LanDavi Farms

I had the opportunity to raise 50 Freedom Ranger chicks from beginning to processing and I just wanted to share with you what I found. Freedom Ranger's are advertised as being somewhere in between the Cornish Rock Cross and a standard Dual Purpose meat chicken. After spending 16 weeks with them I can say that for me this doesn't ring true. I found the Rangers to be much more like the Cornish Cross meat chickens than they were my layers. They were amazingly hungry all the time. This made them great foragers but as a free range bird they reminded me of winged pirhannas more than chickens. The benefit of them being a meat bird is that they only need to be kept for about 12 weeks. By that time you will have birds ranging from 4 to 10lbs depending on how pushy they were at the feeder growing up.

I guess the big question is will I raise them again. For me I think that is still up in the air. I like my Dual Purpose Dorking roosters for meat but can't help but like the breast meat on the Freedom Ranger chickens either. I may try them again in the future but I think each time I raise a new batch of roosters I make little changes which make things easier. That will definitely need to happen raising this type of chicken again.