Historic Presence of Jungle Fowl in the American Deep South

[Florida Bullfrog]

Very nice looking family... based on your photo and in addition to the rooster and hen, I see 7 pullets and 1 cockerel. What sexes are the remaining ones?

I’m reserving judgement until they mature more. I actually see up to 3 cockerels in that picture. At the waterer there are up to 2 cockerels on the left, a pullet on the right. Behind that pullet possibly another cockerel that isn’t showing yet. Its not unusual for stags from the Cracker line to have staggered maturation rates where their combs and waddles don’t enlarge or turn red until weeks after others. In a few more weeks their plumages will become distinct and it will tell the tale even before their combs do.

There is always one that gets an enlarged comb and waddles before the others. In this group, that is the one in the front on the left. Those are usually the best stags out of a brood.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Very nice looking family... based on your photo and in addition to the rooster and hen, I see 7 pullets and 1 cockerel. What sexes are the remaining ones?

Turned out to be two cockerels, twelve pullets.

They’ve been on free range for one week as of today. So far so good. I haven’t lost any yet. I’ve got them all wing banded by color and number. The 14 are my “black banders” and the 5 (of 8) are the gold banders.

I lost 3 of the 8 golf banders to a big timber rattler over the course of several nights. I figured a snake was getting them. The mother was still roosting them on the ground not a tree as she ought at that age. I finally caught the snake in the act after it killed an American game bantam stag that roosted near the gold banders.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Turned out to be two cockerels, twelve pullets.

View attachment 3593014View attachment 3593011

They’ve been on free range for one week as of today. So far so good. I haven’t lost any yet. I’ve got them all wing banded by color and number. The 14 are my “black banders” and the 5 (of 8) are the gold banders.

I lost 3 of the 8 golf banders to a big timber rattler over the course of several nights. I figured a snake was getting them. The mother was still roosting them on the ground not a tree as she ought at that age. I finally caught the snake in the act after it killed an American game bantam stag that roosted near the gold banders. View attachment 3593022View attachment 3593023

Good you got that snake. I have seen more snakes this year than I have in the last six or seven years combined.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Good you got that snake. I have seen more snakes this year than I have in the last six or seven years combined.

I like your username.

 

[Red Mangrove]

Good you got that snake. I have seen more snakes this year than I have in the last six or seven years combined.

Same here. A cat here found a 3' black racer this morning

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

The black banders are doing well. I cannot tell if I have 12 of 14 left or all 14, as they’re spread out around the farmyard and don’t all show up at the same time for me to count. I’m confident I at least have 12 of 14. I also seem to have all 5 of the good banders. Although both the black banders and gold banders come from single pair matings, the black banders are much more uniform. I believe that rooster and hen combo is a good match and I intend to keep them together to make more broods. Although after the fall I may put Lanky on free range to breed his daughters and pick the best black band stag to breed his mother. At this point, based on what I’m seeing, I don’t want to cross the gold banders into the black banders but I may cross the black banders into the gold banders to make them more like the black banders. The gold banders simply look different, as they should because their makeup is different. Each line only shares nominal ancestry. All pictured birds are black banders.

Remember, the black banders are 1/4 original Cracker, 1/2 American game from 2 different hens, and 1/4 Wahl aseel. The gold banders are 1/4 Cracker, 3/4 American game from 2 different American hens and an American rooster. Number 1 was the Cracker used for the black banders, Hei Hei for the gold banders. Hei Hei was Number 1’s father and Number 1 was all around a better bird than his father.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

After the last update I lost some of the black banders. Around 8 survive, of those they’re all pullets except the smaller of the two stags also lives. One pullet has a floppy tail and I will cull her if it doesn’t correct itself. Her father briefly had a floppy tail then grew out of it.

This morning I tried to corral up the pullets and coop them with their mother and father and they immediately began to beat each other up. So I had to turn them back out.

I think its the aseel in them that’s making the pullets so intolerant of each other in confinement. They’ve been having scars on their heads on and off for the past month and I thought it was the turkey doing it, but now I see they’re doing it to each other and just not doing it as bad where they have room on free range to spread out.

My plan is to make another batch of black banders this fall. I need some more stags to choose from. When I get a stag I like, I’ll breed it back to the mother and have Lanky preside over his daughters and begin line breeding each branch. I see that a full flock of pullets will have to be kept free range, so I’ll have to rotate Lanky to free range.

 

[Chicken Heel]

After the last update I lost some of the black banders. Around 8 survive, of those they’re all pullets except the smaller of the two stags also lives. One pullet has a floppy tail and I will cull her if it doesn’t correct itself. Her father briefly had a floppy tail then grew out of it.

This morning I tried to corral up the pullets and coop them with their mother and father and they immediately began to beat each other up. So I had to turn them back out.

View attachment 3642264View attachment 3642265View attachment 3642266View attachment 3642268View attachment 3642269View attachment 3642267

I think its the aseel in them that’s making the pullets so intolerant of each other in confinement. They’ve been having scars on their heads on and off for the past month and I thought it was the turkey doing it, but now I see they’re doing it to each other and just not doing it as bad where they have room on free range to spread out.

My plan is to make another batch of black banders this fall. I need some more stags to choose from. When I get a stag I like, I’ll breed it back to the mother and have Lanky preside over his daughters and begin line breeding each branch. I see that a full flock of pullets will have to be kept free range, so I’ll have to rotate Lanky to free range.

It appears those remaining black bander pullets are ornery enough to survive being free ranged. Hope they do.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

It appears those remaining black bander pullets are ornery enough to survive being free ranged. Hope they do.

So far this has been my largest survival rate I’ve had in a while. 8 of 14. Most of my batches last 2 years have been batting less than 25%. Mostly due to the parasite I call the “free range sickness” (I figure its a parasite because only free rangers get it, even though coop and free range chickens can interact and it responds to ivermectin). I lose very few to predation, and the ones I do lose to predators are usually sick with the FRS prior to being caught. I think I’ve finally found a foundational pair that is passing immunity to the parasite.

I want free range Lanky and the hen very bad. But if they’re my genetic gold egg layers, I need to keep them cranking out as many chicks as possible in a controlled setting.

 

[Chicken Heel]

So far this has been my largest survival rate I’ve had in a while. 8 of 14. Most of my batches last 2 years have been batting less than 25%. Mostly due to the parasite I call the “free range sickness” (I figure its a parasite because only free rangers get it, even though coop and free range chickens can interact and it responds to ivermectin). I lose very few to predation, and the ones I do lose to predators are usually sick with the FRS prior to being caught. I think I’ve finally found a foundational pair that is passing immunity to the parasite.

I want free range Lanky and the hen very bad. But if they’re my genetic gold egg layers, I need to keep them cranking out as many chicks as possible in a controlled setting.

I would err on the side of caution myself regarding Lanky and the hen. Good luck and I continue to enjoy this thread.