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

[Bigtom Turkey]

Best of luck to you. I have been struggling with some of the same things you have been lately. I Had to sperate a brood of 5-week-olds, as the stags were in a death fight. So, I feel your pain.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

The chicken wire method seems to work. That’s rolling out some loose chicken wire around a coop so as to make a wavy barrier that holds the cocks about a foot or so away from each other. Once they realize they can’t get close to each other, they stop. If the cardboard doesn’t work, I’ll do the chicken wire next.

I am surprised Lanky is more interested in fighting Indo than covering his many free range hens.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

That is something I have seen in my birds. Given the choice the males would rather fight than procreate.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Typically the free range hens group up about 75 yards away from where the coop in question is. Indo stays with the ladies thus there’s no drama down at the coop. But reversed, Lanky simply avoids the hens, unable to tolerate Indo in his former coop with his former hen. I even put Lanky in the same tree as the hens last night and on his own he climbed up above them, which I thought was a good sign of him establishing himself with the flock.

I’m not long from getting home. Holding my breath to see what I find. Hopefully not Lanky’s feather pile by the coop, or Lanky himself still pacing the coop where I left him. It would be a fascinating experiment to see if the behavior ends if the half-aseel hen is turned out. But I don’t want her out at all until I’ve had many breedings off of her.

 

[Chicken Heel]

That is something I have seen in my birds. Given the choice the males would rather fight than procreate.

I agree with the exception of a young OEGB bantam rooster that I have right now. He is in a pen with three older roosters and thirty hens and while the older three roosters are constantly sparring he is treading the hens. I told him yesterday that he was the smartest one of the bunch.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I agree with the exception of a young OEGB bantam rooster that I have right now. He is in a pen with three older roosters and thirty hens and while the older three roosters are constantly sparring he is treading the hens. I told him yesterday that he was the smartest one of the bunch.

OEGB aren't gamefowl. Although they are pretty spunky.

 

[Chicken Heel]

OEGB aren't gamefowl. Although they are pretty spunky.

Oh I know, I was just talking about rooster behavior in general. I actually raised gamefowl over 40 years ago and enjoyed it a great deal. And I enjoy this thread and the photos a great deal too.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Yeah, I was just making sure. Believe it or not I have had to explain why OEGBs are not gamefowl to more than one "expert" on here.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Well at least that wasn’t the first thing I saw when I got home. When I came home I actually saw Lanky with the free range hens. Woo hoo. So I thought. Don’t mind his eye. It was just a bad pic when he was blinking.

I had a family member visiting who was at the farm before I got off. She greeted me outside and commented about how the roosters were fighting hard when she arrived. She said that Lanky had pulled up the card board up and was fighting under the cardboard. I hadn’t zip tied the bottoms of the cardboard panels and he apparently took advantage of that.

Lanky watching me zip-tie the bottoms of the panels and covering gaps.

So for the rest of the evening any time Indo would fly up to a perch above the card board Lanky would charge in and pace the coop a while, then return to his hens. He aggressively topped his hens every so often.

Tonight he roosted at the top of the tree. I think as the days go by the new normal will set in and the wire fights will become less frequent. Both roosters have slightly bloody combs but that’s all to show for it.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Both roosters have slightly bloody combs but that’s all to show for it.

I am surprised that is all they got from it. I wonder how long they were fighting.