Keeping American Games / American Gamefowl as Yard Ornaments

[Weehopper]

 

[Weehopper]

And, he flogged that turkey all the way out. It was a Naragansette turkey, about a year old. I really liked them.

 

[Weehopper]

A few more photos. I include the turkey in question. Lol

 

[centrarchid]

Nice pictures. Did he get broody with the chicks? I notice his tail is a little roughed up and you have a pic with him in a nesting box. He is also standing with posture mine do when in parental mode which differs from when they are more concerned with mating or driving off rivals.



Thread below has observations on a gamecock that did the broody thing I often see when cock and hen are maintained as a pair. Cock invests a lot more in offspring than they do when sex ratio is skewed towards females. This is an example of phenotypic flexibility with respect to behavior.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/882368/what-to-look-for-in-a-broody-rooster

 

[Weehopper]

He gets into the nestbbox and calls the hen's to him. I think he's encouraging them to come lay an egg. There are more than one nest boxes there. When she has chicks he stays right with his family at all times. Should he be away from them, if he hears one squall he will run, at top speed, to wherever they are. If something ever happened to the hen, there is no doubt that he would take over the care of the chicks. We had this happen a couple of times over the years, with other roosters. They will even set on the chicks to keep them warm, and raised them. Their survival instincts are very strong. My husband felt the game chickens would be the salvation of all chickens. As the broody instincts are bred out of layers, the game chicken blood will have to be bred back in in order to maintain reproduction abilities. We never used incubators, only the hen's.

 

[Weehopper]

Read the thread. Very interesting. It amused me to read about the dogs. last summer, when the chicks were small, one of my dogs was a pup at the time. About 9 or 10 months old. I was really afraid she would become a chicken killer as she loved to chase them, and being an American Bulldog, was being very stubborn about it. Slick and Beauty (his hen) pretty much cured her for me. If the pup got anywhere near them, the rooster would chase her; not just a little way, but clear around the house and yard. And if he caught her, he would flog her. To this day, she, along with my two other dogs, give the chickens wide birth, only coming near if something seems to be upsetting the birds. Lol Order is restored.

 

[Weehopper]

Another observation. Every morning when my game chickens come down from their roost in the trees, the rooster wants to breed the hen. If she has no interest, when she sees him coming, she will spread her wings, fluff up, and start clucking like a broody hen with chicks. These birds are by no means stupid. When he gives up and wanders off to feed, she goes back to her normal self, and proceeds to eat her breakfast.

 

[centrarchid]

Another observation. Every morning when my game chickens come down from their roost in the trees, the rooster wants to breed the hen. If she has no interest, when she sees him coming, she will spread her wings, fluff up, and start clucking like a broody hen with chicks. These birds are by no means stupid. When he gives up and wanders off to feed, she goes back to her normal self, and proceeds to eat her breakfast.

The behavior you describe I call "showing cotton". All my harem masters do as you describe. He goes after all birds lacking down on hen but juveniles he simply pecks and they give a submission call causing him to break off. I harem master not present then stags will do same with highest ranking pecking everyone else. If juveniles young and now harem master present then lead hen does it to all but chicks with down. Harem master raps up effort as you describe by covering adult females. Things can get really interesting when satellite stags get into picture. I think in nature this behavior can also be used by a harem master to hens in another harem when that master has more hens than he can defend. It also has a variant where stags and cocks attempt to acquire interloping hens as a method of increasing harem size. Some hens I watched slip into a harem masters territory apparently to get covered before returning to her own harems territory.


The cotton may also be a signal with a male in flight where it is relatively easy to see. Video below is crude but shows the cotton in flight.

 

[centrarchid]

Stag below is what most of mine look like when about 16 weeks post-hatch. Maturation is slow with these guys.

 

[centrarchid]

Here is a video that is somewhat staged. Hen was confined until late in day so I could count on her wanting to be covered. Shows cloacal kiss relatively clearly.