Historic Presence of Jungle Fowl in the American Deep South

[Florida Bullfrog]

It sounds like the mostly likely identification of the homestead chicks are game fowl with some degree of jungle fowl mixed in, or at least a strain of gamefowl that superficially carry RJF traits.

I can say that up until a couple of days ago, I was convinced they were true jungle fowl. I have found some obscure references to jungle fowl in the South as being common on farms in the early 1900s. I’ll try to find those references to cite them. I wonder if those sources are correct or alternatively if anything that looked like a jungle fowl was called so back then. I’m actually surprised anyone had even heard of the term “jungle fowl” then in the rural South of 1900.

I started to become skeptical only once I read about eclipse molting. I’ve never seen any rooster change its color and go into a low testosterone mode (sounds like a whitetail deer buck once the rut is over and their antlers fall off).

Thanks for the info everyone. So now I’m wondering what behavioral differences I’ll see in the Indian Red Jungle Fowl that I’m picking up this weekend. I’m hoping they’ll actually have some mixed heritage, whatever will make them more like the chickens I’m looking for.

 

[varidgerunner]

If you are getting jungle fowl from a hatchery, feel assured that their heritage is plenty mixed. I have read articles about the wild read jungle fowl in Asia, and how they were mostly diluted with domestic chicken in the wild populations. Some of the American wild birds were actually purer from a DNA standpoint, according to the article. Do a google search for Fitzgerald chickens, they are in Georgia, not South Carolina as I said before. Bankivoid gamefowl, while not going into a full eclipse molt, do drop into what is called hack. It is a period of low testosterone production around moulting time.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

The birds I will be acquiring come a flock from a central Florida farm. The owner understands them to be Indian RJF but I do not know where the owner got them from or how many generations have been hatched on the farm. I’m paying a low price per bitty so I figure whatever I get is what I get. Cheaper than going and buying generic bitties at the local feed store. I think she just needs to get them moved.

I am familiar with the Fitzgerald RJF. I was considering contacting their jungle fowl society to see if they home or sell birds. One of the sources I read did allege that there were RJF in South Carolina in the 1940s on farms there and throughout the South. The breeder who created the American game bantam by crossing pitt batams with RJF obtained his RJF from a South Carolina farm.

https://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Games/AmerGameBantams/BRKAmerGameBty.html

What I now wonder is whether that RJF obtained in South Carolina really was so, or was it a RJF looking American game fowl? Where is that line between a bird that looks like a RJF and has some feral traits, vs a “true” RJF?

Another question I’ve been thinking about is whether RJF traits and can come out in feral chickens after so many generations of living feral or in a hard-core free-range situation in the deep woods. Sort of like how most domestic hogs will end up looking like razorbacks in a few hog generations of living wild.

 

[varidgerunner]

The RJF traits are strong in American Games. It is still common practice in Southeast Asia to cross the RJF into game birds, as it has been for a very long time, undoubtedly when game birds were obtained from Phoenician traders in Rome and spread throughout the Roman Empire, obtained by Spanish Galleons and transported throughout the Spanish Empire, obtained by Dutch traders and throughout the history of gamefowl, there is a high degree of RJF genes present. Those genes have been further selected for in that most games have been historically raised in a natural setting as semi feral birds. The selection went even further in their historical usage, as only the strongest, fastest, smartest and best males survived to pass their genes, mimicking nature in many ways.

Where they differ is the addition of malayoid, as opposed to bankivoid gamefowl genes. Although modern DNA study suggests a common ancestor for all chickens, many have believed that the malayoid (or shamoid) birds have a different wild ancestor, very much a true jungle fowl, just not the WRJF. They can survive in much the same wild setting, but are more apt to run than fly, are more adapted to grass than forest, have better night vision, have marrow filled bones, taller, more thickly built with more leg and less wing. They don't moult all at one time, and don't have the low testosterone period as the RJF does. They are more sparsely feathered, so winter survival is impacted in the more marginal junglefowl habitat that we see in the non tropical regions.

The true RJF will show eclipse plumage, white earlobes, and typically be a little smaller than a typical BBR standard gamefowl, either Spanish, American or Old English, all being basically the same bird, in many varieties besides BBR. The roundheads are showing a little more of the shamoid traits at face value, with their peacombs, but undoubtedly all games have a little of this influence, having been crossed on Asil with about the same frequency as they have been crossed with RJF throughout history.

