A new Serama-sized game bantam

[fluffycrow]

They're looking great, but that's true across all your birds!

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Update for these birds at the end of the video:
Terrorfowl Super Free Range Survival Chickens Spring 2023 Update!

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Both micro hens have chicks now. I’ll now refer to them as black band and red band to tell them apart.

Black band is at least 2 years old and is an excellent mother. She is still roosting on the ground with them, which I consider a positive trait. Hens that rush coop or tree roosting when the chicks simply can’t make it is a pet peeve of mine. She lost one chick when I introduced her to the AGB coop. The other hens killed and ate it so I put her in her own small coop with the 7 bitties she has left. I did cull their father, the fat combed stag.

Red band came off the next with her 6 bitties today. Too early to tell anything about them.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I’m in the process of downsizing my projects. But I am going to keep this project going. The micro offspring are doing well. Very healthy and vibrant. They have a strong RJF look. This stag will have his first adult molt this summer. I am excited to see what his adult plumage looks like. I am hoping his tail drops some carriage.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Marek’s ripped through my flock last year and decimated many of my project birds. The micros were highly inbred and they all tanked but one hen.

I have the one hen in with a small pure Cracker. I am hoping they’re both resistant to the Marek’s and I can start a new flock of the micros.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Same two birds in post #85. Batch of 8 bitties the hen took to the ground today.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Here's the growouts from post #86. 3 stags, 5 pullets.

The hen with her back turned is their mother. She hatched out a new batch but only two remain. Unknown individuals of the previous brood, or the hen herself, killed the rest.

The pure Cracker blood added is giving them a more athletic physic than their mother, but they're keeping the small size.

The pullets are cooped with their mother and their father. The stags are on free range. I am going to move the mother and father soon and bring in a couple of stag from my AGB project that are distant cousins of these. I want to move away from brother-sister breeding for a good while. It seems like the yard is over Marek's, and I think one way to keep that going is to keep the genetics fresh in all of the lines.

 

[Yard Farmer]

Here's the growouts from post #86. 3 stags, 5 pullets.

View attachment 3871039View attachment 3871040View attachment 3871041

The hen with her back turned is their mother. She hatched out a new batch but only two remain. Unknown individuals of the previous brood, or the hen herself, killed the rest.

View attachment 3871043

The pure Cracker blood added is giving them a more athletic physic than their mother, but they're keeping the small size.

The pullets are cooped with their mother and their father. The stags are on free range. I am going to move the mother and father soon and bring in a couple of stag from my AGB project that are distant cousins of these. I want to move away from brother-sister breeding for a good while. It seems like the yard is over Marek's, and I think one way to keep that going is to keep the genetics fresh in all of the lines.

Looking good.

 

[peepsnquacks]

View attachment 2932537View attachment 2932538View attachment 2932539

I’m proud of these birds. They’re a bit larger than a Serama but are definitely in Dutch class size-wise, but looking like miniature gamefowl.

These are SO HARDY and FAST. Hatched 2 hens and a roo identical to those shown here. They are 9 months old, and have just produced 7 babies. (There were 12, lost a few to predation.) I love these chickens. My flock is these guys, two terrorfowl roosters who get along great, three terrorfowl hens, and five Serama. Love the size difference and they all free range together!

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

These are SO HARDY and FAST. Hatched 2 hens and a roo identical to those shown here. They are 9 months old, and have just produced 7 babies. (There were 12, lost a few to predation.) I love these chickens. My flock is these guys, two terrorfowl roosters who get along great, three terrorfowl hens, and five Serama. Love the size difference and they all free range together!

I forgot ya’ll got a little bit of everything off the farm in terms of genetics.

The terrorfowl are still young. They won’t get their aggressive streak until well into year 2.