Description
A great alternative choice for those who want a meat bird somewhere in between the fast-growing commercial broilers and the slow-growing heritage breed. The Freedom Rangers are known for being active foragers and pasture raising goes very well. Moderately growing, they typically reach around 5-6 pounds in about 9-11 weeks. Can be tri-colored or red feathered.
tiltedbarnfamilyfarm –
Our small family farm switched to ordering from Townline after a disasterous year in 2020, where the broilers we ordered from the local branch of a large national chain were determined at butchering time to be Cornish game hens, NOT Cornish cross. Our customers, who pre-order whole chickens from us, had a great sense of humor about it, but we ended up having to deliver free broilers to them later, on top of the wasted time and money of trying to get Cornish Game Hens to put on weight. Great story, bad business. It was a regrettable error during an otherwise crazy year anyway, but we just decided after that that we’re going with a company that specializes in chickens, and is close enough to our farm that we could drive there to pick up our chicks if we needed to. We’ve never regretted going with Townline, and it’s a perk that they are also in Michigan. They are a trusted vendor for us, and part of our move to stop price shopping where it’s important, and go with who is going to do it right.
hunterlayne94 (verified owner) –
Absolutely beautiful, docile birds that I was sad to see go. They arrived in excellent health. We raised them to 12 weeks in the Oklahoma Spring heat. Straight run. We had 12 girls and 13 boys, no losses. Our biggest boy was 8.1lbs dressed, girl was 6.1lbs dressed. Raised on 22% meatbird crumble from start to finish. They consumed 600lbs of feed but can definitely be free ranged for a smaller bird and less feed cost. Excellent foragers that don’t just sit around all day like Cornish Cross would. I will be using Townline Hatchery again and again. I recommend getting the vitamins and minerals electrolyte mix they have to offer. We used it in the water from day 1 to processing day. The only thing I wish was an option would be to order only males or only females as well as the straight run option. We did get very lucky with our male to female ratio. Can’t wait for next year!
Simon Shingleton (verified owner) –
I ordered 50 of these freedom rangers. I received a phone call from Jeff (at Townline) stating that my order would be shipped out a week later than my original requested ship date. He asked if this would be a problem for me. I was very impressed with a phone call, as opposed to a generic email you would receive from most companies. We received in the mail, 52 very lively freedom rangers that all survived the 500+ mile trip to me. One week later and they’re all doing great and growing good! I would definitely recommend Townline Hatchery and so far, also recommend the freedom ranger!