Saipan Jungle Fowl Thread

[wood&feathers]

I think the OP said Saylor was Navy? If he was a sailor or Seabee, they were famous for wheeling, dealing and smuggling weird stuff home. Air Corps too. One of the pet obsessions of a famous Air Corps officer, Pappy Gunn, was importing Arkansas game from his home to the Phillipines. It would be no surprise if others brought birds or eggs the other way.

The poster with firsthand accounts refuting Saylor is also persuasive, especially if others could corroborate. Saipan had a huge Japanese presence, including more civilians than elsewhere outside Japan/Okinawa. So the part about the Japanese bringing in lots of other breeds makes sense.

 

[nissa_loves_cats]

I'm looking to get some Saipan Jungle Fowl. Are there any special difficulties with raising and breeding them?

 

[GotGame]

Quote:
You would do well to read through the oriental game thread. U want to keep them on a low protein food as they develop, low wide roosts so they dont dent their keels, etc... raising oriental fowl isn't like raising cochins or leghorns. Do a lot of research first. I would recommend talking to saladin, lollipop or cuban longtails on here.

 

[D3invertebrates]

These birds are so much different than my laying hens who despite being half there size are still being mean as hell to my saipans, bit of a surprise to me. My smallest saipan pullet who is almost 4 months recently got a taste for small birds and now any time a mocking bird or dove or whatever lands in the yard she goes nuts trying to kill it, its one of the funniest things Ive ever seen

The saipans seem to be much better foragers, theyll eat alot of stuff my laying hens dont seem to touch, maybe thats just cause there spoiled though

The saipans dont seem to care for snakes which I thought was weird, my laying hens eat them whole. I saw my youngest saipan kill a small snake today and she just left it on the ground, didnt even try to eat it. I knew that these birds would be different but Ive really been surprised. A friend was worried cause there gamefowl they would be mean, but my boy is by far the nicest most affectionate bird out there. Im real happy with them so far, now I just want more!

 

[Gresh]

Quote:
Wow, your Saipans are really coming along! Your stag's tail feathers are looking very "Saipan-ish". Glad to hear that they are such good free-rangers. Gamefowl of all sorts usually are. They're closer to the wild birds and therefore have a bit more instinct in their heads than some utility birds.

LOL, your Saipans will probably dominate your laying hens as they get older. Many gamefowl don't exhibit their gamey-ness until they are around 4-6 months old. When you have a slow-maturing Oriental like Saipans, you may not notice any gamey-ness until they are past their first year. However, this is mere speculation on my part due to the reading I have done on Saipans. I've never kept them myself to know if they take a year or so to build up that gamey-ness.

Another thing to consider is that not all Saipans are gamey. From what I have read, they can be cranky with other chickens, but usually do not fight to the death (though fatal injuries may be inflicted if the Saipan fights with a smaller chicken). Saipan males will fight each other, but from what I have read, they eventually establish a pecking order and after that do not do much fighting.

Your Saipans will probably not be mean, as your friend thinks. Well-bred gamefowl will never be mean towards people. Game breeders are very particular on that point. Oriental gamefowl, especially, are calm and friendly with people. Saipans are said to fight people they don't know, but I have not heard any specific person tell me this and so do not regard it as factual.

~Gresh~

 

[D3invertebrates]

I would be tempted to breed a bird just for the gameness towards people, I would think a pack of killer chickens would be fairly formidable. Recently I had some robbers pull into my driveway at which point my dogs went berserk and because alot of black people are scared of dogs they took off, so then they went and robbed my neighbors. I saw the whole thing I just didnt know for sure they were thieves until the police showed up later. Well anyway my thoughts are that nobody would really think twice about or really have any fear of a chicken, that is until its to late, muh ha ha

 

[ClintD]

Lots of interesting stuff in this thread. Ive made up my mind. Im getting saipans. Ive been researching them for a while. Really cool birds. I want to find a breeder, hopefully near west Texas. Old Saylor was telling it from his perspective, sounds like. Right or wrong, very cool peice of history. Especially if you like chickens as much as me.

 

[ClintD]

Lots of interesting stuff in this thread. Ive made up my mind. Im getting saipans. Ive been researching them for a while. Really cool birds. I want to find a breeder, hopefully near west Texas. Old Saylor was telling it from his perspective, sounds like. Right or wrong, very cool peice of history. Especially if you like chickens as much as me.

 

[Gresh]

Quote:
Glad to hear you're interested. You might want to consider joining the SPPA (Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities) for an opportunity to get a breeders' directory. I'm not sure if there will be any Saipans on the directory, but there's a good chance. Plus, if you join the SPPA, you'll be helping others to preserve ancient and/or heritage chickens and other poultry.

Not everyone agrees on the origin of Saipans, as you probably know. There are at least two people here on the Forum that I really respect who do not believe in the Saylor story. But there are also some people who do. Some pictures of Saipans I've seen don't look any different than say a Shamo or Thai, but some Saipans look very different, particularly Saipans with shorter tails (this distinguishes them from Thais, Shamos, and other Orientals). Personally, if the Saipan is ever to become a classified breed, I believe it should have a shorter tail, because if gives it a unique trait.

 

[ClintD]

What if the chickens Saylor found were oriental games gone feral or semi-feral? My grandparents had a pretty wild flock of mixed chickens when i was a kid descended from some various breeds (including OEGs). Survival of the fittest, you know? My dad has another free range mixed flock (sumatras and different layers and oeg banties.) now after several generations, the survivors of coyote predation (west tx) seem to be trending toward a certain type. They look like fayoumis. He never had fayoumis but they are from feral chickens in N. africa. What do you think?