Jungle Fowl

[Wasson6Pack]

Actually there are 4 species of jungle fowl and chickens are either red jungle fowl or possibly reds with a very small percentage of grey in them. The 4 species are:
Gallus gallus, the red jungle fowl (and all domestic chickens)
Gallus sonneratti, the grey jungle fowl
Gallus varius, the green jungle fowl
Gallus lafayeti, the Sri Lanka jungle fowl

I have greys and greens but I have not been successful at breeding the greens yet. There may be several reasons, first it gets cold where I live and green jungle fowl are very intolerant of cold temps (I heat their pen all winter long), there is a lot of activity around the pens and they are very shy birds, also they are just over 2 years old, green jungle fowl need more time to mature then the other species.

The grey jungle fowl I have are great quality, I have 3 pairs, one from a fantastic breeder and have pedigree back to wild imported birds and the other 2 are F1's (all 4 parent birds were wild caught). I got my first eggs of the season two days ago, I know this is way early, but because of the green jungle fowl needing heat the pen with the greys stays warm as well and I think I am confusing them with the warm December we are having and the extra heat. Normally I sell the eggs for $60 each, last year I had way more requests then eggs and a good hatch rate. It is the first time I have ever had 100% hatch on the eggs I kept, I always check fertility and hatch some birds for future breeders and to sell. I kept 8 eggs from the grey jungle fowl hoping to get 5 or 6 to hatch, not only did all of them hatch but it ended up being 4 roosters and 4 hens. My perfect season!

I would love to talk to you about getting some jungle fowl. I have been looking everywhere for these.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Wait, so "jungle fowl" are chickens? Why are they given a different name, is it because they come in "non standard" colors?

 

[Ntsees]

Wait, so "jungle fowl" are chickens? Why are they given a different name, is it because they come in "non standard" colors?

Jungle fowl are not chickens. The name jungle fowl is a collective term for grouping all the wild Gallus species together. This thread was supposed to refer to the Gallus spp. and not Gallus domesticus.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

I googled 'wild gallus' to see what they look like (as I've never heard of jungle fowl before), but the images seem to look like roosters. What are some qualities of jungle fowl (Gallus spp) that make them different?

 

[Ntsees]

I googled 'wild gallus' to see what they look like (as I've never heard of jungle fowl before), but the images seem to look like roosters. What are some qualities of jungle fowl (Gallus spp) that make them different?

They look like roosters because they are the progenitors (greys and reds at least) of todays chickens. Although it's not quite the same, think of it along the lines of dogs vs wolves/coyotes. Wolves and coyotes look like dogs but they are not dogs. As far as quality goes, there are a lot - one of which is the full eclipse molt.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

They look like roosters because they are the progenitors (greys and reds at least) of todays chickens. Although it's not quite the same, think of it along the lines of dogs vs wolves/coyotes. Wolves and coyotes look like dogs but they are not dogs. As far as quality goes, there are a lot - one of which is the full eclipse molt.

Interesting!! Thanks very much!

 

[centrarchid]

I am chewing into that eclipse molt business and will have so that is not a reliable difference / character to discern domestic fowl from red jungle fowl.

Differences I see are first size. Red jungle fowl are approximately the same size a bantam. Egg size though is larger in the red jungle fowl than in bantam. Animals I have had that may not have been pure red jungle fowl nonetheless behaved decidely different from any domestic fowl I am familiar with. The "red jungle fowl" made a broader range of sounds. To me the the red jungle fowl act sort of like crows with respect to how they look around. They are at least as strong in flight as any domestic breed but distance they fly seems to be a function of culture. The social groups red jungle fowl operate in are smaller if they are able to sort things out themselves. The red jungle fowl have smaller combs and wattles, especially on hens. Red jungle fowl males also seem to have a delayed development of male red coloration of feathers. They also differ in terms of response to predators when compared to my American gamechickens. The red jungle tended to fly both at night and during day when challenged by predators like hawks and owls. Such predators as a result seemed to target the jungle fowl first.

Differences I note may not be applicable to all stocks of red jungle fowl. Multiple subspecies of red jungle fowl exist and all perputed pure birds in this country are of the same subspecies derived from India. Other subspecies may differ greatly from the Indian form even though to causal observer they may be same. Differences in behavior or biology may exist like not all populations exhibiting eclipse molt in males since such may not always be adaptaptive / optimal across the entire the species rather large range. The may have regional dialects or differences in responses to predators or roosting habits.

Even though red jungle fowl might appear relatively consistent in appearance, I would not be surprised if they have a great deal more genetic diversity than all domestic chickens combined. The diversity will likely be a reflection of where the birds live.

 

[Ntsees]

I am chewing into that eclipse molt business and will have so that is not a reliable difference / character to discern domestic fowl from red jungle fowl.

I know that a full eclipse molt is not a reliable indicator for red jungle fowl because I have seen pictures of hybridized fowls that eclipsed so well that it is indistinguishable to a pure specimen. In those cases, you would have to use other traits besides the molt. I only brought the full eclipse up because it is common to the jungle fowls and when you do get a full eclipse molt, you'd be dealing with pure/near-pure birds. I believe that all pure red jungle fowl fully eclipse, but not all fully eclipsed birds are pure red jungle fowls.

...Differences in behavior or biology may exist like not all populations exhibiting eclipse molt in males since such may not always be adaptaptive / optimal across the entire the species rather large range....

We will both have to agree that we disagree on this. I've seen pictures of fully eclipsed birds from India through to Laos. Birds from the Philippines and Malaysia eclipse too. To see the presence of eclipse molt in red jungle fowl from such of a large range, even if the molt isn't complete due to crosses with domestics, indicates that the pure red jungle fowls should eclipse. Other species within the Gallus complex, such as the Grey and Green jungle fowls, show eclipse too.

 

[centrarchid]

I know that a full eclipse molt is not a reliable indicator for red jungle fowl because I have seen pictures of hybridized fowls that eclipsed so well that it is indistinguishable to a pure specimen. In those cases, you would have to use other traits besides the molt. I only brought the full eclipse up because it is common to the jungle fowls and when you do get a full eclipse molt, you'd be dealing with pure/near-pure birds. I believe that all pure red jungle fowl fully eclipse, but not all fully eclipsed birds are pure red jungle fowls.

We will both have to agree that we disagree on this. I've seen pictures of fully eclipsed birds from India through to Laos. Birds from the Philippines and Malaysia eclipse too. To see the presence of eclipse molt in red jungle fowl from such of a large range, even if the molt isn't complete due to crosses with domestics, indicates that the pure red jungle fowls should eclipse. Other species within the Gallus complex, such as the Grey and Green jungle fowls, show eclipse too.

Too much weight be placed on eclipse feathering. Need more pictures showing multiple stages of feathering to both sexes across a given jungle fowl species range. Other differences between wild jungle fowls and domestics exist.

 

[Ntsees]

(nvm, deleted)