What are your experiences with Red Ranger Broilers?

[KikiDeAnime]

I'm planning on getting 8-10 Red Rangers next year and I'd like to hear other people's experiences with them. I've been reading a lot online about them but to me it feels better hearing other people's experiences on here.
My plan is to keep 2 for my family and sell the rest after butcher as this meat bird has started to become more popular in and around the area. This way I not only can I enjoy my hard work, but I can make back enough money.
And before anyone asks this question, I do plan on letting them free range with our flock as I hate the idea of keeping meat birds locked up all the time. Our male dog keeps guard when our flock free ranges so I don't worry about predators.

Share some of your experiences raising this broiler!
Advice/Tips are welcome

 

[nicalandia]

These are slow growing type broilers and should be ready at 10-12 weeks of age when reared as broilers, you can expect yours will be ready 2 weeks later if free range.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

These are slow growing type broilers and should be ready at 10-12 weeks of age when reared as broilers, you can expect yours will be ready 2 weeks later if free range.

I read this online but thank you anyway

 

[nicalandia]

I read this online but thank you anyway

 

[tribalacres]

We harvested our first batch of Cornish X about three months ago. They were about 7-9 pounds. They are in a chicken tractor. This time, today lol, we harvested rainbow broilers and Cornish X and the rainbow broilers were 12 weeks and the Cornish 9, and the broilers rooster were about 6.5-8 and the hens were much smaller. I want To see the difference of meat too. So we shall find out tonight when we fry some up.

 

[Molpet]

We harvested our first batch of Cornish X about three months ago. They were about 7-9 pounds. They are in a chicken tractor. This time, today lol, we harvested rainbow broilers and Cornish X and the rainbow broilers were 12 weeks and the Cornish 9, and the broilers rooster were about 6.5-8 and the hens were much smaller. I want To see the difference of meat too. So we shall find out tonight when we fry some up.

Make sure you rest until rigor mortis has past

 

[Compost King]

My experience with Red Rangers are that they live and act like normal chickens except they are larger and grow faster. They lay sooner too. As I suspect you already know they grow a little slower than CX. I kept females around for breeding and loved the crosses I got out of them. I never had to ration feed to get them to lay, I never kept a male around for breeding.

I noticed they were always top of the pecking order and would aggressively pounce on weaker birds but they never chased them. So weaker birds could easily avoid them. As layers they would lay daily for 2 months then take 2 weeks off, I had 2 so there was always one laying and usually both laying. I found them be very flighty for their size and could clear a 6 foot fence after a few tries, but 4 foot fencing contained them if they had enough forage to keep them happy. They would eat a lot of food but I noticed they preferred to forage first and go to the feeder second. They were not as breast heavy as the CX but enough breast meat to keep me happy as a low flavor white meat lover. The best birds I ever ate were Dorking x Red Ranger birds. I liked it better than I liked eating CX breast meat. Red Rangers seem perfect for dark meat lovers but enough breast meat to keep people like me happy.
One female Red Ranger laid eggs so big I could not place them side by side in my incubators egg turner I had to stagger them with smaller eggs. All of them laid big eggs but one just happened to lay giant duck sized eggs, maybe slightly larger than an average duck egg.

I would say they are my favorite meat bird to raise but I prefer the meat and efficiency of CX better. I believe I am in the minority on that as most people on BYC like the higher flavored meat making Red Rangers a better option for people aiming for high flavored birds.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

My experience with Red Rangers are that they live and act like normal chickens except they are larger and grow faster. They lay sooner too. As I suspect you already know they grow a little slower than CX. I kept females around for breeding and loved the crosses I got out of them. I never had to ration feed to get them to lay, I never kept a male around for breeding.

I noticed they were always top of the pecking order and would aggressively pounce on weaker birds but they never chased them. So weaker birds could easily avoid them. As layers they would lay daily for 2 months then take 2 weeks off, I had 2 so there was always one laying and usually both laying. I found them be very flighty for their size and could clear a 6 foot fence after a few tries, but 4 foot fencing contained them if they had enough forage to keep them happy. They would eat a lot of food but I noticed they preferred to forage first and go to the feeder second. They were not as breast heavy as the CX but enough breast meat to keep me happy as a low flavor white meat lover. The best birds I ever ate were Dorking x Red Ranger birds. I liked it better than I liked eating CX breast meat. Red Rangers seem perfect for dark meat lovers but enough breast meat to keep people like me happy.
One female Red Ranger laid eggs so big I could not place them side by side in my incubators egg turner I had to stagger them with smaller eggs. All of them laid big eggs but one just happened to lay giant duck sized eggs, maybe slightly larger than an average duck egg.

I would say they are my favorite meat bird to raise but I prefer the meat and efficiency of CX better. I believe I am in the minority on that as most people on BYC like the higher flavored meat making Red Rangers a better option for people aiming for high flavored birds.

Thank you for leaving feedback about them! It's much appreciated!
We did CX once but I hate them and will never own them ever again. After that we did what our local feed store call 'Slow white broilers' and those were amazing. Now I'm going with these ones to see how they are.
It's too bad we have a bantam cockerel, otherwise I'd keep a hen for breeding.

 

[Compost King]

Thank you for leaving feedback about them! It's much appreciated!
We did CX once but I hate them and will never own them ever again. After that we did what our local feed store call 'Slow white broilers' and those were amazing. Now I'm going with these ones to see how they are.
It's too bad we have a bantam cockerel, otherwise I'd keep a hen for breeding.

Breed the Bantam Cockerel to Red Rangers for meat birds, its not the size of the meat bird that matters as much as its the rate of growth. Maybe you need 2 birds per meal instead of one with the crossing but that's ok because you get those 2 birds relatively fast. I processed my crossings at different ages and found 14 weeks was a good time to process them, the rate of growth starts to slow down after than but their appetite keeps growing. As for Red Rangers themselves 12 weeks seemed ideal but I felt they could be processed at 10 and I would have a decent amount of meat.

What breed of Bantam is your Cockerel?

 

[KikiDeAnime]

What breed of Bantam is your Cockerel?

He's a Belgian d'Uccle. I think he might be a mix of 2 color varieties but the lady I got him from never told me