# Raising Layers and Meat Birds



## Tara Brown (Jan 10, 2011)

Hi All,

How do you raise both layers and meat birds at the same time? I have read they cant be housed together because they eat different kinds of food?

Do meat birds need a different type of enclosure than layers?

I am in the process of planning my fence and coup/barn and want both layers and meat birds but dont know how to have both.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Assume you are starting with chicks? Just use chick starter for both. Get the highest protein available. The meat birds (if using cornish cross broilers) will rapidly outgrow the layers so you will want to separate them in the brooder fairly soon unless you have lots of extra space.


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## wildcat6 (Apr 5, 2011)

When they are big enough to separate just buy some of that cheap plastic poultry netting to divide off the coop. I think I purchased mine for $12 at Lowes and it was 48"x50'.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

We raise our meat birds in tractors & let our layers free range. This year we did order a half dozen Freedom Rangers - which are meat birds which can supposedly safely free-range. We're planning on feeding them with the layers, don't know how it's going to work out yet.


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## wildcat6 (Apr 5, 2011)

fffarmergirl said:


> We raise our meat birds in tractors & let our layers free range. This year we did order a half dozen Freedom Rangers - which are meat birds which can supposedly safely free-range. We're planning on feeding them with the layers, don't know how it's going to work out yet.


Let me know how that works out for you. I have been thinking about getting the Freedom Rangers for a couple of years now but I don't know how long it takes them to get to butchering age and how good they taste. Where did you purchase yours from?


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## ChanceTheRapids (Apr 29, 2011)

We used Freedom Rangers and they were great! I believe we butchered at 12 & 13 weeks (2 weekends), and they were between 4 and 5 lbs. dressed. Very big, very tasty, no problems. 

Oh and we calculated out the total price (cost of chicks + price of feed divided by bird) and it was about $7/bird, or about $1.50/lb. Can't beat that...


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

wildcat6 said:


> Let me know how that works out for you. I have been thinking about getting the Freedom Rangers for a couple of years now but I don't know how long it takes them to get to butchering age and how good they taste. Where did you purchase yours from?


Our local farmers co-op is carrying them for the first time this year. We're the first ones here to try them out.

We got them as day-old chicks on the 12th, along with some production reds, and we have them brooding together. They're gentle and don't seem to be picking on the smaller birds. They're more alert than the cornish crosses and seem hardier. They don't have bald butts and don't spend all their time eating and pooping and laying around, like the cornish crosses. Their legs are nice and strong.

Here is a picture of one of the freedom rangers next to the same-age production reds:


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

If you could keep taking pix, weekly perhaps, comparing sizes, I think a lot of folks would like to see them.


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## trbizwiz (Mar 26, 2010)

What did the freedoms cost you?


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

hhhandyman says: 

I can't locate the receipt for the Freedom Rangers, but will post an answer tomorrow after we pick up the 100 cornish X chicks we have ordered.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

Cyngbaeld said:


> If you could keep taking pix, weekly perhaps, comparing sizes, I think a lot of folks would like to see them.


Sure!


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

hhhandyman says:

The Freedom Rangers cost $1.75 each; our feedmill's source is Abendroth Hatchery in Waterloo, WI.


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## trbizwiz (Mar 26, 2010)

And do the freedoms breed back true?? Mine would be pastured in pens to 12 weeks or so then free ranged when they are old enough and smart enough to fend for themselves. 
I am reconsidering my thought process on teh freedoms. I have had terrible luck with CX's. I think i am just not good at promoiting survival for chicks. But the layers that I have had survive all do well, and theyre offspring do well. SO iF I can get some meat birds that propagate, adn take the few that can survive my management then I might just have a flock of Tom tollerant meat birds. Might even be able to market them as no brainer birds.


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## moonkitten (Mar 4, 2005)

Tara Brown said:


> I am in the process of planning my fence and coup/barn and want both layers and meat birds but dont know how to have both.


Do you mean that you want to have meat bird breeding stock year round and want to know how to house them with/separate from the egg layers?

Because if you are just getting a couple of sets of meat chicks from a hatchery, there really is no need to set up permanent housing for the meat birds. They won't be around for more than 7-10 weeks and a good portion of that will be in the brooder.

