Recreating the American Game Bantam

[Florida Bullfrog]

There is my F1, General Lee, in all of his glory. I have him over 2 F2 pullets that are sitting on what will amount to F3 eggs. One of the F2 pullets is the micro bird.

I also have eggs under a Cracker hen for the F2 stag over the F1 hen, whose name is now Grey Lady. Her feathers are rough from the time she spent free ranging but otherwise its clear that her and General Lee make a fine blue red pair.

This is a F3 I’ve already produced from General Lee through flock breeding to the F1s and F2s. I do not know who his mother is. I think he’ll be a spitting image of General Lee and if so, I’ll probably replace my F2 with this one for breeding back to the F1 Grey Lady.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

This was one of my culls that I turned out to free range. In the coop she reminded me too much of a OEGB. I noticed that after several weeks of free ranging, she’s been catching my eye more. She’s looking more athletic and gamefowl-like. I was able to get her off the roost tonight and weigh her… she’s just at 14oz. I’ve decided to pen her. When I can I’ll weigh the other free range “culls” but tonight they were too high up in the trees.

This is the F3 son of General Lee. He’s been in a large coop with my Blueface American games but my BF cockerel is almost a stag and I don’t want them to hurt each other, so I pulled this guy out tonight. I’m going to pair him to F1 Grey Lady.

I have a good clutch of F3 bitties off of F1 General Lee and the two small F2s I kept back. 14 was my last count of the bitties.

 

[Silexian]

Raising American Game Bantams myself. I have been intrigued with your project and been following your thread. In particular your articles about your “teacup” fowl. I have unintentionally bred a line of these myself. I acquired four bantams from a friend. That didn’t integrate into his flock. They look like BBR OEGB. Except that they have slate legs. Since they are a cross or not true to breed specifics. I separated the rooster from the hens. While they went through a quarantine period at my farm, away from my other chickens. So I could put the hens with one of my BBR American Game Bantam cocks. When I brought them to my home place. Since the hens were not laying very well. When I was gathering eggs to incubate. I filled the rest of my incubator with OEGB eggs. They are about half grown now. The cross chicks are only about half the size of the OEGB that they hatched with. I can’t wait to see them fully grown out.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Raising American Game Bantams myself. I have been intrigued with your project and been following your thread. In particular your articles about your “teacup” fowl. I have unintentionally bred a line of these myself. I acquired four bantams from a friend. That didn’t integrate into his flock. They look like BBR OEGB. Except that they have slate legs. Since they are a cross or not true to breed specifics. I separated the rooster from the hens. While they went through a quarantine period at my farm, away from my other chickens. So I could put the hens with one of my BBR American Game Bantam cocks. When I brought them to my home place. Since the hens were not laying very well. When I was gathering eggs to incubate. I filled the rest of my incubator with OEGB eggs. They are about half grown now. The cross chicks are only about half the size of the OEGB that they hatched with. I can’t wait to see them fully grown out.

Do the four adult bantams have white earlobes?

 

[Silexian]

Do the four adult bantams have white earlobes?

No. I think you are going to suggest that they may be Dutch bantams. No white earlobes and no full tail like a Dutch bantam.

 

[Silexian]

No. I think you are going to suggest that they may be Dutch bantams. No white earlobes and no full tail like a Dutch bantam.

Do the four adult bantams have white earlobes?

Another chicken was always in the way. When I tried to get a pic of one of the hens. This is the roo that came with them.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

The above photos are of “Survivorlady” and her clutch. She’s a full blooded Cracker hen that came out 20oz. She had also been on her own since she was 2 weeks old and survived all winter by herself free range by spending cold nights in tall grass as a fuzzy chick. Coldest night I know she survived was 20F while fuzzy. So she’s a tough little thing, thus her name. Her small size makes her a candidate for the AGB project, so I’ve paired her to General Lee. Her offspring will represent a third line of the AGBs that I can interject at will into the 2 line-bred groups.

I expect her to start setting any day now.

 

[Amer]

View attachment 2781803View attachment 2781805

The above photos are of “Survivorlady” and her clutch. She’s a full blooded Cracker hen that came out 20oz. She had also been on her own since she was 2 weeks old and survived all winter by herself free range by spending cold nights in tall grass as a fuzzy chick. Coldest night I know she survived was 20F while fuzzy. So she’s a tough little thing, thus her name. Her small size makes her a candidate for the AGB project, so I’ve paired her to General Lee. Her offspring will represent a third line of the AGBs that I can interject at will into the 2 line-bred groups.

I expect her to start setting any day now.

She’s a tough chick!

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Survivorlady began setting this evening. She had 11 eggs yesterday. I won’t disturb her for a couple of days until she’s good and bonded with the nest. Then I’ll do a final count. I am looking forward to these chicks. This will be my first time breeding an American game bantam back to a pure Cracker. The resulting offspring will be 3/4 Cracker 1/4 OEGB. These offspring are getting a good dose of survivability too. General Lee lived free range for several months before he got close to maturity and I’ve already commented on Survivorlady’s skills.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Here’s one for the teacup line I pulled off of free range this evening… 4oz. She isn’t singing yet though, so she is still going to grow some. I don’t think she’s going to double in size though.