Show Off Your Games!

[Krista Nicole]

Nice looking bird chino!!!

 

[heatermcca]

Hello, all.

For about one calendar year, now, we've had some birds sort of insert themselves into our flock. One is a well-behaved peahen, Matilda, who found us when her owner adopted a half-grown and enthusiastic Rottweiler puppy (we had no idea where she'd come from until her owner showed up on our doorstep one evening after she'd already gone to roost for the night very high in one of our cedars. He picked her up the next day but she was back within a week and he's not tried again. In the time since then, he's moved). I'll post a bit more about her elsewhere.

She was joined by a Grey x Hatch roo. In these parts there's only one reason to have such birds, and he does have toe-holes - we believe he came to us from a rented trailer on a property that abuts ours. Those neighbors were "evicted" where the kids were taken by mom and the guy was arrested on unrelated charges before the birds saw anything illegal. The other birds were taken that day by... someone... but Leroy escaped into the rain that day, and no one has ever asked about him. He found our collection of ladies (kept in a large movable coop due to local predators and a neighbor's dog) and decided to stick around.

It was kind of funny - he tried to display how pretty he was to all and sundry, even Matilda. "Heyyyyy, ladies! Want some of this? Yesssss, I'm so pretty...." Well, he and Matilda have been using our back deck as a shelter in rainy weather, and our cedar trees to roost in, and we supplied them with a small amount of feed appropriate for them, letting them forage our two acres otherwise. They have made it through the winter, seem to be thriving pretty well, and in the meanwhile we were able to id his breed cross with the help of someone we know (who also said he's worth a couple hundred dollars). My ladies (a Rhode Island Red, and a mix of Red and Black Sexlinks whose Red members tend to be sharingly broody) are about two years old now and have naturally slowed down egg production. I've got an eye toward replacing them and putting them in the freezer, and I'm thinking of letting Leroy earn his keep in the henhouse. An additional bonus is evidently local folks who breed for illegal purposes consider a roo "ruined" if he's bred a non-game hen. We're fine with that outcome. He's a pretty boy who's smart and considerate of Matilda (except when it comes to food) and obviously displays behaviors that let us know that he's adopted our flock of ladies as his to protect. That's a good thing, as he tends to keep away the neighbors' nice but inquisitive dog. We're fencing in the rest of our property soon, and if he does prove to work nicely with our flock, we're thinking of letting them live in that area and making the movable coop into something more permanent, closed up at night for safety.

I have searched but couldn't really find much of an answer: what do y'all think we can expect from crossing Leroy with my flock? Here's a pic of him from this morning. I don't expect more sexlinks, obviously, but would we get some vigorous crosses? I did really well in handraising my flock of ladies, with zero losses; hopefully that wasn't beginner's luck and would transfer to any chicks these pairings would produce.

 

[troyer]

It will be a very interesting project to say the least!

Double post.

 

[troyer]

It will certainly add vigor to the flock and the offspring hens should lay very well. You will get some interesting color combinations from breeding a game rooster to layers. It will be an interesting project to say the least. You will need to watch the young roosters as they grow up because they will probably be more aggressive towards each other than some other breeds.

 

[heatermcca]

Yes, I had most definitely planned on watching any cockerels for aggression, what with hopefully-future-dad being bred for what he was. If need be, I'll improvise separation cages or possibly arrange for caponing until such time as I can cull to our freezer.

I admit I'm eager to see where my experiment ends up! My girls love bitty chicken babies (and I admit I'm partial to them, as well).

 

[RobbysRoost]

I need a economical reason for games to convince my mom to let me get them.

 

[BKPUCKETT]

I need a economical reason for games to convince my mom to let me get them.

An economical reason for Games.....Laying Chickens sell $8 to $15 ea.... Eggs sell $2 to $3 a doz..........
I have Pure Bobby Boles Asil..............Hatching Eggs sell $21 for 6......Baby Chicks sell $15 ea.
But you have to have a good line....and....you have to ship them....
Maybe this will help you convince your Mother.

 

[jockeyeba]

Has anyone had any luck getting a Game hen to take other chicks in along with hers? We tried to hatch 4 Wyandotte chicks with a broody Game but only 1 made it, I'd like it to have a couple of "friends" for it to grow up with. We plan on letting the hen raise the chick for as long as she wants to keep it. We used 2 other AG broodys to hatch W's & they took care of them for a lot of weeks. Tried to put Bantam chicks in with a broody that had chicks last year & she tried to kill them, it didn't work then so I'm worried about trying it with this one. Thanks for any opinions

 

[DTchickens]

Has anyone had any luck getting a Game hen to take other chicks in along with hers? We tried to hatch 4 Wyandotte chicks with a broody Game but only 1 made it, I'd like it to have a couple of "friends" for it to grow up with. We plan on letting the hen raise the chick for as long as she wants to keep it. We used 2 other AG broodys to hatch W's & they took care of them for a lot of weeks. Tried to put Bantam chicks in with a broody that had chicks last year & she tried to kill them, it didn't work then so I'm worried about trying it with this one. Thanks for any opinions

Some hens will, some hens will not.

Over the years we've used games as surrogate mothers, I've seen hens take others fine even when their chicks were twice the size of the new ones; I've seen hens where you had to make sure the chicks were the same age/size for the hen to take them; and we had one hen who would take any red chick you gave her, but if you ever threw a odd ball in like a brown red or black she would kill it on the spot. It all depends on the hen, you won't know if you don't try. Heck, once I even saw 2 hens working together raising the same chicks for awhile because they sat on the same nest.. But the issue there too is that games end up fighting and that can possibly injure chicks later. These two hens lasted awhile but I want to say I did catch them fighting eventually.

God bless,
Daniel.

 

[jockeyeba]

Has anyone had any luck getting a Game hen to take other chicks in along with hers? We tried to hatch 4 Wyandotte chicks with a broody Game but only 1 made it, I'd like it to have a couple of "friends" for it to grow up with. We plan on letting the hen raise the chick for as long as she wants to keep it. We used 2 other AG broodys to hatch W's

Some hens will, some hens will not. Over the years we've used games as surrogate mothers, I've seen hens take others fine even when their chicks were twice the size of the new ones; I've seen hens where you had to make sure the chicks were the same age/size for the hen to take them; and we had one hen who would take any red chick you gave her, but if you ever threw a odd ball in like a brown red or black she would kill it on the spot. It all depends on the hen, you won't know if you don't try. Heck, once I even saw 2 hens working together raising the same chicks for awhile because they sat on the same nest.. But the issue there too is that games end up fighting and that can possibly injure chicks later. These two hens lasted awhile but I want to say I did catch them fighting eventually. God bless, Daniel.

Thanks Daniel still deciding if I want to pu a couple of chicks to try, I don't want to have to hand raise them if she won't take them Can you tell me what line this hen might be? She doesn't have a comb at all, I haven't seen that before & I didn't think hens were ever dubbed?