This IS a very interesting breed! I purchased a couple of chicks last February from my local Ranch and Home store for $10.95 each. I didn't know much about them other than going online to find out what they looked like and how to feed and care for them. I purchased them along with 9 laying hens, a mixture of Light Brown Leghorns and Plymouth Rocks who they grew up with. As they began feathering out it wasn't a mystery that I was the lucky owner of a Saigon cockerel. And lucky I am. He's a real Romeo, and the hens all love him. He coos and woos all day. He's only 5 months old but he's very handsome, expressive, and majestic. He is very friendly to me, comes up and talks to me while I'm doing my chores and follows my chicken watching Standard Poodle and I around as long as we're around. He'll practically sit in my lap while I'm out visiting with the flock. I don't pet him but he loves to get up close and chicken eye me with his big blue eyes. From what I've read, he's probably not the purest specimen of Saigon Jungle Fowl but he's the most beautiful bird I own and the ruler of the roost out there and I love to watch him hanging out with the girls. He is bossy and aggressive to my other flock of heritage/meat chickens but they are kept separate most of the time other than when they are ranging. He ignores them for the most part when they are outside the coop unless they get right in his face.
The hen is very sweet to me too, but she has a flightier temperment than the cockerel and can be quite the aggressor to my other flock of heritage/meat birds. She keeps them out of her territory and will try to pick a fight with the biggest of hens. She loves to chase the younger chickens around. I don't blame her as she's at the bottom of the pecking order with her own flock. She's still so immature in comparison to them it seems. The other hens started laying three weeks ago, but she hasn't shown any signs of doing such. I don't expect her to until next Spring from what I've read.
I didn't purchase them with any goal in mind really. I just think they are beautiful and different so I wanted to give them a loving home and enjoy watching them enjoy life. If they have chicks, so be it. If not, so be it. I love my "little raptors", and plan on keeping them around for a long time. I've got the room and they love to roam and forage the place.
I've learned so much from this thread, thank you all for the rich information. It seems like there are not too many people who are really familiar with this breed and in my many searches I stumbled upon a site not long ago that is all about game and fighting birds where I read some rather interesting things about these and other game birds. I personally don't agree with fighting animals against each other even if it is in their nature or is an ancient sport. I think if humans want to enjoy a fighting sport then they should just get into the ring themselves or go to a boxing or wrestling match. We have a choice, animals don't.
