Historic Presence of Jungle Fowl in the American Deep South

[Florida Bullfrog]

My childhood flock roosted in a tall and thick laurel oak that kept its leaves all year.

I am very surprised that my current flock is content to roost in the coop. They have started laying, and in the coop at that. Not quite in the nest boxes though. They make their own nests in the corners and under the shelves. The eggs are small and white. Virtually indistinguishable from my Old English game bantam eggs except the game/JF eggs are more often bright white, while the OEGB eggs are beige.

I’m reasonably sure the eggs of the hens I grew up with were larger and brown.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I can report that several of my Florida game hens are laying now. Their eggs are small and either bright white or beige. I have a separate enclosed flock of Old English Game Bantams and the OEGBs' eggs are impossible to tell apart from the Florida games' eggs except that the OEGB eggs have a tendency to be darker beige and a bit rounder. There's often a slight size difference between the eggs but its minute.

I have a batch of game eggs in the incubator that I hope will bare me a replacement for Raptor.

I have one OEGB hen that's wild colored like the games but she's otherwise very distinguishable from the Florida game hens. She's a bit smaller than they and she overall has less of a mature look than the Florida hens. She looks a bit immature in the face like pygmy animals often do. Also her legs are yellow and short where the game hens' legs are blue and longer.

 

[Don 27]

I just received my red jungle fowl eggs theyre a cross between red jungle fowl and game fowl . From zoo stock is what the seller said. I'm going to put them under one of my broody hens.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Here's an update on mine.

Of the flock of 13 games, I lost one hen to a hawk. I have not lost any others. Considering I'm covered up in predators out here, I think that's pretty good.

I still have both roosters. Hey Hey is fine. No human aggression whatsoever. He free ranges with 7 hens of his kind and 12 domestic layers. He does not breed the layers, only his fellow games. One hen just hatched out a clutch of 12.

I couldn't bring myself to cull Raptor. He's too pretty. He's a mean little cuss though. He can never free range so long as my daughter is small. I put him in a old little pen I have with 3 hens. One of his hens is setting on a group of about a dozen eggs.

I have some updated pictures of Raptor

His left wing is held just a hair too low where I clubbed him when he flogged me several months ago, back when I was free ranging him. But that's irrelevant as to his offspring. I'd like to get a couple of roosters off of him that are as pretty as he is but maybe with a better temperament so I can let them free range.

One of his brothers that I gave away came out a bit more yellow-golden than he is. I don't have a good or up-to-date picture of the brother, but here he is in October:

I'll try to get some pictures of Hey Hey tomorrow. He's pretty in his own way but not like Raptor. Hey Hey has a bit more slender build and longer legs and looks a touch more like a wild RJF.

Here's my first big batch of bites. Most of these are Hey Hey's but there's a few of Raptor's thrown in there.

So here's my bottom line question. What do I legitimately call these birds, putting aside whatever the traditional Florida game fowl may have been? All I know of these birds is they came from a farm in central Florida and where called "Red Jungle Fowl," but I bought them at Tractor Supply prices. They breed true so they are a breed of "something." It wouldn't be accurate to call them mutts. I think if I was to call them American Game Bantams, they'd fit the profile. I can't call them hatchery jungle fowl because I don't know that they came from a hatchery. I can definitely say they aren't "real" jungle fowl. They don't have an eclipse molt. They prefer to roost in the coop on rails instead of trees. They lay reasonably frequently. They go broody easy and hatch out big clutches. They're tame and not flighty. Smaller than regular American gamefowl. Roosters are reasonably tolerant of each other.

What say you? BBR or Wild type American Game Bantams?

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Here was another good one I got of Raptor today that shows his stance well. On most of the pics above I focused on color by getting the sun right to reflect off his feathers. He's mostly in the shadows in this one but his stance is good.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I see now that AGBs aren’t supposed to have white earlobes in BBR. Raptor has white, Hei Hei has red. Red and white earlobes varied between the brothers but most had white.

 

[Don 27]

View attachment 1999403

Here was another good one I got of Raptor today that shows his stance well. On most of the pics above I focused on color by getting the sun right to reflect off his feathers. He's mostly in the shadows in this one but his stance is good.

Those are cool Looking roosters. Mine never made it I only hatched one chick but I left the chick alone free range in the yard for ten minutes and when I came back the stinken cat found him and ate him. ... It's my fault. Too bad one of my hens didn't adopt him. As for my game fowl they are doing well!.

here's a picture . It's an older picture but he hasn't changed much.

 

[Don 27]

Here's an update on mine.

Of the flock of 13 games, I lost one hen to a hawk. I have not lost any others. Considering I'm covered up in predators out here, I think that's pretty good.

I still have both roosters. Hey Hey is fine. No human aggression whatsoever. He free ranges with 7 hens of his kind and 12 domestic layers. He does not breed the layers, only his fellow games. One hen just hatched out a clutch of 12.

I couldn't bring myself to cull Raptor. He's too pretty. He's a mean little cuss though. He can never free range so long as my daughter is small. I put him in a old little pen I have with 3 hens. One of his hens is setting on a group of about a dozen eggs.

