Show Off Your Games!

[ddroland]

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Welcome to BYC. Games are extremely expensive because they are of such great value to the countries that can still legally "show" or fight birds. This is for the same reason any animal whose performance generates lots of revenue are expensive. There is a lot of exporting that goes on to the Phillipines and Mexico, and people will pay a lot of money for a proven winner or for their bloodlines. There is also a lot of work that goes into selecting and caring for Games, lots of breeding, record keeping, and culling to keep a breeders lines optimized. Games are some of the most pampered breeds because of this, with specialized diets and farm set ups. If you want to have a pure representative of everything that is great about American Games and birds that pay tribute to the heritage it is worth spending the money. $250 for a dozen chicks is worth it IMO, or $600-$800 for a Trio. Find a good game farm with proven lines. Plus they live quite a long time, 10 years +, and you'll start off with good brood stock.

 

[KenK]

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Lots of game chicken eggs on ebay. IMO, no such thing as a "pure breed" when it comes to American gamecocks.


http://cgi.ebay.com/12-YARD-ASSORTM...809?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb6578151

 

[DTchickens]

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Welcome to BYC. Games are extremely expensive because they are of such great value to the countries that can still legally "show" or fight birds. This is for the same reason any animal whose performance generates lots of revenue are expensive. There is a lot of exporting that goes on to the Phillipines and Mexico, and people will pay a lot of money for a proven winner or for their bloodlines. There is also a lot of work that goes into selecting and caring for Games, lots of breeding, record keeping, and culling to keep a breeders lines optimized. Games are some of the most pampered breeds because of this, with specialized diets and farm set ups. If you want to have a pure representative of everything that is great about American Games and birds that pay tribute to the heritage it is worth spending the money. $250 for a dozen chicks is worth it IMO, or $600-$800 for a Trio. Find a good game farm with proven lines. Plus they live quite a long time, 10 years +, and you'll start off with good brood stock.

250 dollars for a dozen chicks varies by worth it, some people will laugh at that price. I would pay that for a brood cock, a dozen chicks I am not sure- it depends on how badly I want the stock.. Benson, I will tell you what most breeders who raise fowl will say.. Do your research, befriend some breeders to learn from and you will end up with better stock and knowledge than money can buy. I don't like bragging on my birds, but because of friendship I didn't have to pay for most of them and my stock is just as good, if not better than a lot of people who bought the 1,000 dollar trios.

People a lot of the times get caught up on names, and prices.. But just because the ad is 250 for a dozen doesn't make them good birds, you'll buy them to find out your silkies are gamer than the birds you bought. Always research, shoot me a PM sometime what you're looking for specifically and I might can point you to some good breeders.. There are a lot here in this thread too that may help you out, information wise and if they get to know you, you might even be able to get some birds.

-Daniel

 

[ddroland]

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Welcome to BYC. Games are extremely expensive because they are of such great value to the countries that can still legally "show" or fight birds. This is for the same reason any animal whose performance generates lots of revenue are expensive. There is a lot of exporting that goes on to the Phillipines and Mexico, and people will pay a lot of money for a proven winner or for their bloodlines. There is also a lot of work that goes into selecting and caring for Games, lots of breeding, record keeping, and culling to keep a breeders lines optimized. Games are some of the most pampered breeds because of this, with specialized diets and farm set ups. If you want to have a pure representative of everything that is great about American Games and birds that pay tribute to the heritage it is worth spending the money. $250 for a dozen chicks is worth it IMO, or $600-$800 for a Trio. Find a good game farm with proven lines. Plus they live quite a long time, 10 years +, and you'll start off with good brood stock.

250 dollars for a dozen chicks varies by worth it, some people will laugh at that price. I would pay that for a brood cock, a dozen chicks I am not sure- it depends on how badly I want the stock.. Benson, I will tell you what most breeders who raise fowl will say.. Do your research, befriend some breeders to learn from and you will end up with better stock and knowledge than money can't buy. I don't like bragging on my birds, but because of friendship I didn't have to pay for most of them and my stock is just as good, if not better than a lot of people who bought the 1,000 dollar trios.

