Anyone ever kept fighter hens with normal backyard chickens?

[centrarchid]

Get to it.

 

[Weehopper]

I have two beautiful game hens. They are part of my laying flock. I had their mother too, but she was killed last year by a weasel. They have their places within the pecking order. One sister is pretty much the boss hen, but the other one is probably number 4 or five on the totem pole. They both raised chicks this year. Game hens do seem to go broody at the drop of a feather. So if you want to raise chicks, you couldn't do better for a mama hen. Very protective of their young. The other chickens respect this. My husband had game chickens for over 40 years. Wonderful, beautiful, birds. As far as attacking and killing all your birds, I highly doubt it. But that said, integrating them into your flock will be just as problematic as any other breeds of birds. Use the same methods.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

They didnt kill but that one hen became lead hen within minutes she even took out adult roosters.

Do not play to hatch but just wanted to see what they were like.

 

[centrarchid]

They didnt kill but that one hen became lead hen within minutes she even took out adult roosters.

Do not play to hatch but just wanted to see what they were like.

What kind and how old are your adult roosters?

 

[Eric 2016]

Why did anyone even continue to use the term "fighter". I'm assuming they are game hens or something that resembles a game hen and that alone does not make them aggressive. I've seen some pretty aggressive barred rocks. I'm surprised any of the seasoned chicken keepers continued to use that term.

 

[drumstick diva]

I agree, I haven't heard anyone use the term "fighter" birds unless that is TRULY what they are doing with them. On BYC I've only seen the term game birds, which just seems like a "catch all," for the many breeds & varieties that are bred and shown.

 

[centrarchid]

Sometimes it is better to speak in the terms of the immediate audience then gradually direct use of terminology to that which is considered more precise. Jumping in immediately with the big words and correcting your audience right up front can be offensive and turn them off which is counterproductive. Others above, including myself, put fighter chicken in parenthesis or wrote fighter chicken like which is a way of indicating unusual usage of the words.


To start process I were refer to hens in question as gamefowl which does imply fighting chickens or games. If the term game fowl were used I would think you are talking about birds you hunt which generally are not domestic chickens.

 

[Eric 2016]

Game fowl is not a big word and it absolutely does not imply fighter, game is a class of exhibition bird. The standard of perfection lists "Game" not "Game/ fighter"
Also this is a domestic poultry forum people are used to hearing the terms old English game, modern game ect. So in this context they probably aren't thinking about hunting.

 

[centrarchid]

Game fowl is not a big word and it absolutely does not imply fighter, game is a class of exhibition bird. The standard of perfection lists "Game" not "Game/ fighter"
Also this is a domestic poultry forum people are used to hearing the terms old English game, modern game ect. So in this context they probably aren't thinking about hunting.

Ramming terminology down someones throat you will find repels. Cook it up for a nice presentation. You are entering the realm of teaching adults. Note you used the phrase "game fowl" putting me in the mindset of Mourning Doves, Wild Turkey and Ruffed Grouse.

 

[Eric 2016]

I'm not really sure what point your going for with that post, but I'm not ramming any terminology. I'm say we shouldn't be using the term fighter to describe a recognized class of domestic poultry.