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Freedom Ranger Hatchery

If they are laying enough eggs to hatch, it's basically free chicks so I prefer to do them that way. Unfortunately they shut down egg laying completely this winter, so I might need to buy more hatchery chicks this spring. We'll see.

@@theotherjeremysfarm337 oK..sounds good keep up your great work...love your channel.

​​@@theotherjeremysfarm337 cut feed. Ration it and no more than 16% protein. Broilers get fat super quick. Not just muscle but straight up fat when they get to be this old they get obese easily. I saved back a couple cornish cross for hatching eggs and kept their protein low for the first few months but they got fat and quit laying before i could hatch any. Eventually had to cull 1 for leg issue, at about 6 months. One got pecked to death at 8 months by cannibalizing trash birds that i plan to cull, and the eldest that had laid a bunch of eggs starting at 18 weeks i had to kill her at a year old because she developed vent issues and started bleeding then started coughing blood and having heart failure. She had quit laying in November and Turns out they all had got fat which is why the young ones didn't lay and the older one stopped. They were joining my ducks for 18% duck feed which I did not think it would hurt them because they were 90% grown but i was wrong. Freedom rangers are a 7 way cross like cornish x made to grow just a little slower than the cornish so even though they are more hardy they probably can have the same issues. Heck I've had Australorp quit laying because i fattened them up on too much corn. After my issues with the Cornish I ordered some freedom rangers so I'll be doing the same thing you are. Ship date is in the morning so hopefully everything works out.

Thanks for the dissertation but I think you're missing the point. Despite my punnet squares being laden with the filth of indifference, the yield I have gotten is acceptable, and not different from the originals.

Focus on those two breeds, White Leghorns for egg production, and Freedom Rangers for meat plus eggs when not hatching chicks, and you will save on feed and have a lot more eggs and bigger meat birds, the best of both worlds.

Two White Leghorn hens might eat the same amount of feed as what a smaller Freedom Ranger hen might eat, but the Leghorns will produce more eggs and of better quality.

They don't eat any more than the egg layers, and besides-- I enjoy having them around.

@@theotherjeremysfarm337 You are missing the whole point, which is to save on feed cost and have better egg production and better egg quality, plus bigger meat birds all at the same time. Mediocre chickens will produce mediocre results. A Leghorn hen will eat less than your best layer, and the Leghorn will outproduce your layer too in numbers of eggs and length of time it will remain active laying. I too enjoy my chickens, even those that are slackers and don't lay often or even eat an egg or two, but I am about to start taking things serious, and do what is needed to have better results.

@@cubaniton74 but I’m happy with my results.

New Country Organics corn/soy/gmo-free starter.

Oops replied from the wrong account :) Anyways thats what I use. Kentucky Organic Farm & Feed also produces good stuff and I have ordered from them in bulk. Saves $. One thing I notice on the organic starter vs the typical storebought stuff is much less poopy butt. Maybe 1 in 30 get it.

Old place was 20, new place has 70.

I'm feeding them layer feed. Doesnt seem to change much, their egg output is slightly less but I don't know if that is because they have less protein or because they are older.

This latest batch I had 3 smallish hens, 2 of which finished out around 4lbs at 12 weeks, one was really small so we spared her to join the egg flock. All the other birds were at or over 5 lbs dressed weight at 12 weeks. One was nearly 6. Average of the batch was 4.9 lbs. Honestly it's worth DIY if you can accept that one or two from each hatching might be off-brand. They aren't bad eggers and they don't eat any more than the other hens.

For breeding purposes keep the chicks that grow out the fastest and largest, with the natural look of the Freedom Ranger, and in a few generations of doing so, not only will the chicks be of better quality (larger and heavier), but they will eventually breed true as the off genes are removed by selective breeding.

And if you really want to boost the growth of the Freedom Ranger, raise a Cornish Cross rooster (control its diet so it can make it to reproduction age) and cross that Cornish Cross rooster to Freedom Range hens.

