Developing My Own Breed Of Large Gamefowl For Free Range Survival (Junglefowl x Liege)

[Florida Bullfrog]

I've got a dozen Leige x Aseel eggs in the incubator that have been in there a day short of a week. I also have several of the American x Cracker crosses already hatched, some with hens, some in the brooder.

 

[Don 27]

As far as brother/sister and line breeding, I’m prepared to do it. I’m doing it heavily and deliberately in my American game bantam line. The difference is those AGBs are being raised as coop birds and I’m breeding them to set show standards. I’m not finding it hard. Just time consuming. The key seems to be spamming lots of birds and then aggressively culling once I get the pair I’m looking for.

As for the large fowl, my main goal has been to make my Crackers larger. I’d prefer much larger. But for now I think I’m going to significantly increase their size with the infusion of the fresh Blueface genes. It makes more sense to go that route first. If I get the Crackers to 5lbs but otherwise retaining their traits I’d probably consider that a victory as it relates to the Crackers.I’m still going to cross the Crackers to the Liege this summer. But it would take aggressive culling in/line breeding to weed out the oriental traits I wouldn’t want, and by the time I do that I may also inadvertently breed out the large size I was going for. I most think about what it will take to get the pea comb off of them.

I’m prepared to invest about 5 years to create the bird I want. Or longer if I’m close. Probably 2 years to hit the picture in my mind then the rest of the time just weeding out the genetics I don’t want.

On the AseelxLiege and MongoxCracker I just want a big, feral, woods fowl. I’m liking the idea of raising them like Carolina bantams. It might be fun to make predictions as to which traits will normalize and which will wash out. I can probably do 50-60 birds in the woods by Summer’s end.

I think it's worth a try . Every breed we know today was created through trial and error , whether or not people said it could be done. Also You can Appreciate something you created.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Aseel x Liege. They're huge. I have around 20 of them spread out between three ages (a couple of weeks apart each).

The two in the front are pure Blueface American games I'm raising to breed into the Crackers. The one in the back with the blue on it is one of the American x Cracker crosses. She's just a bit smaller than the Blueface pullets and much larger than a Cracker pullet of similar age.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I just noticed in that pic the hen in the front has a crooked toe. I'm going to go check it out right now.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Yep, that hen (pullet) has a crooked toe. I’m going to have to make a hard decision now. I cull crooked toed birds across all my lines, and it rarely happens anyhow. It more happens with my guineas because the eggs are usually old when I find the nests. The incubation of the BF was odd in that I had some non-related American crosses come out crooked toe and the incubation period ran a day late. So I’m not sure if this is a genetic issue or an incubation issue.

 

[NatJ]

So I’m not sure if this is a genetic issue or an incubation issue.

Or it could be both. Maybe some gene makes the bird more sensitive to incubation conditions

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

She’s only one of three BF pullets I have, and of those three only 2 are of the wild color type. The third is wheaten. I hate to cull one of the wild color types where I only will have one more. I suppose there isn’t a harm in breeding her then cull her if any offspring come out crooked toed. Because other non-related chicks from this incubation came out crooked toed, I’m going to leave room for the possibility this was an incubation issue. I used my cheaper hand turn incubator on this batch and on a second batch of Liege crosses I lost half when during hatching a due to issues from the same incubator.

 

[Feralfreerange]

a second batch of Liege crosses I lost half when during hatching a due to issues from the same incubator.

Do you have any liege cross stag culls not showing the yellow leg gene you'd be willing to sell? I'm looking for a stag to introduce to my free range hens.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Do you have any liege cross stag culls not showing the yellow leg gene you'd be willing to sell? I'm looking for a stag to introduce to my free range hens.

Everything I have at the moment I need for the project, which leads into an update:

We’ve had over a month of torrential rain in north Florida, including a hurricane come straight over the farm. I had around 2 dozen of the Aseel x Liege chicks in three different age groups and spread between some hens and other that I brooded myself. A minority came out nearly all black and more Liege looking, most came out with lots of white on them and looked like large aseels. They all made it fine through the spring before the rains started…

Without fail, the aseel-looking chicks succumbed to the rains. Every time it we would have a heavy rain 1-4 would die in a group. This was true of the free rangers with hens and the cooped birds that I brooded. I was left with 4, the same 4 that came out more Liege looking.

I like how they look. I can’t tell anything about their personality yet.

I bred my aseel to the Liege one more time and I have 22 in the incubator. I am curious to see if the very aseel-looking chicks make it or not. I sent the aseel away this weekend so these 4 and the upcoming chicks will have to make or break the project as it relates to aseel x Liege.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Do you have any liege cross stag culls not showing the yellow leg gene you'd be willing to sell? I'm looking for a stag to introduce to my free range hens.

The 4 I have left have black legs now, but when they were chicks their legs were black and yellow. Depending on how well this project goes I may have some to part with, but I want to see what happens with the second batch of crosses.