American Gamefowl

[SOHC-FTW]

Like I say, GF are definitely new to me. Lots to learn for sure.
Around 2 months, I separated the stags, 1 got kicked pretty hard and roughed up a bit...but, I keep mine different than others, they don't run loose, so confinement may have also contributed to that "early separation". Hard to know. I could still let them "loose" in the evenings with heavy monitoring making sure they sort of went their separate ways up until a couple of weeks ago - now...nope, they will find each other, it's inevitable.
Things may have been different if they had been loose this whole time, but I still think these 2 would have had to be penned separately at this age (almost 7mo).

I can almost guarantee it.

 

[roosterhavoc]

I have questions about colors and what to select for in mine. I don't even know where to start!

A little background... I raised oriental fowl for about 5 years, they got wiped out last year in a fire. Someone gave me some American game, which truthfully I know almost nothing about. They sort of just.... run loose all over the place and procreate like crazy. I need to cut numbers down, once again, I know nothing about who to keep or cull.

These are pit bred fowl, I was wanting to breed closer to a standard of some sort (if I can find what to look for that is). But in the meantime I'm happy to let Darwin sort out the culling for me and maintain some of their original quality. In short, I just don't know what to do!

Do you have pictures of the birds you have? How many roosters are running loose? Depending on the area you have for them to roam and if they’ve always been loose makes a difference too. They sure aren’t created equally. I allow my stags to run longer than most for two reasons. I have enough birds already penned and they’ve got to be good to replace em. I’d rather not pen them too early and hope for the best and I like to pull them off the yard one by one to watch how the dynamic changes and the next bird in line takes over the yard. There’s definitely more problems with my way of doing things but it’s easier to see any problems. I’ve culled an entire line of birds hens and all for not being worth feeding.

 

[roosterhavoc]

If you think loose birds are an issue because they’re not going at it soon enough. Pull a full grown mature cock out and drop him in the middle of the stags to see what happens. That will tell you a lot.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Another thing is I don’t pen birds when they first start having a spat. Granted sometimes the next time is too late but it’s usually not and since I have quite a few birds I can afford to make a few mistakes time wise.

 

[JShubin]

 

[ShannonR]

I know what your saying but just for those that don't lets insert a general guide line for em. Males over the age of 7-10months unless one king remains and put them all in a early grave or you have a huge body of land to keep them separated at all times like a "walk". Females can obviously run around but they can also cause havoc with ease, but no males should be Buddy's after they get just a bit of age on them.

So cull the ones who act buddy buddy with everyone? And separate (and keep) the ones who do the opppsite?

Right now there is one "king", all of the others running around are between 2 and 8 months. They have 10 acres to roam and wander over probably half of it. The king seems to so far keep the youngsters in line, although there have been more than a couple disagreements with the youngsters.

This guy is the current king.

 

[ShannonR]

Another thing is I don’t pen birds when they first start having a spat. Granted sometimes the next time is too late but it’s usually not and since I have quite a few birds I can afford to make a few mistakes time wise.

It makes sense in a way to let them sort out their own problems and keep the best ones

 

[JShubin]

 

[ShannonR]

I don't really know how many there are but it's too many. 2/3 of this year's crop seem to be stags, unless the hens are all off in the bushes sitting on eggs. Which is a definite possibility. I already gave away between 12-15 of the younger chick stags this year

 

[JShubin]

I don't really know how many there are but it's too many. 2/3 of this year's crop seem to be stags, unless the hens are all off in the bushes sitting on eggs. Which is a definite possibility. I already gave away between 12-15 of the younger chick stags this year

They all look really nice and healthy