Free range meat chickens?

[Upper Penn Love]

We tried some egg layers this summer, cast offs, we became a sort of chicken rescue to several people until we said "enough" anyway we had 10 at the start of the warm season, two were Roos. Only one hen actually layed regularly. We are down to 3. 2 died(one was sick when we got it), 2 were eaten by the dog before we got him used to the chickens, and 3 just up and went missing one day (possibly got lost in our neighbors cornfield (these 3 stuck together always). We have a cute little bantam hen that does her own thing, and hen and roo who are inseparable but rather mean.

Next spring we are thinking of trying meat chickens instead. I know you aren't supposed to let them move around much but we really don't want a pen. We had no physical evidence of predators this year so I'm hoping it stays that way. Had anyone tried "free ranging" meat chickens? We have an acre and the chickens have always respected the obvious boundaries of the yard, it's surrounded on two sides by thick prairie grass and they can't seem to see through it well enough to navigate and stay out of it. We lost the majority of our chickens after the annual butcher day in our neighborhood, so I thought maybe the meaties would stick around for that...

Any experience?

 

[Southern by choice]

All our meat birds are ranged. We do not do the cornish cross. We use our own or we order from...
http://www.sandgpoultry.com/

We have an average of 250 birds here and breed and raise poultry, so 50% eggs hatched are males they are raised up for meat. Generally we slaughter at 12-16wks for these birds. They should be aged (after slaughter and processing) in the fridge for 7 days prior to freezing or eating. These birds are not the "Frankenstein" cornish cross so their weight will not be like those you see in the grocery store.

hope this helps.

 

[CritterZone]

We have laying hens, but this year we tried the cornish cross for meat. I will never do that again. They have been so genetically screwed up to create huge breasts and rapid growth that they are just disgusting. They hardly moved even though they were in a coop with free access to outside. They would never go out, and after about 6 weeks old they were huge, but a couple of them could hardly walk because they were so big.

Next year we are going to take in "spare" roosters and just eat them. We ended up with 12 roosters this year when we bought 100 laying hens. We butchered the roosters at about 15 weeks and they were perfect for eating. The had nice large thighs and smaller breasts, and they were very tasty

 

[woodsie]

definitely at completely different bird, they are very ugly and incredibly food motivated...the first batch of cornish crosses I did I could not get to move from the feeder more than 10 feet...they had access to nice spring grass but ate very little of it. This time around I have lots of extra milk from my cow so I am try feeding them more milk soaked grains and scraps. About 50% poultry ration 50% milk, grass, grains, scraps. They are WAY more active this time and will meet me at the gate and move around about a 100feetx100feet area especially on warmer days. They still sit a lot but can actually walk and seem much perkier than previous meat birds. It seems if you give them a full feeder of ration all the time you are going to get VERY lethargic fat birds but I am impressed with the change in diet in their energy levels....haven't butchered them yet so I can't speak to the finished product but I would assume they would be much healthier. It is also much cooler at this time of year and they seem to do better than they do in the extreme summer heat, I have a heat lamp for them in a draft free enclosure where they huddle together if they get cool but they have access to the cow pen and are actually USING the space!

 

[Bossroo]

I had great experience than some here... I have raised the barnyard special " heritage" birds for almost 50 years, then about 5 years ago I switched to the Cornish X and my results are spectacular in terms of $$$ saved on feed , time and labor needed (4 weeks for "Game Hens", 6-8 weeks for fryers / roasters vs. 16-24+ weeks for the heritage birds ), and they taste GREAT. The Cornish X was selectively bred ( and NOT of the GMO claims as this technology did not exist at the time) to be the most efficient converter of feed to meat of all chickens. I raise 25 at a time , 4 times a year and am NOT experiencing the issues some claim to be Frankenbirds , gross, genetically screwed up, etc. I do NOT plan to go back to raising the so called "Heritage" birds anytime soon. The real problem of bad experiences is looking at the one in one's mirror, as the one in the mirror doesn't modify their husbandry practices to meet the protocol needed to successfully raise these specialty birds.

