Jungle Fowl

[JimArcher]

Centrachid - good comments. You have been very observant.I have seen a "domestic" Jungle fowl hen take on a human(Korean tourist guy) to protect her chicks and a tiny part junglefowl hen with 5 chicks attacked my gander. After that he would seek her out and try to kill her. The chicks would run off and hide in the grass and bushes and not come out until momma called them. I had to coop up the gander any time I left the house. Was glad to get rid of him and his mate and offspring. Really calmed things down.
I doubt any chicken could cope with a fox.
In the wild in Laos, a main predator of Jungle Fowl is the leopard cat. If my little male got out of the house at night he headed straight for the chicken coop and by the time I could get there he would be sitting there with a dead hen. Absolutely silent. The other chickens did not make a fuss. Uncanny.
In the wild Jungle fowl hens use distraction vocalizations and actions to lure a predator away from the chicks or the nest.

 

[JanetMarie]

The fenced area is way too big to cover, about 1/3 acre, and is right by the house, and foxes have never crossed over it. I have thought about how to do things differently, so they can free range at certain times.

Centrarchid, thanks for the information on the Jungle Fowl inclinations. I would rather have chickens that stay close to home and each other. The ones that were taken did not stay in the larger group.

 

[centrarchid]

Some domestics will use distraction against predators targeting chicks.

Some of my game hens will under some conditions fake a broken wing and attempt to lure predator away from grounded chicks, Sequence starts with hen detecting threat followed by her giving trill causing chicks to quietly hunker down in cover as she gives the display if predator follows she continues on ground for up to 100 feet before flying into tree. Once in tree she gets loud and chicks stay down. A variant on this involving harem master has hen and chicks hunkering down with cock getting loud and fluffed up as he walks away from young. The loudness may have two purposes; first to distract predator and secondly in my situation to call in complications for the predator such as my dogs.


When raptor involved, the predator seems almost hardwired to target chicks and hen will first simply call brood up under her. Sometimes she will give sound directing chicks to hunker down before getting rowdy. Harem master cock will literally position himself between brood and raptor and display willingness to fight it head on. The hawks do not seem able to switch predator inclinations to cock. I am also seeing consistent post-weaning investment of harem master in juvenile offspring that include predator defense.

I have had harem masters literally attack predators from behind before running / flying to cover. Hawks attacked from behind break off attack while dog or fox sometimes distracted enough to allow some brood to escape.

Some of these behaviors involving taking predator on do not seem a practical in a natural setting with smaller wild Jungle Fowl. So many times other anti-predator resources are called up with the displays in a culture setting.

 

[centrarchid]

The fenced area is way too big to cover, about 1/3 acre, and is right by the house, and foxes have never crossed over it.  I have thought about how to do things differently, so they can free range at certain times.  

Centrarchid, thanks for the information on the Jungle Fowl inclinations.  I would rather have chickens that stay close to home and each other.  The ones that were taken did not stay in the larger group.  

Cover patches.

Heavy plantings of brambles or blueberries chickens can hunker down in. My birds make heavy use of sumac stands for same purpose. Patches only because thy are less forage rich.

 

[JanetMarie]

Cover patches.

Heavy plantings of brambles or blueberries chickens can hunker down in. My birds make heavy use of sumac stands for same purpose. Patches only because thy are less forage rich.

Oh, I understand. We have lots, too many cover patches around here. They are effective against arial predators, but the foxes do utilize them to their advantage.

 

[JanetMarie]

Centrachid - good comments. You have been very observant.I have seen a "domestic" Jungle fowl hen take on a human(Korean tourist guy) to protect her chicks and a tiny part junglefowl hen with 5 chicks attacked my gander. After that he would seek her out and try to kill her. The chicks would run off and hide in the grass and bushes and not come out until momma called them. I had to coop up the gander any time I left the house. Was glad to get rid of him and his mate and offspring. Really calmed things down.
I doubt any chicken could cope with a fox.
In the wild in Laos, a main predator of Jungle Fowl is the leopard cat. If my little male got out of the house at night he headed straight for the chicken coop and by the time I could get there he would be sitting there with a dead hen. Absolutely silent. The other chickens did not make a fuss. Uncanny.
In the wild Jungle fowl hens use distraction vocalizations and actions to lure a predator away from the chicks or the nest.

I don't really think my rooster deterred the fox in any way. I think he just got away in time. Some of the times when a fox has taken a chicken, it has happened so fast that the others only cackled a little, and upon my arrival they act as if nothing happened. Much different than a hawk attack.

It has never happened before of three being killed in one attack, and so bold. Have read now that foxes do mass killings. Time to do some things differently.

 

[centrarchid]

Oh, I understand.  We have lots, too many cover patches around here.  They are effective against arial predators, but the foxes do utilize them to their advantage.

Use poultry netting to keep foxes away from cover patches.

 

[kamal khan]

i have sri lankan janglefowl it's great it's over natinal bird they fly as birds long distance

 

[jak2002003]

I live in Northern Thailand and so am lucky we have a lot of wild Red Jungle fowl in the forests and nature reserves around here.

I am out in a very rural small village, next to forested (but not protected) forests. Most of the chickens in this area are hybrid with the wild chickens and look much the same, only bigger with longer legs.

I think they are crossed with the fighting chickens.

Its also easy to get wild birds and their chicks.. they sell them on the roadside markets.

I have kept them myself.. I really like the colours of the males.

If you buy them adult they are too wild and skittish. Youngsters are still very wild compared to our domestic chickens when raised in a brooder.

I had better luck when I let my Japanese Bantams hatch out the Jungle fowl eggs mixed in with their own eggs. The resulting chicks were much calmer and tamer as adults. They are great flyers and will happily live outside and roost in the trees. They are poor layers though and only lay certain times of the year, where my bantams lay constantly.

I find my bantams are just as predator alert as the jungle fowl, but can't escape as easily as they are fatter and so fly not so well, or run not as fast.

 

[JimArcher]

Good comments, Jungle Fowl. I had the same experiences in Laos.
I have never had a true 100% wild jungle fowl, but a friend did and they were very difficult to keep. Did a lot of damage to their heads and never really adjusted to life in a pen. No breeding. I had 3 hens hatch about 18 chicks - hens, cocks and chicks all very beautiful jungle fowl crosses. The weather was cold and rainy and in the end all the chicks died. Such hens are good mothers for the wild, but not in pens. They were not good about calling their chicks to chick starter or hard boiled egg. Very nervous. Drove me crazy. Never again. If I raise them again in Laos I will either use an incubator or else Thai Bantam hens. Much better mothers under domestication conditions. Chicks are tamer when raised that way. Brooder raising Is OK if the wild type chicks are raised with domestic chicks.
The mothers teach the chicks how to respond to what is going on around them and the "wild" hens raise wild chicks.
Very hard to catch the hens and chicks for vaccinating and of course that makes them even wilder.
I usually let my Jungle Fowl roam free and they came in to roost at night. When the geese were aggressive to protect their goslings, I could not let the wild hens out with their chicks so it was a mess.
Good luck.
P.S. I had to clip their wings; otherwise impossible to control.