Red Rangers: total bust

Well.. I told you I would let you know how the Red Rangers did so...

...not so hot.

In fact, we will never raise them again.

Major bummer.

We raised them to 16 weeks. On pasture & with full access to feed. They were moved to fresh grass every 3 days. Plenty of room, fresh water, sunshine.

And they did grow. Leggy & tall but no weight.

No meat.

The biggest ones dressed out at maybe 4 lbs.

Phooey.

16 weeks to get 3 & 4 pound birds?

idon'tthinkso.

For the last decade we have raised Cornish Cross meat birds. We raise them on pasture as well & feed them out a bit slower than recommended ~ we butcher at around 12 weeks rather than 9 simply because we like a bigger bird.

We like our birds to dress out at 7 or 8 pounds.

We have 5 kids after all...

It's my fault really.

I wanted to try the Red Rangers. I did quite a bit of research both online & asking friends who had raised them.

It was all favorable really...

They were supposed to grow a little slower but be a better forager. A more 'natural' bird & more able to utilize pasture.

The Cornish Cross tend to just lay there & wait to be fed.

Big white blobs of Franken Chicken growing. And growing. And growing...

The Red Rangers were good foragers. They did utilize the pasture. But they never grew.

The Cornish have so much meat & they are nearly all breast (which is a wonderful thing in a chicken)

The Rangers are puny, skinny birds. Not much breast at all. Sigh.

We could have done just as well ~ maybe even better~ raising a batch of dual purpose breed roosters. Barred Rocks or Rhode Island Reds for instance.

And it would have been cheaper~ those Rangers were not cheap!

So the moral of the story is ...next year we will be raising Cornish Cross. Again.

And we won't be enjoying much roasted chicken this winter. Most of those puny little buggers will soup. Or chicken & dumplings. Or soup. Did I mention soup?

Blessings.