests to consolidate things, so here it is in one location, to the best of my memory, mainly focused on the White Rangers and New Hampshires and how they are working out.
Caveats: I'm not great with putting birds on scales, so most of my weights are estimates. I'm more concerned with getting a population of meat birds that I can hatch from and keep going over multiple generations than getting every ounce of meat that I can out of them - there's a tradeoff between size and health that I'm investigating. I haven't kept meticulous feed records to the gram/lb. But hopefully my general observations will be helpful and give others an idea of what to try themselves.
White Rangers and New Hampshires
I'm currently raising a batch of White Rangers and New Hampshires from Freedom Ranger Hatchery that hatched March 11, then shipped from FR hatchery to North Alabama, USA. No delays in shipping, all arrived healthy. FR put in one extra WR and 2 extra NH. I added my 4 home bred/incubated/hatched olive eggers to the brooder with them, since they were only a week older. Raised six of the combined chickens in a large 30 gallon tote with hardware cloth lid, and the rest of them in a 48"L x 30"W x 32" H wire mesh dog crate (zip tied old plastic feed bags to the inside of the crate over the entire bottom and about 1/3 of the way up the sides to keep in the shavings, and set the crate pan on top so it would hold the shavings. Everything fit really tightly, and I'd scoop out the shavings with a dust pan every 2-3 days.) Used heat lamps for both brooders, brooded in my garage on pine shavings until 4 weeks, then put them out in my covered run on several inches of mulch from a tree service. I don't have coops, since my climate doesn't require it, so they perch on a branch or on top of isolation cages within the covered run at night time.
I favor 5 gallon buckets with nipple waterers for chickens 4 wks and older. Also all my egger feed is 20% chick starter, unmedicated, usually Dumor, occasionally Purina or Nurture Right if I can afford it. Had FR birds vaccinated for coccidiosis and Mereks, just for the heck of it at the hatchery. At 5 weeks or so treated all my coops, including the meat birds, with CORID - it really firmed up their poops.
I'd heard that WR and these NH were more hardy than CX, but in some ways this doesn't appear to be the case. I've had one varus/valgus deformity in the NH, and multiple cases of "angel wing" in both breeds. They're 11 weeks now and still moving very well, so that's good, but the WR have the same habit that CX have of sitting on their hocks/bellies all day. The NH are doing much the same thing, but aren't quite as big, maybe 20-30% smaller at this point. The WR grow almost as fast as CX but not quite. They may turn out to be something I can breed, which is one thing I was looking for, if I keep them on 20% protein, we'll just have to see. Both of these breeds appear to be good candidates for keeping on no more than 20% protein feed through processing in order to have breeding stock.
For the CX I raised, I'd restricted meat bird feed (23-24% protein) 12hr on 12 hr off from day one to 4 weeks, then switched to unlimited 23-24% meat bird feed (they ate only during daylight, and we had about 12 hrs of daylight so I didn't bother pulling the food) from 4 wks until harvest at 5-9 wks.
For these NH and WR, they had 20% chick starter for the first two weeks, then 23-24% meat bird feed until 4-5 weeks, with a couple of days of 20% here and there when I ran out of meat bird feed, then I started seeing the varus/valgus deformity and "angel wing" (Emergency Forum post here for exact details and dates: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...hampshire-can-i-fix-it.1621937/#post-27726267 ), so I put them all back on the 20% chick starter after I saw the angel wing. (Emergency Forum thread on angel wing here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...e-rangers-wondering-causes-solutions.1624071/ ) I processed the NH with Varus/valgus deformity around 6 weeks because I thought it was a slipped tendon or something and he was in pain, but it turned out to be varus/valgus birth defect - the joint was fine but the leg grew at a 35 degree angle towards the outside of the bird.
I also processed one of the WR at around 5 wks, and it made a nice 4+ lb carcass, delicious oven roast chicken at 300F. The 5 wk NH was maybe 1-2 lbs, not worth processing if I hadn't thought he was in pain.
I've seen no signs of the WR or NH getting stuck on their backs, no heart attacks, no circulation issues (purple comb), all of which I saw in CX, and the WR and NH are still flying up on top of a 4ft tall dog crate isolation cage in order to sleep. They also fly up and perch on their 5 gallon bucket waterer and feeder. So they're not perching on 3" diameter tree branches, but I'm surprised they can fly up there to sleep on top of the dog crate on their bellies (the dog crate pan is placed on top of the cage, so it's a big flat surface. The CX had trouble going over sticks or changes in elevation in the covered run, but these both seem to be doing fine. They both walk like meat birds, and the WR def look like CX, but besides the angel wing and varus/valgus deformity, they have been more healthy than the CX.
I've got two NH over in another coop that have been on 20% protein from day one, and they are about 30% slimmer, and just look like large eggers rather than meat birds. So that would be a good way to raise breeding stock, and then use descendants for meat.
Both NH and WR are a bit skittish, but there's at least a couple who like me and don't mind being petted, the WR more than the NH. I plan to keep back a few hens and a roo of each and see how that goes.
The NH could use another month or two to give a 7 lb or so bird, but the WR are ready now. I'll work on processing them over the next month. The WR have just started to crow, and I think a couple of the NH also. Could get noisy soon.
I've been raising them all together, about 10 NH and 10 WR in with 4 of my adult eggers in 150 sq ft covered run. I was hoping my egger hens could teach the roos some manners. My eggers are still top hens but have been a bit stressed at the space limitations this past month, and will be happy to see many of the meat birds go. I wouldn't raise the meat birds in any smaller of an area. The poo load has been slightly less than 21 CX in the same area. They drink a full 5 gallon bucket nipple waterer worth of water per day, and consume at least 15 lbs(?) or so of feed (estimate). I need to verify how much my hanging feeder holds - we fill it daily, and they have a 5 gallon bucket with two PVC pipe feed ports as backup.
The White Rangers are slightly less obsessed with food than the CX were, and have some ability to wait in line - the CX would all push in at once and slice up each others' rear ends with their claws, and were absolutely RAVENOUS all the time. The WR would also scatter back as chicks, where the CX wouldn't - you had to physically move them out of your way to put a waterer or feeder in the brooder or you'd squish a chick. So it was nice that both the NH and WR behaved like normal chickens in that respect. They both scatter as adults too, but you may have to tap them with your foot. The WR have feathered out better than the CX, but still have the typical CX feathering pattern and body shape, very low # feathers and many naked areas. They look like CX, but are definitely a 3m broiler instead based on how quickly the weight goes on them.
The NH have pronounced wing claws, which I didn't expect, as I thought this physical characteristic was generally rare except for CX. Wondering if they're pure NH? They don't look like they're a mix, but I've never had regular NH before to compare to. At some point I'll try and get some pictures to load up on here.
Hope this is helpful to someone. I'll update periodically, and try to get better about obtaining live and carcass weights.
