SwampFoot
In the Brooder
- Apr 20, 2015
- 90
- 12
- 43
Hey, I have lurked on this site for a while, so I figured I may as well join the forum.
I have a story behind my interest in chickens, gamefowl in particular. When I was growing up, my grandparents that I lived with owned all kinds of poultry; peafowl, ducks, swans, guineas, pigeons, and chickens. I would take over the feeding and watering of them all but they were still papa's birds, and I wanted my own. I started feeding chickens at a neighbor's house when he was out of town working, and he fought chickens at the time when it was barely legal. It all started for me when he let me take one of the underdog hens home. She was a year old roundhead hen that had just been caught off the range and put into a broodpen. I named her Daisy, and all seven toes were broken from fighting the other hens, and god she was an ugly, swollen, bloody mess for the first few weeks. The man later gave me a manfighting Kelso game rooster I named Buster. For some reason it was gratifying to turn that monster into a pet. It's been over ten years and I still have scars from his spurs. Daisy and Buster lived for eight years and gave me some beautiful birds over the years with the addition of some other lines. For about five years I used to be a backyard breeder of american gamefowl, and I frequented the gamefowl forums at the time, which taught me a lot about chickens in general. Those sites are almost dead now.
I thought that I'd never keep chickens again after having to sell off my previous broodstock, (it's traumatic to have to sell out when you've acquired historical lines of Gamefowl that you can actually trace the history back on paper to when they were actually fought by who named them.) I never fought my birds, I just really appreciate the history behind them, and they looked exactly like they did in the old 60's pictures in gamefowl magazines. I collected them like someone would have collected civil war artifacts, but I'd say that I loved them more..
So you could say that I've loved and lost. This time around, I'm not as serious about the breeding as I was, but I'll get there eventually.
I started out this time, with two OEGB that were given to me. They weren't doing too well, all they were fed was raw rice at the previous home, and the rooster died, and the hen was eventually killed. Since I had put so much time into cleaning out my chicken coop, I was determined enough to go buy some chicks from Tractor Supply. I didn't get to pick them because the guy just picked up six random biddies from the assorted straight run bin. I had got all three chicks home, and set up the brooder in the living room even though the directions said to keep chicks outside. (I have always kept biddies in the house, and it has never hurt me.) Three of the chicks died, and I am convinced that they had been handled roughly before i purchased them from the store, because they wouldn't lift their heads, or drink when I dipped their beak into water. Despite the bad luck, I kept on trying. The three I have left are feathering out nicely, and they became tame from living in the living room for the first month. I eventually had set my heart on some Asil Oriental Gamefowl, and sat on the decision to get them for three months, and did. They are Wahl crossed with RA Thomas Asil, and there are so many directions to go as far as breeding, but I wouldn't mind starting a thread about it in itself. My boyfriend saw how happy I was over the Asils, and brought home a small flock of American Gamefowl that are crosses of grey and red, and a random 11 year old barred rock hen that fights everything. The three tractor supply biddies sparked my interest in other breeds, and some potential crosses. I think one is an Easter egger rooster, a small standard black pullet that i can't id, and what I believe is a white rock pullet. I can't wait to share some pics, and bounce some ideas around.
I have a story behind my interest in chickens, gamefowl in particular. When I was growing up, my grandparents that I lived with owned all kinds of poultry; peafowl, ducks, swans, guineas, pigeons, and chickens. I would take over the feeding and watering of them all but they were still papa's birds, and I wanted my own. I started feeding chickens at a neighbor's house when he was out of town working, and he fought chickens at the time when it was barely legal. It all started for me when he let me take one of the underdog hens home. She was a year old roundhead hen that had just been caught off the range and put into a broodpen. I named her Daisy, and all seven toes were broken from fighting the other hens, and god she was an ugly, swollen, bloody mess for the first few weeks. The man later gave me a manfighting Kelso game rooster I named Buster. For some reason it was gratifying to turn that monster into a pet. It's been over ten years and I still have scars from his spurs. Daisy and Buster lived for eight years and gave me some beautiful birds over the years with the addition of some other lines. For about five years I used to be a backyard breeder of american gamefowl, and I frequented the gamefowl forums at the time, which taught me a lot about chickens in general. Those sites are almost dead now.
I thought that I'd never keep chickens again after having to sell off my previous broodstock, (it's traumatic to have to sell out when you've acquired historical lines of Gamefowl that you can actually trace the history back on paper to when they were actually fought by who named them.) I never fought my birds, I just really appreciate the history behind them, and they looked exactly like they did in the old 60's pictures in gamefowl magazines. I collected them like someone would have collected civil war artifacts, but I'd say that I loved them more..
So you could say that I've loved and lost. This time around, I'm not as serious about the breeding as I was, but I'll get there eventually.
I started out this time, with two OEGB that were given to me. They weren't doing too well, all they were fed was raw rice at the previous home, and the rooster died, and the hen was eventually killed. Since I had put so much time into cleaning out my chicken coop, I was determined enough to go buy some chicks from Tractor Supply. I didn't get to pick them because the guy just picked up six random biddies from the assorted straight run bin. I had got all three chicks home, and set up the brooder in the living room even though the directions said to keep chicks outside. (I have always kept biddies in the house, and it has never hurt me.) Three of the chicks died, and I am convinced that they had been handled roughly before i purchased them from the store, because they wouldn't lift their heads, or drink when I dipped their beak into water. Despite the bad luck, I kept on trying. The three I have left are feathering out nicely, and they became tame from living in the living room for the first month. I eventually had set my heart on some Asil Oriental Gamefowl, and sat on the decision to get them for three months, and did. They are Wahl crossed with RA Thomas Asil, and there are so many directions to go as far as breeding, but I wouldn't mind starting a thread about it in itself. My boyfriend saw how happy I was over the Asils, and brought home a small flock of American Gamefowl that are crosses of grey and red, and a random 11 year old barred rock hen that fights everything. The three tractor supply biddies sparked my interest in other breeds, and some potential crosses. I think one is an Easter egger rooster, a small standard black pullet that i can't id, and what I believe is a white rock pullet. I can't wait to share some pics, and bounce some ideas around.