I have a permanent coop/run for layers who live here year-round. I have a tractor (moveable pen) for the meat birds once they are out of the brooder.


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## ChanceTheRapids (Apr 29, 2011)

trbizwiz said:


> And do the freedoms breed back true??


Nope, sorry  would be nice though.



trbizwiz said:


> Mine would be pastured in pens to 12 weeks or so then free ranged when they are old enough and smart enough to fend for themselves.


They really should be ready to butcher at around 12 weeks (or perhaps before). After that, they are not gaining enough weight each week to offset feed costs, not to mention the meat is losing it's tenderness with each passing week.


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## trbizwiz (Mar 26, 2010)

Yes, I figured the meat birds to eat would just go from pen to freezer. But iF I could somehow raise my own breeding stock that would evenutally get free ranged with the layers. I guess that wont be able to happen though. I am just gonna have to learn to stop killing chicks or quit trying. I will probably do two more batches. If I dont get any better at it Ill move on to easier tasks. Myabe I will just try to develope a taste for turkey. I can at least raise my own breeding stock of those. So far I have 5 left from the original 11.


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## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

I have been raising my meat kings and leghorn chicks together for a few years now. I find that it does two things for me. 1) It keeps the leghorns less flighty! They tried to barrel around the pen, and there they ran into a big hunk of chicken that certainly didn't have any intentions of running. 2) I find that the meat kings like to lay around and move very seldomly. That causes them to get breast blisters. Not with the leghorns in the pen. They keep things stirred up enough to get the meat kings moving around more. The exercise does them good and keeps them from laying around. 

I seperate them though when the roosters start to crow, because a meat king rooster is willing to harass the hens and then they start losing weight


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

We raised a batch of Freedom Rangers last year from hatchlings to about 3 months old. The pullets were about 4-5 lbs on average, and the cockerels were about 6 or 6-1/2lbs average. A few were under 4lbs and over 7 lbs. 

Once they were big enough to move out of the brooder, we kept them penned in a moveable chicken wire enclosure at night, but let them free range during the day after their morning feeding. At the end of the day, we'd put out their feed and they'd come running to get back in their pen to eat. One of our dogs acted as chick sitter at night, keeping raccoons etc away. Out of 25 chicks, we lost 2 in the first two weeks, but none after that.

Our laying flock has a regular coop and free ranges during the day. Some of them would try to sneak into the meat bird pen to steal some of the feed, and we'd have to **** them out. The Freedom Rangers didn't travel very far, compared with the layers, and never went all the way to the regular coop to eat that food.

We plan to raise another batch this summer (they're tasty!).


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## eclipchic (Oct 24, 2010)

we have both meat birds and layers of the same age in the same pen, on the same feed- 20% chick ration. Our meat birds though were a "all heavies" mix from McMurray so they are all growing at nearly the same rate; the hens are Buff orphs, americaunas and blue andulusians. We've had them about 5 weeks and no trouble or deaths, but they are getting big enough to fly out and get into mischief!


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## Mrs. Mucket (Apr 22, 2010)

We just hatched several chicks (now two weeks and six weeks old) from our Freedom Ranger parents kept over from last year's meaties. So far the chicks look, act, and grow similar to their parents. 

We also have one FR X Rhode Island Red that is growing a little slower than the full FR chicks and has barring like the FR roo. Two RIR hens and two Buff Orp hens are with the Ranger roo full time now so hope to see how the FR genes affect the size of their chicks. 

We processed last year's FRs at 10 and 13 weeks. Dressed weights ranged from 3.5-6.5 #, most were 5-6#. All delicious! They were on meatbird feed with limited forage in pens. We're fencing in an acre for this year's meaties and will rotate their night shelters around the pasture.


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## Goldie (Feb 18, 2009)

I raised freedom ranger chicks with laying breed chicks, and they did well. I fed them chick starter and then grower. They could free range, but the rangers don't get too far from the feed. Just butchered the rangers and they dressed out at about 5 to 6 pounds apiece. I did find that the freedom rangers do stress if the temperature does gets too high.


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