Feral chickens

[Jax-stcroix]

Hello, this is my first post so I'm not certain about the formatting.
I live in the USVI on the island of St. Croix. We have a healthy population of wild/feral chickens that occupy much of the island, ranging from rainforest to city dwellers. I recently started collecting chicks across the island to occupy the coop I have built. Their evident genetic diversity and self sufficient behaviors are amazing, but I have no idea what breeds may have been involved in their creation. I saw another post on a forum a while back about the feral chickens of St. Croix and there was speculation that they are various game crosses. However their behavior is pretty docile, and I often see multiple males coexisting in the same flock. According to a friend of mine who also raises these local birds, they lay a decent number of medium sized eggs (2-3 per week) ranging in color from light brown, off white, or greenish. I know its probably hard to tell, but any ideas on breed would be helpful. I plan to keep all pullets and perhaps introduce a male of a more productive breed in the future to increase potential egg/meat yield. But still retain the traits that allow these chickens to thrive in our area with little supplemental feed.

 

[HappyDuckie]

I have no idea what breed, someone more experienced should be able to help. Also, welcome to BYC! Glad you joined our community

 

[Gray Farms]

Feral chickens are almost always of game origins. American Game & Old English Game, maybe even some Junglefowl, Cubalaya, or Aseel in them in some cases.

 

[JedJackson]

Pictures of some of the adults could help. They are probably very crossbred, like the feral chickens on Hawaii, with red jungle fowl and game fowl being prominent. Also birds from South America to give the green eggs, or the descendants of SA fowl like Araucanas or Easter eggers.

What you really have got as a result of all these breeds mixing and mixing again is a land race. Meaning they have certain traits in common but also lots of differences like in egg color, plumage color, etc.

One of your older chicks is a cockerel, by the way. It is the middle chick in the row of three chicks at front, and you can tell by his black breast in that type of color pattern.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Many mixes. And how big is your coop?

 

[Gray Farms]

As far as temperament, just wait. They are fairly docile now but that will change when they get mature. These are still wild/feral birds they just don't know it yet. Its in their nature to be flighty, that's how they've survived.

 

[Painted Calls]

Nothing to add, but welcome to BYC!

 

[Jax-stcroix]

Pictures of some of the adults could help. They are probably very crossbred, like the feral chickens on Hawaii, with red jungle fowl and game fowl being prominent. Also birds from South America to give the green eggs, or the descendants of SA fowl like Araucanas or Easter eggers.

What you really have got as a result of all these breeds mixing and mixing again is a land race. Meaning they have certain traits in common but also lots of differences like in egg color, plumage color, etc.

One of your older chicks is a cockerel, by the way. It is the middle chick in the row of three chicks at front, and you can tell by his black breast in that type of color pattern.

Here's a couple pictures of adults.

 

[Jax-stcroix]

Many mixes. And how big is your coop?

The coop is 32 square feet, with 16' of roosting space. I currently have 32 chicks, 14 of which are about 8 weeks old and will soon be free ranged, then 18 less than a week old that are segregated from the rest. I don't plan to keep all of them, only the pullets.

 

[Quaicken108]

Feral chickens are almost always of game origins. American Game & Old English Game, maybe even some Junglefowl, Cubalaya, or Aseel in them in some cases.

Pictures of some of the adults could help. They are probably very crossbred, like the feral chickens on Hawaii, with red jungle fowl and game fowl being prominent. Also birds from South America to give the green eggs, or the descendants of SA fowl like Araucanas or Easter eggers.

What you really have got as a result of all these breeds mixing and mixing again is a land race. Meaning they have certain traits in common but also lots of differences like in egg color, plumage color, etc.

One of your older chicks is a cockerel, by the way. It is the middle chick in the row of three chicks at front, and you can tell by his black breast in that type of color pattern.

Agreed!