@@cubaniton74 This is actually in my plans now. I gave up on the Orpingtons. They are a shadow of what they used to be 40-50 years ago and their meat isn't that great. Most of the hatchery bloodlines are crap. The three FR hens I kept are happy and healthy and are just starting to lay. They are about 10-12lbs. I have CXs coming in about 2 months and will be keeping one roo and two hens. I also have some American Bress now so I'll be testing an AB and FR mix to see what shakes out.

@@forced4motorsports It is imperative that what ever number of CXs you set aside for reproduction, that you keep them in a separate space away from all feed, and feed them only what they need, or they will just grow too fat and could die or not reproduce (no eggs). The roosters are easier to keep for reproduction and crossing with other big chickens such as the FR because the CXs roosters can mount as many hens as they can and it does not matter too much if they are slightly overweight (best not to be overweight). If you find a way to keep the CXs caged in individual cages and feed them a restricted diet once a day, CXs might be the only meat birds you will need, the only issue is that on restricted feed, the hens might not lay, but if that is the case, then just increase the feed intake for the duration of the egg collecting period (2 to 3 weeks) then resume restricted feed so they can remain healthy. If you don't mind a meat bird that grows just a bit slower than the CXs, then the CXs rooster crossed with FR hens would be ideal, because of the better egg laying capacity of the FR vs. CXs.

Last time we did them I broke my arm right before they were ready, so we had to keep them going for another couple weeks after the 12 week mark. At that point some of the roosters had definitely started crowing but they sounded like a kazoo. They won't have spurs until they are a few months older. It took Opie about a year to grow his out to full size. They are a very quiet breed so even our full grown roos didn't crow much. Our first eggs came at week 16 but did not become regular until week 20-ish. They will figure out the birds and the bees on their own if you just leave them to it. Once you see them mating give it maybe a week before you expect regular fertilized eggs.

​@@theotherjeremysfarm337 That's helpful, thank you. I'll be patient then :)

@@heartsandmindsathome You should be hatching chicks from their eggs by now, share your experience. Thanks.

Unfortunately, the few we kept for that reason didn’t make it through the over-hundred-degree drought of a summer we just had :(

@@heartsandmindsathome Were they overweight? Did you have them in the open or under the shade of large tree? Did they have clean water 24/7?

Honestly, the breed has a lot to do with their general disposition but individual chickens sometimes just come right out of the egg as people-lovers. It's a shame that Freedom Rangers are so nice, because they also taste the best.

@@theotherjeremysfarm337 The reason you love them, it's not just because they taste good, but also because they are lovable, had they been mean chickens, you would not care so much, even if their meat was tasty, because having to put up with aggressive animals gets old quick.

None that I have noticed. We're planning to slaughter them next week so I will do another video for that, with a weigh-in.

That one came in a batch of budget chicks labeled as bluebells. She lays blue eggs, but for some reason she hasn’t laid any in a month or so. Not sure what her deal is, she seems perfectly fine.

@@theotherjeremysfarm337 I have a Gray Brahma that is 10 months old...she is only good for a few eggs (pink eggs) a week. My Easter Egger is more regular. She has been a steady 6 per week girl....very pretty blue eggs. I have a Dominique that will take a week or two off, when she does lay its only a few a week.

@@cubaniton74 My top egg layers are the Golden Comets. For the first six months they were like machines. But we've had a major heat wave (over 100 degrees for two months) during the summer. That pretty much shut the all down. Plus the heat killed one of my Golden Comets. The two remaining Comets have been pumping out the eggs, rarely missing a day! Plus their egg shells are dark brown...I would like to add more to my flock! I have a single New Hampshire Red...5 eggs a week but they giant! We don't normally eat our chickens...but unruly rooster have gone into the Stew pot. The only way to get my mean rooster to not attack me is exactly what they tell you not to do. I've had to kick him off me a couple times and that worked. He stays away from me. His dad still chases him if he get too close.

I bred the FR rooster with FR hens.

No, my feeling on that is they are kind of unnatural and I don't want to support their continuance.

