Developing My Own Breed Of Large Gamefowl For Free Range Survival (Junglefowl x Liege)

[Mossy Dell]

My thoughts:

If "extremely game" means that the males fight each other, and kill each other if given a chance, then it sounds like a nuisance to manage them. Roosters that will just spread apart and co-exist on free range would make management easier.

I can see why you want all the other traits, and I hope it works for you. Sounds like a neat project!

My experience and what some others have told me: permanently freeranging flocks, of even active competition fighters, can form peaceable existence with enough room for them to claim their own territories. And have heard of one cocker who conditioned cocks in fairly close proximity by discing boundaries.

The KEY is that a even a crazy game rooster does not want to leave his hens and risk losing them. A more natural order and behavior ensues.

A commonly referred to danger, especially when stags are almost grown, is they get rained on and don't recognize each other. This possibly endangers the boss male as well.

 

[Mossy Dell]

View attachment 3382799

My red-eared Cracker x Blueface stag. He needs a name.


View attachment 3382802

Lanky has settled into free range. He’ll bow up and march to Indo’s coop sometimes but I think the wavy chicken wire around the coop has learned him he can’t access Indo anymore. Lanky can now cover all of the free range hens, including several pure Cracker hens. I’m going to leave him out at let the hens rear their own as they see fit. We’ll see what rises to the top.

Since I've always loved blueface Hatch, but dislike those with pale faces, I love that rooster. And Lanky. Beauties. These would be my ideal free range males, though maybe with 1/4–1/8 roundhead to put a pea comb on them especially if I were north of Georgia or SC.

 

[Mossy Dell]

I think different kinds of gamefowl stand or run from different things. Orientals are famous for fighting for days with their natural spurs and beaks, but may run when they get hit with a steel gaff. And yet, and American that won’t run from a steel gaff may run when a big guinea thrashes them in a free range setting.

I agree most of us that free range gamefowl in a barnyard setting areee going to see more attitude from an oriental. Dovetailing with their game drive against other roosters is an anti-predator drive that may or may not be related to the game drive. Bankivoid gamefowl generally fall on the flight side of fight or flight when it comes to predators, while orientals often fall on the fight side.

You may be right. But almost all cockers I've known think roundheads are too smart to be deeply game. They have a distant look in their eye! And it's a widely recognized problem finding steel game Aseels, which is where American roundheads began. But with regular roundheads bred from Aseels many decades or more ago, they are primarily straight comb anyway.

I breed Morgan whitehackles and am convinced roundhead was bred into them—probably Aseels in England and likely roundheads of some sort in America. The reason I say that is that all strains of Morgans with which I'm familiar throw light eyes. Especially when crossed, or when two families of Morgans are brought together, some will have green eyes and some will have pale eyes that look pure Aseel. Goodbeye nice orange eye.

Two reasons I think this infusion was done. Primarily because the fighting intelligence of roundheads was and remains unsurpassed. I think it's History of Game Strains that mentions an attempt in the 1920s to ban roundheads from pits, at least in the south, because they were so devastating it was deemed unfair. Second reason is the way Asian fowl have their legs right out front. Takes forever to move the legs forward on a low stationed straight comb, but in one cross to a roundhead it's done . . .

 

[sourland]

A commonly referred to danger, especially when stags are almost grown, is they get rained on and don't recognize each other. This possibly endangers the boss male as well.

At one time I had a large flock of game crossed bantams. All would be fine until the autumn when the Sept. rains hit. Instant bedlam would break out among mostly that years cockerels resulting in at least a full day of fighting.

 

[Az OEGB]

I've always read that a grey cock over a red hen is the issue because pullets will be pure for grey and the stags grey with red in wing butts. But a red cock over a grey hen gives you grey stags and red pullets that are pure for red. Is this not true?

I just picked up some silver Phoenix hens, and a few other birds from guy anyways he gave me two partridge hens I asked him what they were and he said one was a pure jungle fowl and the other was 1/2 silver phoenix 1/2 jungle fowl. I thought he was mistaken about the cross because it was partridge at first but I saw a roster who was obviously a cross and was quite big and the hen is somewhat bigger than the pure hen so I think your right

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

I just picked up some silver Phoenix hens, and a few other birds from guy anyways he gave me two partridge hens I asked him what they were and he said one was a pure jungle fowl and the other was 1/2 silver phoenix 1/2 jungle fowl. I thought he was mistaken about the cross because it was partridge at first but I saw a roster who was obviously a cross and was quite big and the hen is somewhat bigger than the pure hen so I think your right

Not likely pure Red Jungle Fowl. Most of the birds sold as pure Reds are crosses. The only pure strain are the Richardson Strain and only the lines that were very meticulously maintained. A lot of people have “San Diego Zoo Strain” and they were abandoned by the zoo because too many people kept dropping off their domestic chickens and they all ended up mixed. They have even suggested that no pure Reds exist in India. The Richardson Strain consists of birds brought over many years ago from the wilds of India to try and establish a wild fowl for hunting in the southeast much like Chinese Ringneck Pheasants in the Midwest and Dakotas. They failed miserably but some of the original breeding stock was salvaged and maintained in aviculture. Pure Red males too out at about 2 1/2 lb. and Red hens only lay about 30 eggs a year. They are wild and flighty as hell and will probably cost you $75 per bird and up. One of the big hatcheries sells “Pure San Diego Zoo Strain” Reds for $5.50 each and says they lay 250 eggs a year. Not at all pure.

 

[Az OEGB]

Not likely pure Red Jungle Fowl. Most of the birds sold as pure Reds are crosses. The only pure strain are the Richardson Strain and only the lines that were very meticulously maintained. A lot of people have “San Diego Zoo Strain” and they were abandoned by the zoo because too many people kept dropping off their domestic chickens and they all ended up mixed. They have even suggested that no pure Reds exist in India. The Richardson Strain consists of birds brought over many years ago from the wilds of India to try and establish a wild fowl for hunting in the southeast much like Chinese Ringneck Pheasants in the Midwest and Dakotas. They failed miserably but some of the original breeding stock was salvaged and maintained in aviculture. Pure Red males too out at about 2 1/2 lb. and Red hens only lay about 30 eggs a year. They are wild and flighty as hell and will probably cost you $75 per bird and up. One of the big hatcheries sells “Pure San Diego Zoo Strain” Reds for $5.50 each and says they lay 250 eggs a year. Not at all pure.

You are probably right chances of the Jungle fowl being pure is very slim. My cock does top at 2 1/2 but they are look like RJF and survive Fairly well. But they are small for my liking so I intend on a good portion of their offerings to be crossed to American GF anyways.

 

[Az OEGB]

The breeder I got them from sells them for $20 for chicks and 130 a pair

 

[TexasBlues]

i read one way to tell if a RJF has been hybridized is in the comb. The comb on a hen RJF is very small.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I don’t have time for a full writeup yet. Hopefully I can catch up documentation on my projects over the weekend.

I have come around to being ok with putting Indo back on free range. He’s fine acting. The darkness on his comb and ear is from wire fighting once turned out. He’s over it now. He’s a smart boy. I want him to breed his Marek’s resistant daughters that have been on free range for nearly 2 years now.

No updated pics on Sherman yet. He’s looking good. He half-heartedly attacked me the other day but I think he was trying to get me to feed him. It was a soft bite not a flog. All my orientals have been oushy for food in their stag stage.