People a lot of the times get caught up on names, and prices.. But just because the ad is 250 for a dozen doesn't make them good birds, you'll buy them to find out your silkies are gamer than the birds you bought. Always research, shoot me a PM sometime what you're looking for specifically and I might can point you to some good breeders.. There are a lot here in this thread too that may help you out, information wise and if they get to know you, you might even be able to get some birds.

-Daniel

Well said and I agree. When spending that kind of money for fowl, it was implied that the stock be of utmost quality, from proven and tested stock. Very few of us, especially in the Northern Climates are fortunate enough to have many friends breeding and testing games. Information on what is good or not is mostly supplied by research, and even at that point if you don't travel to hand pick stock, one will still have to tinker with their lines to get what they want.

As far as ordering Games on eBay, it depends on what you want. Americans should be composed of only proven American Strains (Greys,Hatches,Roundheads, Kelso, etc, etc) or blends of Americans and proven Oriental strains and you won't find anything legitimate like that on eBay. Calling a bird a "Game" means nothing, and I for one would not want any Game that is mixed with a Fancy, Layer, or Meat Bird.

 

[benson226]

Pride and Joy- Thanks for the Welcome! Everyone on BYC is so friendly!

ddroland- The export of birds to other countries/territories never occurred to me. I did not not know there was a demand for them outside the states. That being said, like with any bird, not all desirable traits are going to be passed down from parent to chick are they? Is it possible to find some birds that didn't have exact traits the breeder was looking for that would cost less? While I would love to have some around, I have to look at the feasibility of it all. I really need a new incubator, and for the price of a trio of birds I could have a very nice brand new incubator.

KenK- I just looked at ebay, several auctions started at .99 cents. I think a few bucks an egg would be worth it for what I am interested in. And, I never realized that the breeder bloodlines where just as important as the look of the birds. Thanks for the heads up.

DT- I am sending you a PM at some point today-but I am 7 hours ahead of you right now, so it probably will not be in your inbox until after noon today.


ddroland- when I looked at the birds on ebay, at least some of them looked legitimate. Can they look like a game (tail feathers, build, etc,) but not be a game? While I am interested in a nice appearance, I am jst as much interested in broodiness. Look at the link below as an example- both these ads are for pumpkin hulsey, but the cocks look completely different.
http://cgi.ebay.com/10-gamefowl-hul...287?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b9c42217
http://cgi.ebay.com/Pumpkin-Hulsey-...889?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a0f34c4a9

Thanks to everyone for helping me out so far, and answering all my amateur questions. I really do appreciate it.

 

[ddroland]

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To answer the first question, I'm sure a gamefarm would be glad to part with some of their "culls" or are what affectionately referred to as "dunghills" for less than what they would charge for their better birds.

For the second question, you can ABSOLUTELY have birds that look like Games but are not "Game". When I first started out and knew nothing about American Games I bought a bunch of Old English Games from a well known hatchery, and only one out of 7 stags were Game. I'm sure Pumpkin Hulseys can be good from proven lines, they are just not personally my taste, and many are not game.

Here is what I would recommend, search the classifieds over on Ultimate Fowl and buy a Brood Stag and some hens. Many sellers on there are active in raising Americans and you can buy with higher degree (not complete) confidence you are going to pick up a halfway decent bird. You will also pay considerably less for them. Either that or get with DT here, I'm sure he can hook you up with some good birds.

 

[ThiefPouter06]

Well I finally have some gamefowl. One sumatra and what appears to be a BBR hen. Had fun chasin her around the yard as she bolted out of the sack. Thank goodness for latticework under a deck. She couldnt figure out why she couldnt sqeeze through. What deminsions are best for individual and pair pens?

 

[KenK]

I'm back in the game chicken business.

 

[Greybear23]

Nice looking birds, I raised some Sumatra cross games several years back, they came out beautiful colored!!! See you also have pigeons, what all do you have? any for sale? Lynn in Okla.

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[Greybear23]

Cute!!! What are they??? Lynn

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