McLean Hen??

[horsewishr]

I saw this on a local board:

1 year old, green leg, pure McLean hen. Sold for breeding purposes only please. I will ship her too, just contact me for details

I googled McLean chicken and found nothing. Anybody know anything about McLean chickens???​

 

[horsewishr]

excuse my ignorance, but is "game fowl" synonymous with "cockfighting fowl?"

 

[horsewishr]

but are all gamefowl fighting fowl? Or do people breed them for other reasons?

 

[chikndave]

Quote:
Oh no, not at all. People breed gamefowl for many reasons.
Some reasons for breeding and keeping gamefowl are as follows.

One breed of gamefowl, the Asil, was the originator of what is known as the Cornish. Without the Cornish we would not have the meat chickens know as the Cornish Cross.

Many breeders of all fowls will introduce gamefowl blood to their lines to improve on their fowls overall health and vigor.
Outstanding health and vigor are traits common to most all gamefowl.

Most breeders of gamefowl keep from as few as twenty to as many as thousands of gamefowl on their yard at all times. They keep so many so that they can choose only the very best of birds for poultry shows across the United States. One such showing organization is the AGFS.
The American Gamefowl Society
P O Box 800
Belton, S.C. 29627-0800

Show quality gamefowl stock can be sold for as much as $1500 a pop and even more in some cases. That is not to say that all gamefowl are this expensive and expense is certainly not always indicative of quality. They best fowl that I have were free and gifted to me by friends and acquaintances!

There are even opportunities to show your fowls on the internet and win a potentially large sum of money! one such place is http://www.gamefowlshow.com

There are a great many reasons that people keep and breed gamefowl not the least of which is one of the most important of all. quite simply it is the beauty and strength, along with the unbelievable personality that these amazing fowls possess.

Gamefowl have long received a bad wrap! They are not little feathered criminals who only wish to kill and maim, in fact they frequently are quite the opposite. They have been used by myself and many others as protection for other flock members, as their showy displays during mating and motherhood are able to ward of most predators including cats and dogs. They are some of the best broody hens around and will protect their chicks at all costs.
We frequently enjoy the companionship that a good gamefowl rooster can provide. We take one of our Asil cocks to PetSmart every time we go! lol you should see all the little kids and old ladies alike come "flocking" to him! hehe As he sees the crowd gather he stands as proudly as he possibly can and lets out a crow of joy! It sure can be hoot raising and breeding gamefowl!
Dave

 

[chikndave]

Hey Egh,
Are you the same Egh from poultry connection???
I think I recognize that little banty!

 

[prariechiken]

American Game Fowl Society

Get your standard and show your fowl....

http://americangamefowl.org/

Help save this misunderstood breed. Do you know that many of the various breeds of chickens, (RIR, Brahmas, cornish, etc.), were created with gamefowl species, (gamefowl like malay, asil, oeg, etc.)? That Gamefowl are some of the most disease resistent chickens you can raise. Standard and bantam, american gamefowl come in all the colors of the rainbow....

...help clear up the misunderstandings and misconceptions of these stately birds as purely "fighting chickens". Lets maintain our chicken diversity and keep them crowing for generations to come.....

 

[Ga Chicken Mom]

Guys, can you answer a question for me? I often see roosters chained(?) to small coops in a yard. Is this the way game fowl are normally kept or are these fighting roosters?

 

[okto]

funny, when i go to the american game fowl society webpage, they talk about the various bloodlines being good fighters. i thought that was a direction that they were moving from?

oh well, beautiful birds, especially the colonel givens hatch

 

[prariechiken]

Tie cords can be used on any chicken. They allow for the bird, (hen or rooster) to be able to forage in a wider area, as well as not risking feather damage by wire cages. The only drawback is predator protection, a cord gives little protection from varmits. I have used tie cords when multiple breeding a rooster to more than one hen in the same pen. Each hen has her area to feed, roost, nest,etc., while the rooster has free range to , "take care" of the ladies as he sees fit. That way I can properly track my genetics between each hens offspring, as only they have been allowed to lay and brood in their nest. Tie cords are also an extremely inexpensive way to keep fowl as opposed to building pens. With gamefowl, they are more prone to fighting due to their genetic closeness to the original wild fowls that were first domesticated. These wild birds fought for territory and breeding rights to pass on their genetics. Due to this inborn trait, gamefowls must be kept separated, therefore the inexpensiveness as stated above as more pens are required compared to your run of the mill barnyard birds.

 

[prariechiken]

Quote:
I think it is more to do with "gameness", that wild fowl trait of genetic survival instinct. Breed standard states that they should always show this trait, otherwise they are disqualified as not being gamefowl. It would be like having a golden retriever family that wouldn't retrieve...they look the part, but are not deserving of the name...Could also represent the historical legacy of the family, would have to ask the breeder for furhter expl....