@bertdesantis I have raised Cornish Cross hens and roosters past the year mark by restricting their feed (the only way to do it) and early on the hens did lay a small number of eggs, but after that they stopped, maybe because they gained a bit more weight as they got older and I slacked on the feed restriction somewhat, but I am back again restricting their feed to see if by getting their weight down, if that will get them into better physical shape and able to lay more regularly, but normally they don't lay too many eggs, I have heard two to three per week, but then doing my research I found that Cornish Cross breeders are able to get about 4 to 5 eggs from their hens per week, but they do have a very strong management on the birds and keep their weight down because their profits depends on it, so I am going to try that and get them down to near 6 lbs live weight if possibly by restricting their diet, and somewhere along the way I should see if they start to lay eggs, and if they do, then I will know I am in the right path, else I will just put an end to that project and use the Cornish Cross roosters to cross them with other large chickens such as Murray's Big Red Broiler hens, or any fast maturing breed and that will give me bigger birds in the end, never as large and as efficient as the Cornish Cross breed, but it will be much better than just a heritage breed or a cross of heritage breeds.

Same here…tons of breeds to mix and make my own giant Frankenstein birds.

You don't need to reinvent the wheel, just use Red Rangers, and breed them, and only keep the chicks that grow fastest and physically look like Red Rangers. Or you can buy a few male Cornish Cross and use them only for reproduction with Red Ranger hens. To keep the Cornish Cross Roosters alive, keep then on a strict diet after the 3-4 week, they will grow slower and will not grow as large as they normally would, but you will have a rooster that you can use to reproduce with other heavy hens (such as Red Rangers). Don't use the Giants, they will grow very slow, that will slow down the growth rate of your birds.

I am currently working on two lines of chickens, the White Leghorns for egg production which I will keep pure and true, and Cornish Cross for meat production, the only drawback with the Cornish Cross is that the hens hardly lay any eggs, and it becomes a delicate balance between keeping them alive with a strict diet of feeding once a day, and getting them to lay eggs, so if you want eggs from them, you have to give them a bit more feed for the duration of the time you'll be collecting eggs, say a few weeks, then hold back on the feed again so they will not grow too fat and suffer health issues, another possible solution would be to cross the Cornish Cross rooster with Red Ranger hens, that way the growth rate of the Red Ranger will improve, and the hens produced will be better egg layers than the Cornish Cross hens. It is all a delicate balance of trading one thing for another.

@@Uptownfunkyouup843 Making an efficient meat bird which grows fast and is efficient converting feed to meat is not so much in what breeds you use and mix together, but instead it is all up to the individual bird itself, for example, say you have 10 hens and 10 roosters and you want to see which ones would make the best meat birds for future generations, what you could do is keep them all in individual cages with no other source of food than the one you provide them with, and measure the feed given each day to each bird, the same amount for all the roosters, and the same amount for all the hens, and after a few months, select only the birds which have put on the most weight, and which are the best egg layers, that way you will breed the most efficient birds that put on the most meat for the same amount of feed and also produces the most eggs for future breeding. I bet they will not come close to the feed to meat conversion efficiency of the Cornish Cross, but they will most likely will be better egg layers and will be more efficient in feed to meat conversion than any known heritage breeds.

Biggie is a lot bigger than his dad. The hens are smaller than their moms but they are still growing.

@@jeremybernal7721 good to know. I bought some big red broilers (to test) which is the successor to mcmurray hatchery's red ranger. The went to freezer camp and were absolute monsters and better tasting that store bought. This time around I'm going keep a few hens and a roo to breed so I don't have to keep purchasing chicks

@@jchaulinkkk I just put 12 eggs in the incubator for another batch of Freedom Rangers, got some Bielefelders on order for April. Will post what we get in a few weeks when they hatch.

@@jeremybernal7721 I put some eggs from the grocery store in my incubator while I'm waiting on eggs from my chicks and my current chicks are feathering up. So we'll see how that goes.. how big do the bielefeilders get?

@@jchaulinkkk Pretty big considering the photos I've seen.