The Red Ranger chicken is also known as Red Broilers traditionally. They are hybrid birds and produce excellent meat. The Red Ranger was bred to improve meat production on smaller farms that didn’t have the space for the bigger breeds.
History and Origin of Red Ranger Chicken
There is no known exact age of the Red Ranger Chicken, its origin story, and where it came from. They are fast-growing chickens.
It is reasonable to assume that Red Ranger was originally a cross between the Cornish Crosses, Rhode Island Reds, and New Hampshire’s with Delaware hens.
Over the years, Red Ranger crosses have been proven to produce meat that is higher in quality and comparable to any purebred free-range chicken.
Compared to the Cornish Cross chickens, they are healthier and need very fewer antibiotics to keep them healthy. The Red Rangers are ready to butcher at the age of 12-13 weeks of age.
They are one type of hybrid-colored broilers that are less susceptible to heart diseases and sudden death syndrome.
Red Ranger Chicken Lifespan
Red Rangers have an average life expectancy of about 1-2 years. It depends on the care given to them by their owners, their diet, and what they eat. They mostly live a small lifespan because most are butchered within 2-3 months.
Temperament
The Red Rangers are very intelligent. They have been described as being extremely sensible and active. They can become very friendly, especially to their owners if handled well.
They can live both free-range life and inside the coop. Most people raise them for meat purposes and raise them inside the chicken coop.
Red Ranger Hen Eggs Laying Age, Count, Egg Size, and Egg Color
The Red Ranger Chicken is not for egg production. However, you can sell the Red Ranger eggs to your family and friends.
The Red Ranger hens can produce about 170 eggs per year. Once it starts laying, egg production is constant, although at a lower rate than other breeds.
They start laying eggs at about 16 weeks of age. The egg coloration ranges from light to dark brown. The egg size is between 50 grams-60 grams.
Color, Size, Appearance, Characteristics of Red Ranger Chicken
Color
Red Ranger chickens are not an official chicken breed. They have a feathery and broiler-like fat body.
This breed comes in different shades of color. Some have red and brown feathers, which make for a beautiful chicken.
You can recognize them with their copper-red and honey-brown color with white shades of feathers.
Their legs are yellow in color, and their beaks are white or brown.
Size
Red Ranger chickens are not massive and could lay eggs. This is because they have been bred to produce meat rather than lay eggs.
A full-grown Red Ranger weighs about 5.5-6.5 pounds. Males are bigger than females.
Appearance
The Red Ranger Chicken is a cross between two different breeds, which makes it unique. Its appearance is very different from other chickens in the market.
Because it’s a hybrid, the Red Ranger Chicken has traits of both parents. The Red Ranger Chicken is an adorable medium size chicken and has been described as having a friendly look.
It is small, very active, and relatively docile. It has a smart head with red and black plumage.
Characteristics
1. The Red Ranger Chicken is very active and very intelligent. To protect itself, it will run away to the nearest place it can find shelter, whether under rocks or in a tree.
2. You will notice how it walks When you take care of your Red Ranger Chicken. It’s a unique walk. The Red Rangers result from cross-breeding Rhode Island Reds, New Hampshire’s and Cornish Crosses with Delaware hens.
3. The Red Ranger Chicken is an excellent guard chicken. It will run around alerting you of possible danger and keeping the predators away.
4. This is also a very social bird; if you let it, it will make you and your family members very friendly.
5. The Red Ranger Chicken loves to hop, play, and jump. They don’t like to lay down alone because they feel safer when they are close to each other. This keeps them warm in the winter, but also makes them very noisy.
6. If you decide to grow your Red Ranger Chicken, you must know that it is a very picky eater. It would rather starve than eat bad food. Giving it enough space to run around and play is also significant.
Benefits of Raising Red Ranger Chicken
Here are a few common advantages of raising Red Ranger chickens:
1. Amazing meat source
The Red Ranger chicken meat has a good amount of protein with various proteins and minerals. The meat of this chicken breed comprises vitamins B, A, D, iron, zinc, and copper.
Not only the meat, the organs of Red Rangers are also very healthy for people. The best part of this chicken is it will provide you with meat in a very small-time as they are ready to butcher at the age of 12-16 weeks.
Eating meat organically raised in the backyard is better, and they are more tasty and healthy. The commercial-raised Red Rangers are not as healthy as raised in backyards.
They rarely need extra vitamins and mineral supplements.
2. Small Brooding Time
If you want a chicken breed that requires very little brooding time, the Red Rangers are best suited for that purpose.
Like Cornish chickens, they require a small brooding time as they deposit fat very fast in their body.
So, raising chicks will become easy as they require heat lamp for a shorter period of time. So, you can shift them as a coop bird from chicks in few days.
3. Adaptable
They can easily live in both closed and open environments. Raising them in an open environment is recommended if you have a long yard.
Raising in open space keeps them healthy. Not only this, it enhances the taste of the meat and eggs.
4. High income in short time
Most of the backyard chickens require about 24-30 weeks to fully grow to see in the market.
As the Red Ranger chickens are a type of broiler, they are ready for selling in 12-16 weeks. So, you will start earning very fast as compared to other backyard chickens.
5. Healthier than Cornish chickens
The Cornish chickens almost have the same characteristics and meat chickens like Red Rangers. Their growth period and brooding time is almost same like this chicken breed.
But Cornish chickens have lots of health problems, like legs deformity, bumblefoot, sudden death syndrome and heart problems and more.
In Red Ranger chickens, you will see this type of issue very less. They have very less health issues as compared to Cornish chickens.
FAQs On Red Ranger Chicken
1. When to butcher Red Ranger chickens?
The Red Ranger Chicken is a very active breed, and it produces meat rather than eggs. If you have raised them for 12 -14 weeks, then you can start butchering them.
2. When do freedom ranger chickens lay eggs?
At 16 weeks, they will start to lay eggs. However, it is best to wait for around 1 year before you can start collecting eggs because the Red Ranger Chicken has a very slow growth rate.
3. Do Red Ranger chickens lay eggs?
Yes, the Red Ranger Chicken is a good egg-laying breed. However, they usually lay about 160 eggs in a year.
4. Are Red Ranger chickens good egg layers?
They are mainly kept for their meat production. They do not lay many eggs and mostly lay about 160 eggs in a year.
5. Can you breed Red Ranger chickens?
It is difficult to breed Red Ranger chickens. This is because they are hybrid and hard to go broody. Yes, you can hatch their eggs using a good egg incubator.
Conclusion
The Red Ranger Chicken is a breed of chicken that produces both meat and eggs. It is also an active bird that can be kept in small places.
They grow very fast as compared to Cornish Cross chickens. These chickens are very healthy and nutritious.
They are also very friendly and can learn how to trust new owners easily. There are many benefits of having the Red Ranger chicken.
However, these chickens do have their challenges. They are expensive to raise because they need more space to grow, and they also do not lay a lot of eggs.
I hope this guide helped you to understand all about Red Ranger chickens.
