What is the best breeds for free range meat birds?? Florida.....

[FlaRocky]

Hello,

I live in Florida and want to raise my own meat birds. What are the top breeds for my area? They will be free ranged along with grain. What feed protein do I use and what needs to be in the food. Have a feed mill near me. I do not want Cornish X fast growers.
What is the average cost per bird? Just looking at what the high and low cost might be. Who has the best prices on chicks and shipping?

Thank-you everyone for any and all help. I process my extra roos and rabbits now. Will be processing pork this fall.

Thank-you for all the help and advice,


Maye

 

[Oregon Blues]

If you don't want Cornish Cross, most hatcheries offer some sort of colored broiler. They seem to be pretty much the same. They are certainly not going to be the cheapest to buy or raise.

I hear good things about the Rossambros, and they are from somewhere over there on the East coast, so should be available to you. They will come up if you google to find the hatchery.

 

[brandislee]

I have some Rosambros, as well as some Red Rangers. They are from MT-DI hatchery in Pennsylvania. So far they are great chicks, but I've only had them for a week and a half, so I can only speak of their hardiness so far. One was DOA out of a batch of 52 (we ordered 50) that I split with a friend, and of the remaining 51 all are still alive and healthy. None of my friends and 2 of mine have had slightly pasty butts, but no other visible signs of anything wrong, very healthy, vital, and active. But they aren't exactly cheap (and the reason I went with MD-DI was they were one of the cheapER sources of non cornish x meat birds). My cost per chick was like 2.15 after shipping, compared to cornish x which you can buy at feed stores for .99 each. Cornish X go through about 21-24 lbs of feed in their 8 week lives (give or take) if you limit their feed according to the Whelp chart (which I do), but I don't know how that will translate to these meat birds- they may go through more because they take a few more weeks to reach slaughter weight, or they may eat less. And I'm thinking about fermenting their food (I've heard they eat less because they can better utilize the nutrients) and augmenting it with some whole grains, which may help or hurt my overall cost- I'll just have to see.

But it is important to consider your climate in this decision. I know Cornish X does well in cold but NOT in heat (especially humid heat) and I would assume Rosambro would be similar (red rangers might fare a bit better). If you're doing them doing a cooler season you could probably get whatever and be okay, but when it's hot a humid you may look into doing something a little more unconventional for meat- I would look around as much as you can to see what breeds to well in the heat- typically it's smaller birds with larger combs, like jungle fowl and cubalaya, but I can't speak personally as to how those birds do as meat birds. I just know that heat can be pretty catastrophic for meat birds, and that even here in MN last June and again in October I put a lot of time and energy into keeping my Cornish X from dying in our moderate and not terribly humid heat.

 

[Beekissed]

The most active free rangers I've ever had in years of keeping free ranging flocks are the CX I am currently raising. They are better and more successful than the DP birds of the same age in the same flock...maybe they are more driven by excess hunger, I don't know, but they go to bed with bulging crops full of bugs and worms each evening(before eating their feed!) and some even skip their supper to forage until full dark.

 

[leesbunny]

I chose to get Freedom Rangers from PA. I live in Wisconsin though, so mine are still inside as it has been in the 30s here. They are great so far, but they are only 3 weeks old. I did lose one yesterday to unknown causes. But still have 25 left.

 

[Chickiemom123]

The most active free rangers I've ever had in years of keeping free ranging flocks are the CX I am currently raising. They are better and more successful than the DP birds of the same age in the same flock...maybe they are more driven by excess hunger, I don't know, but they go to bed with bulging crops full of bugs and worms each evening(before eating their feed!) and some even skip their supper to forage until full dark.

How do you keep hawks and eagles from getting your free range birds

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

You might notice that this thread is from 2012. Most of these people are not around anymore. There is nothing wrong with posting in old threads but you might get more responses by starting your own thread.

How do you keep hawks and eagles from getting your free range birds

Any time you free range you have a predator risk. It could be hawks or eagles, it could be coyotes, fox, bobcat, or many others. Dogs are often the worst risk but any of them can be bad. Any of these can attack during the day.

Some people go years free ranging without an attack, even if predators are around. Others will be wiped out in short order. Some of it is luck. A fox or bobcat may pass by you flock every day while hunting and not bother it or it may pick off one a day until your flock is gone. Some predators will kill all that they can, not just one a day.

One strategy to reduce your risks is to lock them up in a predator safe place every night. Nighttime is your highest time of risk, partly because there is no human activity to scare them away. But that does not mean they are not at risk during the day.

Some people keep trained Livestock Guard Dogs with the flock. Those dogs don't do any good if they are locked in your house or away from the chickens and they are still not a guarantee that you will not lose a chicken, but they can help greatly.

If you actively hunt or trap predator animals (if it is legal) you can reduce the predator pressure on your flock. Hawks or eagles are not legal. This will not guarantee total safety, new predators are being born or moving into your area all of the time, but it does remove any that are actively hunting your area.

When they free range they can cover a large area. You can try to reduce the risk of an ambush predator like a fox or coyote by clearing brush, places where the predator can hide and wait, but chickens often use brush to hide from hawks. It is not always simple.

The bottom line is that any time you free range you are at risk. No one can tell you what your risk is. There is no way for us to know.