New Opportunities for Gamefowl

[varidgerunner]

Nice job! Would be interesting to see how some orientals would react.

 

[centrarchid]

Nice job! Would be interesting to see how some orientals would react.

Sadly, I must admit my though is Orientals would excel in such a contraption. Double muscled lunkers may not be fast but they have very good mechanical advantage.

 

[fowlsessed]

What do you mean "sadly" LOL

 

[JShubin]

I agree, I think the Orientals will fare better on this apparatus. Bigger muscles and bone structure just makes sense for pulling, much like a draft horse.

 

[fowlsessed]

I certainly think they would, but we have to remember that they will be matched by weight, so that levels things a little. Another important note is that there are Orientals, I'm just thinking of Asils, that would not have an advantage, because of their high station, you would want something low to the ground for pulling. Different strains, of both Americans and Orientals, would be another significant factor. There are some AGs that are built solid, and some Orientals that are built not really like AGs, but somewhat similarly (due to "grading,") I say sadly to the latter.

 

[centrarchid]

My Americans are decidedly of the low station type and considered fast and hard hitting. The low station I agree would be an advantage but endurance would prove more important and birds that are fast and hard hitting are usually so at the expensive of endurance. From my limited knowledge of Aseels, they are all about endurance and the ability to dump heat produced by extended periods of excursion. Addiitionally once pulling begins even the high station birds will pitch their weight forward. Also the station difference does not appear to be a function of bone lengths, rather how the legs are extended and angle of attack of back.

 

[fowlsessed]

I'd have to agree with most of that. Except I usually think of speed and style, in OGs, as a trade off with endurance. However, if I have Asil, they better have power (hard hitting), endurance and accuracy. Speed and style is what's not vital for mine, although always a bonus. So power is not really a trade off with endurance with OG. Not important, just saying.

 

[centrarchid]

I'd have to agree with most of that. Except I usually think of speed and style, in OGs, as a trade off with endurance. However, if I have Asil, they better have power (hard hitting), endurance and accuracy. Speed and style is what's not vital for mine, although always a bonus. So power is not really a trade off with endurance with OG. Not important, just saying.

When ours used to compete with Aseels, ours were a lot faster in the beginning but lost wind while Aseels where more consistent in terms of activity level. Nonetheless even the Aseels had more umph early on relative to what they had later but difference not at pronounced. If like human athletes which I think they are, then muscle speed and endurance are seldom realized together, especially when white / quick twitch fibers are involved. What needs to be done is dress a couple of each and look how muscle mass is balanced out. Based on in hand assessments of muscling, OG have relatively more muscle in legs while American Games like mine have more invested in flight muscles. Flight muscles will not help pull cord, at least not in a sustained manner, yet they are part of the weight used to match competitors for a pulling contest.

 

[varidgerunner]

Any competition of this nature would have to go by type and weight. It wouldn't make sense to pull a 4 pound Hatch against a 10 pound Shamo. Wouldn't really make sense to pull an American against an Asil of equal weights. Doing heats or having some kind of scoring system might work.

Lets say you had an event, everybody bring your birds, first we have a bench show, birds judged on basis of what they are entered as, conformity to an ideal, pretty simple to grasp that one. Lets say that that event scores you ten points for first nine for second, on down to everybody scores one except for the one that may have been disqualified, for instance a white bird that is supposed to be solid black, crooked toes, etc. Whatever the ideal that you use says.

Then you have a pulling competition, I still say it would be easier to let them pull to a mirror and use a scale, then handicap them by weight. There again, first place winner, gets ten and on down to participation points and disqualifications (wouldn't pull) get zero.

Then you have a race. Put the birds own hen that he has been separated from in a cage at the end of a track, say snow fence on both sides three foot apart. Time trials, oriental class will probably run, Bankiva class will probably do some flying. First place gets ten, and so on.

Thirty points will probably take the trophy. Fairly even playing field. You might have an oriental that ran a ten and an American that flew a ten, but it would come down to how they placed in the other events. If you had a tie, maybe an endurance test in a training wheel, or maybe some sort of double enclosure with perches, and the whole thing could be rocked back and forth, and whoever stayed on the perch longest won.

Probably not going to have the draw that some historical events had, but hey, we should probably take what we can get.

 

[fowlsessed]

So you would say have two separate competitions, one for OGs and one for bankiva? That's fine and probably best but I still think it would be nice to at least try an all inclusive match where everything is based on weight. Just for the experience.