Saipan Jungle Fowl Thread

[ezeo]

I got a pair of Saipans from Ideal Poultry earlier this year. They are now 4 months old and such awesome birds. Very friendly to people and they get along great with the rest of the flock.

Here's a question -- can Saipans roost up high? My two Saipans insist on sleeping in the rafters in the barn (over 10 feet high!) even though I built nice roosting bars for them to sleep on. They can't really fly, but they have strong legs and jump amazingly well. I'm worried that they will break their legs or necks jumping down from the rafters in the morning (I put out a ladder to help them get down, but they prefer to jump straight down). There's a few inches of straw on the ground, but I cringe every time I hear the THUD when they hit the ground. I think they are about 5 pounds right now, and have a lot more to grow...

 

[troyer]

They should be fine as long as there is enough cushion on the floor/ground when they land. Instinct tells them to roost as high as possible for less possibility of getting eaten by predators. They have been domesticated for many years, but the instinct is still there.

 

[ezeo]

They should be fine as long as there is enough cushion on the floor/ground when they land. Instinct tells them to roost as high as possible for less possibility of getting eaten by predators. They have been domesticated for many years, but the instinct is still there.

How much is enough for a full grown Saipan? My adult leghorns gracefully flap their way down without a sound, but the Saipans hurl themselves to the ground like boulders. Are they smart enough to know when it's too high to jump?

 

[troyer]

How much is enough for a full grown Saipan? My adult leghorns gracefully flap their way down without a sound, but the Saipans hurl themselves to the ground like boulders. Are they smart enough to know when it's too high to jump?

4" of semi solid bedding is enough. As far as jumping height, they will figure it out through trial and error. I would expect by the time they are 2 years old they won't be roosting that high any more because of how heavy they become. Their wings won't be big enough by then because of sheer weight.

 

[nyjah]

Chickens

• nyjah
• Jun 19, 2018

These are saipan/dark Brahma crosses. You can see how big they are by comparing to the dark Brahma hen in the background who is the same age-note she is loose feathered while they are tight feathered, thus even larger than they look! Their dad was huge roo who came from Ideal and mom was a dark Brahma hen. Ive also crossed them on Black Jersey Giant hens, but the offspring were not as attractive and the black jersey cross roo became very rough on the hens, so eventually he became soup.

Both the purebred and crosses are delicious to eat. They are extremely heavy birds with tight feathering and when they process up, have very long, lean breasts that are extremely flavorful. They legs and thighs are incredible and are so rich and flavorful, that it is like eating duck. I let them age in the fridge for a day, brined them for a few hours then threw them in the pressure cooker for about 35 minutes-beautiful, albeit they almost didnt fit!

I have had two years of sapians from Ideal and almost all the purebreds seem very sensitive to climate or disease. I lost two hens and a rooster when we had a cold snap for about three days. I recently lost my last roo due to some sort of illness this week. In both cases the rest of the chickens were fine, so I have wondered if they may be a bit inbred to maintain purity or something, as the crosses always seem fine.

Temperment wise, the purebreds are not mean to humans at all and they only get a bit rough on other roos at about a year and a half. The hens and hen crosses are always calm, but not overly friendly.

In terms of flying, they roost some, but not way up high, once larger. They do the funniest thing they-they climb pretty good. I placed several out of a large 8 foot fenced pen with an open top. They wanted to get back in, since that was home, and they scaled one of the sides where the fencing leaned a bit against a tree and they all got back in.

This year Im crossing the halfs on the halfs and more of the dark brahmas, as well as raising a batch of little accidental brown leghorn/saipan crosses a broody hen hatched, so we will see how it goes.

 

[troyer]

Nyjah. Thanks for posting. I appreciate the details of your breeding projects.

 

[Brylandscpr]

Do you have any pics of the leghorn cross ?

 

[nyjah]

Do you have any pics of the leghorn cross ?

I just took some yesterday! The first is a pullet who is about four months old-She is actually a bit more graceful and upright than seen in the picture, quite elegant. A bit wary but not as spastic as the leghorns.

The chicks are the red saipan-leghorn cross and the black sapian-black jersey cross. Both were accidents as my jersey hen got broody!

The black jerseys do grow up with very handsome plumage, with the hens quite pretty, but the rooster was rude.

In the pics you can see how the saipans watch you-like little raptors, very unlike other chick breeds.

Another interesting thing is that the saipans from ideal the first year were HUGE, the second year were a bit smaller and one looked a bit like a malay, so made me wonder about if they were having to outcross a bit in the flock.

 

[Brylandscpr]

Yea , I have found that the upright carriage carries through fairly well . My base flock is 1/2 saipan 3/8 dark cornish and an 1/8 California grey(barred leghorn) the black has carried through fairly strong but the red from the saipans keeps getting wiped out , maybe due to silver in leghorns?

 

[nyjah]