Jungle Fowl

[NextAdam68]

Yeah, those guys are the real deal! The problem is finding one. That guy on the bottom would be the perfect gift for either one of us I think.

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

Yeah, those guys are the real deal!  The problem is finding one.  That guy on the bottom would be the perfect gift for either one of us I think.

Yeah. If I could get a rooster that looked like that bottom one and fertile hens of that same cross I'd just breed those together with just slight improvements over time. I'd be really happy to get to a fertile line that looked close to this Bekisar. I'd still try and improve the birds but even if this is as far as I got I'd be happy.

There are a few of those Oceanic breeds with aspects of those colors.

 

[BekisarBengal]

That's the thing with the Bekisar x Wallikikilli x Austronesian, it's so diverse genetically. Everything's there, along with characteristics that could come out we probably wouldn't believe. You could probably spend a lifetime line breeding a sibling cock/hen pair.

Are you going to Indonesia to stuff four of them in your shorts, fly home and face the TSA, or am I?

How is it possible to get that, or something similar, at an acceptable cost and with reasonable effort without recreating the wheel here in the US?

I can't find any evidence of similar specimens here. Have you?

 

[NextAdam68]

Wow. BekisarBengal is refusing to die. I thought I cut off his head. I'll have to eat him. I realized it was a stupid name in the very beginning and tried to change it, but it was too much trouble. So after living with it for a short while I decided to let it die and create a new persona.

I'm having an identity crisis.

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

If all I can get or if it just seems like the better route and I end up getting GJF chicks then I'll have four years until they mature and can breed. In that time I'm thinking about crossing a bunch of breeds that may have GJF genes and selecting for GJF characteristics and hopefully arrive at a bird that is more similar in appearance and genetically compatable. Of course, there is a chance that you could cross a GJF with straight Auracana and get fertile hens. I don't know if anyone has tried it. I do know a woman who travels to Java a few times every year and worst case scenario I can pay to legally import eggs and have her bring them so they are fresh, not X-rayed and the real deal (but that is by far the most expensive option of last resort). Heck...I wouldn't mind going back to Bali on vacation and spending a little time on Java (the eggs could be obtained in Bali but an approved exporter is in Java). Actually...maybe a few live birds in a pair of MC Hammer pants sounds like a good idea after all...

 

[NextAdam68]

If you do use the last resort, I'd pay a pretty penny to get some eggs from one of those complex mixes. It would be by far the best option for me to start with some of those guys. I loathe carpentry and can barely keep up with the expansion of my current operation. Constructing three times as many cages as usual to identify the fertile Bekisar or the extensive housing required for GJF would bury me. I wouldn't want to house GJF if I couldn't do it right.

I guess that Bekisar x Wallikikilli x Austronesian remains my dream chicken (If you want to call it a chicken). It's exotic chicken porn for Americans like me.

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

If you do use the last resort, I'd pay a pretty penny to get some eggs from one of those complex mixes.  It would be by far the best option for me to start with some of those guys.  I loathe carpentry and can barely keep up with the expansion of my current operation.  Constructing three times as many cages as usual to identify the fertile Bekisar or the extensive housing required for GJF would bury me.  I wouldn't want to house GJF if I couldn't do it right.

I guess that Bekisar x Wallikikilli x Austronesian remains my dream chicken (If you want to call it a chicken).  It's exotic chicken porn for Americans like me.

I'd be happy with a fertile line that looks like either of the Bekisar varieties.

 

[NextAdam68]

I have five Ayam Cemanis in the first little wave of my hatches. All appear as black as night. I'll screen them as time passes to select the best ones for breeding. In the mean time, I need to research the ins and outs of shipping birds so that I can send you some of my rejects for future breeding. After you get a good crop, I'll be selling some.

I'm particularly looking forward to sending you some of the colored ones if I can get any. Just so you know though; on those, I'll need to screen the cocks for crowing ability before I pass those on to you.

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

I asked a guy that I know locally who raises Ayam Cemani if he ever gets any off-color birds and he says that he's had zero. That photo that was used to show "dragon bone" and show what all the fibromelanistic strains end up looking like when they self-select mates popped up when I was searching for something else and it lead to a thread about a breed called Tomaru...a breed of long-tailed, long crower. They are usually solid black but can show up with some color on them. They sometimes have dark pigment in their combs, have delayed molt in their tails, and have a crow that lasts 15-25 seconds...all characteristics linked to Green Junglefowl. They originated in China but were predominantly raised in Japan. They are available in the U.S. so I'm interested in looking at this breed as well.

 

[NextAdam68]

For weeks, actually months, I've been confused about the gender of one of my two Tomarus. One is definitely a cock, crowing beautifully and has been for a few months. It's sibling is a mystery. At first I thought it was a hen and I was delighted. Then I thought it was a cock developing slower than the other. Now I'm becoming pretty convinced it's an hermaphrodite.

It has the hackle, saddle and tail feathers of a cock and the comb of a hen. It's built lighter than the cock by a good margin; and it doesn't crow or lay eggs. I'm seriously considering eating it because It's more than eight months old. If I do butcher him, I'll examine the sexual organs to try to see what's going on.

Do you, or does anyone else have experience with intergender birds? I've had birds that I thought were before, but they always end up being slow developing cocks. I even named a Black Langshan Francis to cover my bases 30 years ago, but one day he started crowing.

What is the oldest bird you've seen with ambiguous sexuality? I don't know anything about vent sexing, maybe I should learn.