I have some updated pictures of Raptor

View attachment 1999244 View attachment 1999245 View attachment 1999246 View attachment 1999247

His left wing is held just a hair too low where I clubbed him when he flogged me several months ago, back when I was free ranging him. But that's irrelevant as to his offspring. I'd like to get a couple of roosters off of him that are as pretty as he is but maybe with a better temperament so I can let them free range.

One of his brothers that I gave away came out a bit more yellow-golden than he is. I don't have a good or up-to-date picture of the brother, but here he is in October:

View attachment 1999267

I'll try to get some pictures of Hey Hey tomorrow. He's pretty in his own way but not like Raptor. Hey Hey has a bit more slender build and longer legs and looks a touch more like a wild RJF.

Here's my first big batch of bites. Most of these are Hey Hey's but there's a few of Raptor's thrown in there.

View attachment 1999270

So here's my bottom line question. What do I legitimately call these birds, putting aside whatever the traditional Florida game fowl may have been? All I know of these birds is they came from a farm in central Florida and where called "Red Jungle Fowl," but I bought them at Tractor Supply prices. They breed true so they are a breed of "something." It wouldn't be accurate to call them mutts. I think if I was to call them American Game Bantams, they'd fit the profile. I can't call them hatchery jungle fowl because I don't know that they came from a hatchery. I can definitely say they aren't "real" jungle fowl. They don't have an eclipse molt. They prefer to roost in the coop on rails instead of trees. They lay reasonably frequently. They go broody easy and hatch out big clutches. They're tame and not flighty. Smaller than regular American gamefowl. Roosters are reasonably tolerant of each other.

What say you? BBR or Wild type American Game Bantams?

I would call them wild type American Game Bantams. But it depends on what you like. I still haven't found any sources of new blood for my birds.. I really thought their would be more people with wilder chickens. I have tried searching for red jungle fowl and hybridized red jungle fowl. No good results I even tried game fowl. Found some American game fowl but they were very expensive and the colors weren't the wildish type . Plus I would like to get a breed that is more tolerant of multiple roosters unlike American game fowl. Any idea what to search.?. Honestly I would like to induce the wild behavior in the breed I have.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I had to look about a year and a half to find mine and ended up locating them on a local classified listing as “Indian Red Jungle Fowl” just south of my home town.

I’m going to start selecting mine for free range vigor. Or more accurately, let them get selected for it. Gaminess is irrelevant to me. I want tough homestead birds that can survive and multiply under predator pressure. I also want roosters to tolerate each other so I have fertile eggs. When I penned up Raptor half my of my free-range mixed flock stopped getting fertilized. My big layers basically. I’m babying this batch of chics and will also do so for the next batch coming in February to hopefully triple the size of the flock. Then I’m going to let them nest and raise bitties as they will and can. I might lose most of a clutch pretty often but I may also get tougher birds growing up that make tougher chicks next generation.

What these little RJF hybrids have going for them is they’re already tame acting and go broody at an amazing rate. I just need more of them to make up for their smaller eggs and lower production rate and their penchant for hiding eggs. Its hit or miss whether they lay in the coop. Some individual hens do with regularity, some don’t. I’ve found nests under the tin above the roof of the coop, in my tractor cab, behind the lawn mower seat, in the bed of my UTV, in a dog house, all around the farm. Not usual for any free range chickens but the hybrid game hens seem to like high places. But so far they’ve all set in the coup. I think they know its their safe zone.

 

[Don 27]

I had to look about a year and a half to find mine and ended up locating them on a local classified listing as “Indian Red Jungle Fowl” just south of my home town.

I’m going to start selecting mine for free range vigor. Or more accurately, let them get selected for it. Gaminess is irrelevant to me. I want tough homestead birds that can survive and multiply under predator pressure. I also want roosters to tolerate each other so I have fertile eggs. When I penned up Raptor half my of my free-range mixed flock stopped getting fertilized. My big layers basically. I’m babying this batch of chics and will also do so for the next batch coming in February to hopefully triple the size of the flock. Then I’m going to let them nest and raise bitties as they will and can. I might lose most of a clutch pretty often but I may also get tougher birds growing up that make tougher chicks next generation.

What these little RJF hybrids have going for them is they’re already tame acting and go broody at an amazing rate. I just need more of them to make up for their smaller eggs and lower production rate and their penchant for hiding eggs. Its hit or miss whether they lay in the coop. Some individual hens do with regularity, some don’t. I’ve found nests under the tin above the roof of the coop, in my tractor cab, behind the lawn mower seat, in the bed of my UTV, in a dog house, all around the farm. Not usual for any free range chickens but the hybrid game hens seem to like high places. But so far they’ve all set in the coup. I think they know its their safe zone.

Good strong homestead birds is something I'm working towards too. Now I have an idea on what to tell the wife when she finds out I'm buying more wild chickens.. My chickens have became better suited for free ranging because of natural selection. My hens raised two clutches so far and the babies had a significant amount of predator presser I lost some but the strongest lived. When they were pullets their mother died to save their lives from a predator. After that the pullets took care of then selves. When they are chicks I will place a cage around the nest and lock them in during the night so they have some protection. But once the mother takes the chicks into the trees I have no control of what could happen. .