 

[Southern by choice]

I had great experience than some here... I have raised the barnyard special " heritage" birds for almost 50 years, then about 5 years ago I switched to the Cornish X and my results are spectacular in terms of $$$ saved on feed , time and labor needed (4 weeks for "Game Hens", 6-8 weeks for fryers / roasters vs. 16-24+ weeks for the heritage birds ), and they taste GREAT. The Cornish X was selectively bred ( and NOT of the GMO claims as this technology did not exist at the time) to be the most efficient converter of feed to meat of all chickens. I raise 25 at a time , 4 times a year and am NOT experiencing the issues some claim to be Frankenbirds , gross, genetically screwed up, etc. I do NOT plan to go back to raising the so called "Heritage" birds anytime soon. The real problem of bad experiences is looking at the one in one's mirror, as the one in the mirror doesn't modify their husbandry practices to meet the protocol needed to successfully raise these specialty birds.

I agree with your post BR, also husbandry. I will say the birds ordered from S and G poultry are also specially bred and therefore their turkens are not anything like "our turkens", neither their rocks... These birds grew fast with excellent weight gain, however the feed was still less than it was to do the cornish x even at a slaughter date of 10-12 weeks average for those birds. They free ranged all through the woods and gained at least 1/2 if not more of their daily nutrition from ranging. We were also able to keep several hens and roos to reproduce, something not possible with the cornish x.
In our case because we breed so many birds and have all the cockerels it makes sense for us to allow them to range with minimal feed and slaughter for our freezer, we also feed a partial raw feed diet to our LGD's so this way nothing goes to waste.

I prefer the taste of the Turken NN over all others, however processing can be tricky, these birds are always hand plucked never put in a plucker as the TNN skin is very delicate and will tear easily, they do crisp nicely however.

One thing we noticed regardless of breed, during the real hot (we are in NC) summer temps, especially July/Aug we never get good gain on anything. Fall, winter and spring have always yeilded the best weights. July and Aug they go into the woods dig in the cool earth, too hot to get up and eat. :/ Don't know if others have experienced this or not.

 

[treeclimber233]

I bought some "Frankenbirds" this spring. A few died for no apparent reason before butchering (maybe heart attack?) the ones I butchered were delicious. One managed to escape the axe. I still have her running around with my other chickens and eating just fine. Her legs and feet look normal. She is definitely heavier/thicker than my other birds and the friendliest one too. I am hoping she will lay in the spring and I can get some babies to hatch out.

Then I remembered when I was growing up (30+ years ago) a neighbor had chicken houses for growing broilers. When the guys came and caught the chickens a few always escaped. The neighbors let us come get them. I always caught all I could and added them to the family flock. They always did fine (until my mother got the axe out). I wonder if they are still the same genetics.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I have raised every type of meat bird available. Sure you can free-range them, but if they are cornish DO NOT leave food in front of them or they won't move. Also if you have no dogs that are good with chickens expect some predator losses so order more than you will think you need.

 

[OneFineAcre]

We've done some meat birds in the past, both free-range and tractored. We have done the cornish x, and did not have any problems with them free-ranging like some have described.

I think it is important to note that Cornish x that you and I buy from a hatchery are not the same birds that the commercial chicken farms raise. Their stock is very proprietary. Each company has their own birds that they may have spent 40 years developing.
You think the ones you buy grow fast.....

We also did a few crops of "Freedom Rangers" from J&M Hatchery. They are a good free range bird. Don't grow as fast as cornish x, but they are going to do so much better than your excess heritage breed roos. We definitely thought they were a more flavorful bird than cornish x.

 

[lacasse farms]

I personally would prefer to get cornish x and think that is what i will get when it comes time. I have ri reds and sex links at the present and have tried these birds. Not to bad but i know that i could get better. I also know someone with freedom rangers and he swears by them.