New Opportunities for Gamefowl

[varidgerunner]

Suffice it to say that there are several people out there that fancy gamefowl. The Show Off Your Games thread is evidence of that with nearly 600 pages. We do not need to get into areas that violate forum rules, but we can't deny that gamefowl were selected for their intelligence and athletic abilities. Their former uses insured a culling program far surperior to what many breeders can carry out. This made them a very strong type of chicken, and that has proven itself with their many historical genetic contributions to many breeds that we enjoy today. Who knows when they may be needed in the future, with some of the diseases we have today.

If they are relegated to purely fowl bred to a show standard, many believe that many of their qualities could be lost forever.What if we could develop a competition that would showcase their talents in a socially acceptable manner. A points based show, with a portion scored on physical characteristics of course, but with competitions designed to judge qualities that have long been desirable traits. But not the old way, I'm pretty sure that greyhounds had to quit using real rabbits in the little basket that they raced after, and greyhound racing itself is out of favor, but without racing greyhounds are just skinny dogs. I'm thinking of maybe some kind of race, through a maze maybe. A sweater to keep their wings shut and let them hop up on a perch for a treat, not unlike competitive mule jumping. Maybe some kind of weight pulling competition. People do a lot of things with their animals, shutzhund, competitive rabbit jumping events even. It's a shame we can't figure out a way to keep these birds around and enjoy them that would be acceptable and maybe even become popular.

Any thoughts?

 

[CANADIANGAMES]

I've thought about this a lot... I have always wanted to show off the abilities of my fowl but no humane competition exists other than showing (which is mostly cosmetic). I have been thinking of a way to exercise my fowl with a treadmill like contraption. And I think this idea could be used for competition. Imagine two opposing treadmills with a fence or glass separating two running roosters. The roosters would be so eager to run towards eachother they would keep running. The rooster who possesses a higher degree of gameness and stamina would last the longest, therefore winning the competition. I figured this could take a long time so I think adding incline to the treadmills or possible little built in hurdles to jump over would decrease the time it takes for a rooster to fall off or give up. Obviously the whole thing would have to be inclosed in a cage to avoid them from going around... Quick drawing showing the concept. This is only one idea which doenst address other abilities, like flying or strength.

Mr. S.P. INVENTED THIS

here is an other idea i saw. Not mine but very neat!!. Hen goes on top on lil teather. And rooster just runs the turning barrel. And if you put another barrel on the other side. 'Then both rooster can run to the hen '

 

[varidgerunner]

I even thought about high tech stuff like a interactive computer touch screen with shock force sensors and accuracy scoring. I'm not that high tech but I know it exhists. Video games for roosters! I thought about something similar to your treadmill design, but withpulleys lifting a weight, that could be increased and decreased and handicapped for the competitors own weight.

My idea for a "jump pen" would be a cylinder about two or three feet in diameter of 2x4 wire. roost poles could be inserted at different heights with a cup of meal worms. Dump 'em in the cage and measure their vertical lift.

Care would have to be taken to avoid what some states would consider "training for illegal purposes". A rooster dummy might not fly with your authority types, but I don't see how they could say anything about tasks performed for treats. If you could ever get something like this to take off, then you might be able to get more realistic with your competitive events. Legal precedents would already be set, so it would be harder to accuse the "third time chicken olympic champion" of doing something illegal. Something like this would probably garner a lot of interest from the general public, and it could be used to turn around the dark image that people in this country have for "gamefowl" in general.

Never ceases to amaze me, that people could look at a pen full of bantam silkies and think nothing of it, but if a man wants to raise "gamefowl" people automatically assume the worst. This idea would at least give people something to "justify" their birds exhistence, besides the unbelievable idea that, "I just like to look at them."

 

[JShubin]

Treadmill could only test endurance on foot which would very with speed of treadmill. Another measure of endurance could be distance of flight and speed could also be measured on flight. Running speed would be very difficult to promote unless birds could be trained to chase something. Fear is too difficult to standardize as a motivator. Strength could be measured in multiple ways. Once would simply be the ability to produce a vertical flight which is more akin to a long jump. Leg strength would be more difficult. Agility test could be in the form of some sort of obstacle course. Birds would have to be trained more than I currently do.

To keep the well rounded qualities, think decathlon.

Measuring gameness would not be allowed.

Yeah I was thinking that gameness would be might too difficult to test/compete without being illegal and/or cruel.

I have one possible solution but I dont know if its an actual measure of gameness. If you refer back to my tug of war contest, (harnessed roosters trying to pull eachother) See image...

The one who was stronger or more "game" would be motivated to try push himself closer to the opposing rooster and therefore cross the winning line. If they were truely game I suspect they'd keep pushing forward... if not game they'd stand there and get pulled backwards via the rope and pulley.




What do you think about this?

 

[centrarchid]

I have kept pigeons as a kid but they were of feral stock. Gamefowl were part of formal upbringing and more to current interests. Some are smarter than given credit for and in my middle age it is possible to pursue some of the offbeat ideas pondered as a youth.


We could use ripe hens placed in a circle of cocks on tie cords. One hen will be placed at a time. Score would be given to cocks having hen submit for them.

 

[fowlsessed]

I found it, the dummy chicken decoy thing.

 

[JShubin]

Tug-O-War Aparatus setup... using PVC and old wire spools.

I used small dog harnesses for each rooster and they hated it. Instead of tugging or warring they just freaked out, falling over trying to get the harness off their bodies. My Modern Game looked like a fish out water. The American game I used calmed down after a bit but not enough to want to pull. First attempt was a failure but with a little training I think it would work.. The machine should work fine, there is very little friction and the sandbags kept everything taught. Its the roosters that need training and/or a pre-tug warm up to get them excited. A lighter harness might help as well.



Modern freaking out.

 

[sumatrass]

Had another idea

 

[JShubin]

Nice diagrams. someone knows how to use MS paint haha.

I like the "hawk"dummy idea... find the key markers that would trigger an attack response, without makign it obvious "paraphernalia"..

Events should promote athletic abilities of gamefowl not the owners ability to train a chicken. I dont know how to train animals.. I need to do some research. all my animals just know what "not" to do... like do no kill chicks... do not pee in the house etc. I havent trained a chicken to do or not do anything.

 

[ezeo]

What about the carnival game where kids throw darts at balloons? Compete on how many balloons the gamecock can pop in a minute. Measures quickness and accuracy. Train them by putting mealworms in the balloons.