American Game

The neighbors behind us raise American Game chickens, so I've been around them my entire life. As a child, my sister and I had two hens and they were great mothers and good pets. We also were given a rooster who was a nice bird - not aggressive towards us at all and his feathers were so gorgeous. Many of our chickens descended from these hens and rooster (mixed breeds).

As an adult, I rescued a chick from a stray cat and nursed him back to health. He had a large swelling on his side (probably from the cat), that eventually went down. He turned out to be the only rooster who would attack me, even when I held him. Perhaps he was just too comfortable with me or he just had a streak of aggression in his genes. As a baby, he would perch on my shoulder and was sweet.

I currently have one game hen (rescued from my dogs) and she's in with my bantam rooster. She is comfortable with me, but not nearly as friendly as the laying chicks I raised this summer (probably because I didn't raise her from a chick).

Amazing; all around good chicken for yard. After 10 years of owning these chickens (and other breeds) I would never own any other breed.

Great pets and yard art. Healthy and smart birds resembling wild jungle fowl in appearance. Great in free range setting. One rooster per flock, do well in harems or pairs.

I have kept two trios of American gamefowl for the past 25 years. Not the same six birds mind you. I really like their showy, athletic looks. The hens are very protective and caring mothers. I put a lot of my incubator hatched chicks with them to raise. Not the best egg layers, but they make up for it in other ways.

A neighbor gave me 2 of these as chicks and I ended up giving both away. One turned out to be a rooster which I had to re-home, and I think separating him from his sister started her off on the wrong foot in my flock. She was always very vocal from a young age. It started when the older hens would chase her away from food, making her very food aggressive. She became lowest of the pecking order and every morning would voice her dissent by squawking loudly at feed time for an hour, non-stop. My older hens would constantly chase her and she would fly over the fence. I never bothered to trim her wings because I felt that she was justified at trying to get away. She is flighty and not easy to catch but once held is very sweet. She didn't start laying until about 6+ months old. Because she never fit in with my other hens I eventually gave her away to a friend who had a much more welcoming flock. I'm happy to say that she is very happy and finally being included in an established flock, I have been told that she is now laying regularly and is very broody at times. Not great for a small backyard, your neighbors will not be happy if your hen is as loud as a rooster.

I will say that she was a great forager, very smart, and beautiful to look at. She would regularly escape to the other side of my yard to scavenge. Once I saw her jump on a squirrel and chase it out of the yard. It was hilarious to watch and I appreciated that since squirrels love to steal fruit in the Summer. I want the squirrels to know which yard to avoid

I have a blue american game rooster and he is a well timpered rooster, he will peck your hand when you mess with his hen.
Hens make wonderful mothers and are extremely predator resistant

My cluster of american game although small is a joy to have. My rooster (bossman) is a pro at waking you up in the morning with his crowing. He is sweet and loving, but from a distance. He is still on the fence between loving being petted and getting grumpy over it. He is very protective of his hens, but occasionally starts trouble with my other rooster (siren). Siren is an older rooster and hes my little police officer breaking up fights with the hens and with bossman when he causes trouble. They are free range part time. I allow them out in the garden and to romp around each day but they come back to their coop at night. My hens are a joy Penelope is a true sweetheart she loves attention and is very polite. Blackberry is friendly but has a tendency to get grumpy especially over her favorite corn. Betty, she complains...alot. Shes the most vocal of all the girls and if Siren doesnt pay her attention she throws a fit. Last but not least is Itty Bitty, she is very timid and shy, even moreso then Penelope.
Its true when they say each bird has its own personality. They are like a show to watch out in the garden. I do notice though that since blackberry is currently having her first laying episode. She is less friendly, more vocal then the others and very broody. Penelope is close behind with her. Penelope Bossman and Blackberry are all about 6 months old. Siren Betty and Itty Bitty are older and the hens are past their laying. I will mention ( i dont know if this is normal or not) but Bossman coming into maturity was an adventure all of its own. For a couple weeks he was less friendly. Almost borderline aggressive with his hens pushing them out of the way and being an overall jerk. Now though hes back to his normal docile self again.
These birds are amazing to own and easy to take care of, not to mention such a fun experience getting to know each personality. I would definitely recommend these to other first time bird owners like myself.

my rosco is a very good protecter of the hens he is very smart and very sweet the only thing is I can not get any more roosters though.

The American gamefowl was my first fowl and I had them for eight years. Sadly I had to get rid of them but my time with them was worth every second.

I fell into a "nest" of game birds when I moved my horse to a private residence stable 5 years ago. OH MY GOODNESS, I love the birds as much as my horse. They were not being taken care of properly and I took over their care. I spend alot of time talking to them and just standing in their aviary when I go to feed and clean. Once they realize you mean them not harm, the hens will talk to you which I find so nice. Hard to catch, but once you do catch them, they are just sweet and friendly.
Game hens with their chicks have to be the bestest thing EVER! They do guard those chicks with their life and heaven help you if you get too close. I have seen mama keep her chicks till they were as big as her and it is hysterical to watch 6-7 almost full grown chicks all try to squeeze under mama.
SO glad I am able to get up close and personnal with these birds.

