Historic Presence of Jungle Fowl in the American Deep South

[EggWalrus]

These are supposed to be Bluefaces on an American gamefarm. I would have a hard time believing they don’t have RJF incorporated into them from some point. Their tails have the more full sickle plumage of an American game, and their size ought to be twice as big as my birds (4.5-5.5lbs). It really looks like someone crossed a RJF with an American game in them at some point.

That's a lot of pretty game birds!
Somebody has some serious money invested!

 

[Chicken Heel]

That paper implies that RJF were circulated to many private individuals and breeding operations independent of the releases into the wild. I would find it doubtful that their genes didn’t end up spread to domestic chickens in several places in the SE. Which comes full circle to the original question of the thread. I’m not interested really in what happened to any stock that remained pure. I’m interested in what got mixed into chickens that ended up in Southern barnyards.

After digesting all of the information in this thread and other research I’ve done, I surmise that the closest guess as to what any old Florida landrace would have been may have been Spanish games. The flock I grew up with was probably Blueface American games.

But quite independently of the origins of the “Cracker” games, there is absolutely a basis to suspect that RJF genes were introduced to Southern chickens in the mid 20th century. The introduction was much more widespread than the Fitzgerald birds. A few lines stayed pure, but I suspect many that went to breeders were crossed with local games.

I’d fascinated by the “Carolina bantam” breed mentioned in the paper that appears to be a feral batam created from several cross breedings of various common bantams then crossed with RJF and selected for southern woods life.

I’m satisfied I’ll only ever have a vague idea of what the Cracker landrace may have been if anything, and what I knew as a child was probably much more of an American game type than what a Cracker may have known in 1890.

I now want to know what my current flock is. I can rule out hatchery junglefowl and American gamefowl due to the size, as my birds are far to small to be either. Yet they’re too big to be American game bantams and they have white ears to boot (note that Hei Hei’s red ear now looks white sometimes). They’re the right size but wrong traits otherwise to be Spanish. They’re the right size to be these “Carolina bantams” but wrong color (I have found one reference to Carolina bantams, before being crossed with RJF, as having been black [fascinating that the woods life selected for black coloration]).

The "Carolina" bantam description intrigues me because most of the parent stock from my Grandpa Shook's RJF game/bantam mixes were supposedly black and many of the chicks that I had from a hen he gave me ended up being black. All I know for sure is that Pa Shook's chickens remain the prettiest ones I have ever seen.

 

[varidgerunner]

The thing that gamefowl and junglefowl have in common is that they are selected by nature and not humans. Hen picks a bad spot for a nest and gets eaten, she doesn't reproduce. Cock isn't better than the next cock, he doesn't reproduce. I have seen gamefowl that have been raised and selected by the hand of man alone. Most of them morph into a fancy colored rhode island red mix. And yes, a dog of a particular breed can cease being that breed when nobody uses that breed for it's intended purpose. Irish setters are but one good example. They are artistic renditions of the originals, related even, but they are basically what would have been considered culls originally. A breed of anything is only as good as the breeders who are working with that breed's willingness to cull bad examples of that breed. Genetic drift happens, and happens quickly in man-made conditions.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Here’s what I have decided about my current flock for a name and what I’m going to do with them.

I’m going to call them “Cracker bantams.” Seems like the most accurate term considering I can’t confirm how much if any game fowl is in them but they’re pretty close to the older style of Cracker homestead birds my grandfather remembers. I’m going to pretty much preserve the flock as it is but I will also select for rooster disposition and beauty. I’ll let the woods do the rest of the selecting. My goal is to have about 100 head spread out around the farm and the woods (I have 40 acres).

However, I’m also going to make 2 distinct lines apart from the Cracker bantams for the fun of it. One line I’m going to try to morph into the American game bantam as defined by the ABA standards. The other line I’m going to call “Cracker games” and I will select them for gameness and breed them up to regular American game fowl size. I’ll probably use Blueface as my other foundational stock for that.

I should have the room and the resources to do it. I haven’t been so excited about a project in a long time. I figure its going to take me about 2 years to get the American game bantam right. No idea as to the games, and I won’t be starting them for a while as I’m going to use a second family farm for most of that breeding.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I have some updated pictures of all of the stags that went to friends and family.

This one went to a co-worker and free ranges on her farm. He roosts in the trees at night. He was hand tame for a while but is now human aggressive. His name is Ricky (Ricardo).

This one went to my brother. His human aggression is mild, he just puffs up but doesn't flog. Note that he kept the greenish eyes of the chicks.

For comparison, Hei Hei and Raptor:

As RJF crosses, Hei Hei looks the most authentic RJF. Most of my bitties coming up are off of him. But simply as roosters, I still like the look of Raptor the most. He has a broad head and a broad body. And yet runs like a little Jurassic Park velociraptor.

 

[Uff Da]

And yet runs like a little Jurassic Park velociraptor.

Hahahaha! That is EXACTLY what my Icelandic roosters remind me of!

I've been following this thread for awhile and really enjoy it. I'm also working toward having an old-time homestead chicken, but since I am in the North, I looked even further north for my chickens, and work with Icelandics.

 

[centrarchid]

Hahahaha! That is EXACTLY what my Icelandic roosters remind me of!

I've been following this thread for awhile and really enjoy it. I'm also working toward having an old-time homestead chicken, but since I am in the North, I looked even further north for my chickens, and work with Icelandics.

Icelandic winters are like I get in Mid-Missouri. Icelandic summers are quite mild.

 

[Uff Da]

Icelandic winters are like I get in Mid-Missouri. Icelandic summers are quite mild.

Yes, I know this. But my Icelandics do very well in our winters. Even my rooster with a large single comb does well. We had one day with bad wind and subzero temps (windchills were about -40s) and the wind slammed the coop door shut while the chickens were out foraging. That's the only time I've had trouble with frostbite with my Icelandics, and they recovered much better than my other breed (red sex-links) did. They also prefer to eat snow instead of using the waterer. Every morning the sex-links go to the waterer and the Icelandics go to the snowbank.

The biggest breeder of Icies right now is in WI, and we have them in MT, ID, CO, MN, and AK.

Some of the birds used to preserve the breed when it was endangered were living feral on abandoned farms. They do very well looking after themselves and I love 'em for it.

 

[varidgerunner]

My Thai games prefer snow to water as well. Must be all that snow in Thailand. Or possibly it is just the result of chickens being hardwired for wild traits as a result of being naturally selected while in captivity.

Didn't the Clarets come from Canada? Or was that another breed I remember.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I have reacquired Ricky Ricardo, whom I am renaming Tyrant due to his aggression. He is a super looking bird though. He’s going to be the basis for my AGB project: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/recreating-the-american-game-bantam.1349595/#post-22261310