One of the main projects that I wanted to incorporate into my internship a Hidden Haven Farms was rearing meat chickens from birth (or post office pickup) to slaughter. Laura had also been wanting to try this out, and when I came along it was the perfect time for us to try. I have studied Pastured Poultry for one of my online courses, but really wanted to get some hands on practical experience putting into action what I had studied. One of my academic goals was to research Farmers who had successfully reared Freedom Ranger chickens for meat and egg production, as this is the type of chicken Laura wanted to raise as a meat bird. When I had studied Small Farm Management, I had researched many different birds we could raise for meat birds, the Freedom Ranger was my second choice (because of its dual purpose), with the Delaware being my first choice. I really want to stick with raising Heritage birds, as apposed to hybrids, and a dual purpose bird for the practically minded frugal person that I am seemed a great choice.
In my research deeper into Freedom Rangers as apposed to Delawares, I found many pros and cons to raising these birds. Traditionally we, in the US are accustomed to a large breast on a chicken, even in good chicken raising circles, people like Joel Salatin go for the CornishX because of its big breasts. Harvey Ussery, who shies away and tries to find great alternatives to The Freedom Ranger says :" The only appeal of the Cornish Cross, he said, is its ability to arrive at market weight in a period of about seven weeks. Emphasis on that single quality has neglected other important factors, such as flavor, texture, vigor, health and a bird’s ability to take full advantage of all the benefits available to it on pasture." (Ussery). To me, the Freedom Ranger or other dual purpose breeds like the Delaware, is like the breakout bird, that the next generation should be getting used to. From reading different blogs, they do have much smaller breasts but definitely are a meatier bird, even if they cost more to raise because they need to be reared up to 11 possibly 12 weeks, as apposed to the Cornish which can be processed around 7-8 weeks. The nice thing with the Freedom Rangers too that most Farmers who raise them and write about it say, is that they start laying earlier, around 16 weeks (www.reformationacres.com). https://www.reformationacres.com/2014/07/freedom-ranger-project-update-year-2.html
The males tend to get bigger than the females according to the Freedom Ranger Hatchery where Laura bought hers. The males are able to be purchased at the same cost as straight run which makes them affordable to buy in larger batches. This is mostly due to the Hatchery supplying the larger portion of all their females raised to ethnic food markets in NYC, for a specific ethnic dish called Confucius Dish, which requires a female bird (www.freedomrangerhatchery.com).
Freedom Ranger chickens are a good selection to try, maybe not my first choice, but they have proved to be challenging, yet a great learning tool at times. The main thing that I originally liked about them as a dual purpose bird was that they don't get so heavy breasted like the Cornish and run the risk of heart issues, before processing day (RAISING CORNISH CROSS CHICKENS FOR MEAT
August 21, 2013 · by Tyler Danke · in Chickens, Education).
We were going to process the birds tomorrow - April, 15th, but in observing the birds, feeling them and weighing a few - some are still as light as 6lbs (live weight), we have decided to wait another week and try fatten them up some more. We got the portable fencing and let them out of the tractor during the day, for them to forage some and to get some good sunshine. Also the rains have been off and on again the last week, and their area is getting a little soggy in areas, so moving them each day is not feasible. So, we propped their tractor open with some nice fresh hay for bedding and turned them out to pasture.
The Freedom Rangers will be one day shy of 13 weeks when we process them. From what Laura and I have calculated, they will end up costing around $10.90 in feed, $1.55 initial cost per bird, plus the initial cost the brooder box was $60 (which is used now for other birds), so bought $13.05 to raise each bird each to raise, I will detail more of the cost breakdown in my final paper. This is fairly costly but pretty much in line with raising a Freedom Ranger according to another Farmer I follow who has raised Freedom Rangers (and others to see cost factors) - his bottom line is $13.54 per bird - also harvested at 13 weeks (www.reformationacres.com). https://www.reformationacres.com/2011/10/cost-of-raising-cornish-meat-chickens.html
This week we also moved the egg layers out to the chicken yard, in their own separate area. They were very traumatized at first, and huddled together for a while, before starting to explore - and squeeze through the fence into where the mature hens are, so that warranted another project of attaching chicken wire to the existing fence so they would say contained, till they are big enough to go in with the bigger hens.
