Retired Fighting Chickens - What Breed?

[Poulet Mama]

Hi All! These are (rather poor, but best I have) photos of the birds we raised when I was a child. We got ten hens and a rooster from a man my mother worked with who was retiring from cock fighting. Thank goodness we could give them a safe place to live! We let them free range, which they were excellent at, and they were really good mothers, though they weren't constantly broody and were very secretive when they did it - one disappeared and we thought her lost, but she showed up with 20 babies! They didn't mind staying inside if the weather was bad and Bill, the rooster, was always following us kids around because he knew we'd dig up worms to give to him so he could impress the ladies. They laid medium to small light tan eggs. The hens were territorial when they had babies, but otherwise they got along pretty well. Any ideas to point me in the right direction? I'd like to raise some more of them because they were such pretty and interesting birds. (The rabbit in the hutch is a "mini lop" that weighed about 9lbs.)

Thank you for looking!

 

[donrae]

Game birds---they come in several different colors and varieties. Hatcheries like Ideal have a wide selection.

 

[sourland]

Those birds may very well have been some strain of Black Red American games. There is an American game thread on site where perhaps someone can help you obtain some of these birds. The hens are great mothers and the cocks are the least human aggressive chickens that I have ever been around. Due to their heritage it is generally difficult to maintain several roosters in a flock unless they a large are to roam about in. When I was a kid every farm had a game rooster in their free ranging barnyard flocks.

 

[Poulet Mama]

Golly guys, thank you so much for responding! These were super friendly birds and very efficient at feeding themselves. They could teach the rest of my flock a lesson or two.