I have to say that games are one of my favourite chicken breeds. If you work with them, you can train them to fly upon your arm or shoulder. Some of them will even talk to you. They seem to do well with other chickens- you just need to monitor them with new game birds. Usually if they're all free-ranging, they behave. I really like how great they are at foraging and putting/ keeping on weight. They are more flighty, but if you've got a bit of land (like 1/2 to 3/4 of an acre), they'll be just fine or you can just clip a wing.

I'm in processs of getting some more american game chickens. But, I'm having a hard time picking between some redfox greys and Penny Hatches. I've raised redfox greys before and loved them. Any suggestions.

I used to have some American Game Bantams, now I only have some old English bantams. Anyway for the short time that I had them they were sweet beautiful birds, but watch out they can get without warning aggressive. They were pretty good layers and Once they went broody. I would recommend them for anyone beginners or pros they make great pets and show birds

The American Game is a wonderful breed of bird. They are beautiful and they come in many different colors. For color and beauty they deserve a five star. But there are some cons to owning them. The biggest con is what other people think about you when they find out you are raising Gamefowl. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this subject and most of them are pretty radical. Say the word American Game in a crowded room and you just might start a fight. Some people wouldn't take an American Game if you gave it to them, while other's value them so high as to ask $500 for a trio of birds. And there are people who will pay it!

All opinions aside, it is just a chicken. Just like with any other breed of chicken, you will have birds with different attitudes. Some will be more aggressive then others, but not all are this way. In fact today, the breed seems to be calming down a little because breeders are not targeting the aggressive gene. Most people now days raise them for their beauty. Yes, they do lay eggs, but they are not the best layers. As far a meat quality goes, they are edible, but they are very thin birds that won't put on weight no matter how much you feed them and there are much more tastier breeds of chickens you could raise.

The biggest pro, aside from their beauty, is there free ranging and predator evasion ability. The American Game has very large wings compared to other chicken breeds. Because they are not heavy birds, this gives them the ability to fly extremely well. I have seen birds fly two hundreds yards and glide to the ground over the last fifty yards. They will range far and wide if given room and can fly all the way home if chased by a predator.

They are very broody birds but they are not very good at hatching eggs and raising chicks. Most are very determined brooders and will go months being broody until they get a nest of eggs. This is a bad thing because hens will literally fight over a nest of eggs and they will not lay eggs while being broody. Some claim to have good success with them as mothers, but my experience has been pretty bad. Last year I gave six American Game hens a dozen eggs each to hatch out. None of them hatch more then five of the twelve eggs. None of the chicks that I let the hens raise survived to adulthood.


The bottom line is that if you are looking for some good yard art or eye candy, you might like the American Game. As with any other breed, you cannot paint the whole breed with a single brush. Each bird is different. They above comments are from my own personal experience raising over one hundred American Game birds for the last two years in a totally free-range environment on a ten-acre farm. I am sure that you might get different results in a different more controlled environment.

I've had them since I could crawl.They where my first birds and will be my last birds!The roosters and hens are very protective of the chicks and they will fight off any predator four-legged or two-legged.You can't beat them for free rangers or broodys.The only thing is you have to seperate the stags at about6 months or you'll end up with one or two less birds!

American Gamefowl are one of the most historical birds in America's history. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln were some of the most important people in America's history and they also owned American Gamefowl.

This breed is arguably the most varied breed of all chickens. American Games can come in any color possible in the chicken spectrum. The roosters can be multi-colored showing colors from red,gold,white, and black all on the same bird.

The hens lay well during the breeding season with an egg every day or every other day. They go broody often and are the best mothers out of any chicken breed. Hens and Roosters will fight off any predator four legged or two in order to save their young. On cold winter days you will find the rooster will chics under his wings as they roost for the night ready to pounce on any animal.

The roosters are some of the most docile chickens towards their owners. They are very flighty when not exposed to human contact often and very rarely will you find one willing to flog a human. With that said there are bad apples in every group. Roosters are commonly kept on tie chords or in their own pen since they will try to attack any rooster of any breed that gets near him or his ladies.

In conclusion the American Game is one of the best breeds if not the best breed of chickens to own. Every chicken owner should have one in there flock whether it be a rooster or a hen.

all i know is they a cool chickens

I raise American Gamefowl, Sweater Blood Line and I prefer them over any demestic egg layer. The stags and cocks are easy to handle, hens not so much. Very hearty, they can take extreme cold and heat also deseases very well, just a strong bird very alert. Hens go broody very easy and are very protective of there chicks.

I bought a pair of Hatch Hens and their 9 chicks at an auction. I had never dealt with Games before. The mothers were very loud and protective of the babies and would attack any bird that got within a 5 ft radius. This was a little dissapointing considering my aviary has lots of birds that all walk and mostly get along together. These two girls had all the other domestic birds so terrified, that they all stayed on the opposite side of the aviary. The new girls even attacked me at first, but that behavior was quickly corrected (non-violently). After a few days I had to take the chicks away, and the mothers calmed down within a day or so and are now a lot friendlier and easier to deal with. Pretty birds.

The new girls did make the mistake of picking on the grown Guinea hens. We did have a little pecking-order fight a couple of times and the girls now know that you don't mess with the Guineas.

The chicks were brought into the house and are currently being raised there. The chicks are real sweet and curious. They love to be picked up and cuddled. They will go back outside in a few weeks.

omg theyre so beautiful

very protective