Jungle Fowl

[bronzefarmer]

 

[LadyCluck77]

Any tips on jungle fowl hatching?
A friend of mine has Grey Jungle Fowl, they are a small but very nice quality flock, and I offered to incubate some eggs this spring. I'm experienced with chicken egg incubating, is there any difference in technique I should be using with these guys?

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[JimArcher]

Stick with what has worked well with your chicken eggs. Junglefowl are chickens as well so that should work. Don't experiment. Stick with what you already do well.

 

[Oahu Babies]

I have Red Jungle Fowl crossbreeds from Oahu Hi. I have 4 girls and one male who just turned a year old. They now have their first batch of babies!! It took them 21 days to hatch, and since they are a crossbreed I'd have no idea how much they would go for. Let me know if I can be of any help!

 

[dumz]

Hi,

Do you still seling grey jungle fowl?
I'm very interested to buy some.

Thanks

 

[JanetMarie]

Looking for predator savvy chickens. My current ones are not, and will be reading about these to see if I can still keep chickens.

All European bred chickens are meant to be kept in pens, and I free range, did free range. I suppose the only option is to keep a breed that is meant to live wild.

 

[centrarchid]

Jungle fowl will not score high Michigan with respect to anti-predator responses. They do not take advantage of husbandry methods that can operate synergestically with typical poultry and predator behaviors.

 

[JimArcher]

Janet-Marie, I have kept Fayoumis and Red Jungle Fowl. Both breeds are very aware of aerial predators - planes, hawks, any large bird overhead... and they watched very carefully - giving the correct call to the others. I did not have any ground predators around, so cannot comment, but I think they would be very watchful if the environment gave them clear views. Junglefowl fly very well, but that is no response to a hawk attack. They would usually cower under a bush or any nearby cover if they felt there was a real aerial threat. They could fly from a cat or whatever if they could see it. If you start with just a few birds you might be wiped out before they could learn the ropes of coping with local predators. Those that learn could survive and reproduce and they certainly pass their anti-predator smarts on to the chicks if they are allowed to incubate and rear them. Junglefowl will come home to roost in a good,secure,roomy coop with high perches. The nest baskets should also be pretty high up. Make sure they know your feeding call and handfeed them in the morning and the evening just before going to roost. Guineas are very vocal when they sense predator threats and the chickens will learn what the guinea calls mean. Chickens prefer to roost separately from Guineas. Geese are pretty aggressive with dogs and others too. Good luck. but it sounds like your local predators are numerous and effective. If you mean completely free range - roosting in trees - you will probably lose them all.

 

[JanetMarie]

Thanks for the responses-Centrachild and JimArcher. The foxes are very brave, and came right up to the barn, which is right by the house. They may have been teaching their young. I lost three, and one of my roosters lost some of his feathers. They didn't take one hen, and I believe the rooster stopped it, but the hen was dead.

I have a large fenced area the others are in now, but that was supposed to be my rooster free area, with just a few chickens. I think it's necessary to free range for better health, but now the dead ones aren't healthy at all.

I'll research, and decide on a breed for free ranging that is predator savvy and can fly well. They won't be totally free range. I have a nice set up in the barn.

I believe a new hobby could be fox hunting this winter.

 

[centrarchid]

Consider using something like electrified poultry netting with cover patches inside. Netting keeps most mammals out and cover patches makes so raptors have harder time going after birds.

Red Jungle fowl I messed with during day would flush too easy rather than hold their ground in cover when challenged by a hawk. They were also too small to engage raptors or at least would not do so. At night when domestics where challenged by predators they would still stay close to roost where I or dogs could have better chance of driving predator off while Red Jungle fowl would fly off into field or woods beyond our protective umbrella.


Domestication did more than increase size and reduce flightiness, it also reduced inclination of birds to leave protection of human habitation.