The Peyton Democrat is one strain that comes to mind in American games that shows a white earlobe. Whether it comes from RJF or Leghorn is anyone's guess, as undoubtedly some gamefowl as well as some "wild" RJF have been influenced by the more modern breeds. It is usually frowned upon in the gamefowl community in general to see a white earlobe, in all but the rare exceptions when they are expected to have them, as it makes one think of leghorn, and the common thought is that a white ear lobed chicken lacks "gameness" and this could have been handed down in lore from the past when a white ear lobed chicken could be carrying too much RJF, and it would most likely appear to lack "gameness" in the low testosterone portion of the year. Conventional wisdom was to cross in asil to fix any lack of "gameness" , and this probably was owing to the shamoid trait of not having as pronounced of a breeding season.

Now the Fitzgerald chickens, I'm not so sure they couldn't have more AG influence than RJF influence. The pictures I have seen show a grey here and there, something you could expect with AG, but not with RJF. Survivability in the wild would probably be equal anywhere in North America, with AG probably having the edge, having been selected to survive and brood chicks in semi-feral conditions all the way to Canada. It was just the way they were raised, you had a sprawling estate, you raced horses and raised gamefowl. Or you were a dirt farmer in a shack with woods out back. In either case you had hens raising chicks with little intervention after being exposed to selected cocks, stags gathered in the fall and penned, pullets expected to survive as best they could, be that on scraps the hogs left or what the racehorses spilled out of their feeder. In some cases, the sprawling estate ran out of carrying capacity and the gentry farmed out some breeding stock to the poorer homestead type farmers. In most cases, the deal was that the homesteader raised the hens first brood out of the selected game cocks, the gentry got their pick of farm raised stags in the fall, and the farmer could use the hens to raise replacement egg layers on their subsequent broods and eat any extra stags or unwanted pullets. These were the days before electric incubators. Was not uncommon to find some game chickens on most any farm, regardless of whether anyone actually partook in any nefarious activities with them.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Thanks varidgerunner, that was exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Sounds like LF American Game or maybe pit game bantams. The American Game Bantam was created by Frank Gerry and first recognized by the American Bantam Association at some point in the 1950s. The APA didn't get around to recognizing them until very recently. They are the neatest little birds, larger, longer legged, longer backed, less arched neck, and dark legs in comparison to OEGB.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I've had my group of jungle fowl for several weeks now. In a straight run of 20, 8 turned out to be cockerels. I've narrowed them down to the 2 I'm keeping and the rest have been re-homed (except one aggressive cockerel killed 2 of the others, and that aggressive one was culled).

Here's my favorite boy:

From the very beginning that I've had the group, he'd go out of his way to interact with me as where the other young roosters would just ignore me. He was the first to start to develop the white ear and the first to start crowing (he was two months old last week), although he was not the biggest bodied of the cockerels. I sent the two biggest ones to family members who could loan them back to me as breeding stock should something happen to the two I kept.

Some of the cockerels were exhibiting red ears although I'm not sure if they would have changed given enough time. Again, I cannot vouch for the genetics of this group. They came from a farm in Central Florida, and they were sold to me for $2.50 a bitty so I figure it was a decent price whether they're of more pure jungle fowl lines or not. All I want is something that will be a good free range chicken that is as close to the game chickens I grew up with as possible.

These birds are very tame. They are not flighty or high-strung at all.

 

[nicalandia]

If you want thrifty chickens you can't go wrong with American Game, many look just like RJF while being many times more productive than RJF, they roost in trees given the chance, make their own nest and hatch their own with just water, they will find their own food in the woods.. for more productive birds you may want to try brown leghorns or American Game/Brown leghorn cross. the most thrifty birds I have own are American Game and Leghorns, they really don't need you to thrive and would rather you stay clear from them. Good luck finding their nest the hens can hide them in plain site without you even knowing.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

When I took the picture of my rooster, I noticed he has olive green eyes. I just checked the other jungle fowl and they all seem to have olive green eyes. Does that tell anyone anything of significance about their genetics?

 

[gjensen]

The genetic drift is back to a Jungle Fowl type.

What you probably had was Games, and this is probably what you want. That or game crosses. That is if you want any eggs etc.

Jungle Fowl are fascinating, and survivors, but managing them is different than other poultry. They behave more like pheasants.