No you didnt...
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To my untrained I they do look similar as well. That is in part because, regardless of what the true nature of the Siapan is, it is still somehow related to the Shamo and Aseel bunch,This guy looks shamo-ish.
A couple years ago I had a buff cornish cockerel that looked just like your cockerel.
Explain / describe differences so I can know them as as well. Only obvious difference to me is that your "Siapan" is prettier or more functionally feathered than any shamo or aseel I have seen.no...just no
Pictures would be wonderful! I too am in FL up near Marianna. Welcome to the thread. How horrible that people would let a breed die out. Good job in helping to restore them.This is my first posting. I wanted to offer some information on Saipans. The breed was previously known as the Saipan Jungle Chicken and the Giant Jungle Chicken. It first came to the United States via a Navy man, Beryl Saylor returning home from the Pacific after World War Two. I wrote a letter to the Governor of the Commonwealth of The Northern Marianas Islands back in the 1980's, and found that they were extinct on the islands.
In the 1980's, I was able to purchase a beautiful pair of Saipans from Hazel Matthews, of Tennessee. A few years later, a hurricane destroyed my pens, so I gave them to a co-worker (who is also an American Poultry Association judge) with the agreement that once I rebuilt my pens I could get a start from him. While rebuilding, I noticed that the exotic pet market had "discovered" Saipans, and the price for chicks jumped to $500.00 each, and the cost of adults rose to thousands per pair. In their haste to make a fast buck, many unscrupulous breeders bred Saipans to Shamo and Malay, to produce Saipan look-a-likes to sell as pure birds. My APA judge "friend" said that the birds "ate too much", so he gave them to a friend of his that lives in North Carolina. I was able to track down that individual, and he said that raccoons had gotten into his barn and killed all of the Saipans. I have no doubt what really happened to them.
[SIZE=12pt]Anyway, pure, or true Saipans, were almost bred out of existence by man's greed. Several commercial hatcheries now carry Saipan Junglefowl, but what they are unknowingly selling mixed breed birds as Saipans. Many of those selling mongrel birds told those interested in buying Saipans that their bird came from Hazel. This has largely destroyed her reputation, even though she had nothing to do with their lies.[/SIZE]
All of the commercial hatcheries selling Saipans today are selling descendents of the mongrels produced and sold during the brief Saipan Craze. Most honestly believe that they are selling real Saipans, but they are definitely mistaken.
Saipans that came to the U.S showed two different comb types; pea comb and a walnut/strawberry type comb. I feel that the walnut / strawberry type, or a flat (no comb) is most probably the original type comb. With color, Saipans are usually Black Breasted Red. The first Saipan cocks I had were what some people have described as silver platinum, with wheaten colored hens.
I have traveled extensively in search of true Saipans, and was at last successful when I was contacted by phone one day from a man out west. He had raised Saipans for more than fifty years, with no introduced stock. He is in poor health, and had decided to sell most of his remaining birds. My wife and I drove out to Texas and picked up his senior cock and six hens. He has since sold all but two hens.
When we got home I immediately started up the incubator and set every egg that was laid. That was fortunate, because I walked into the pen a few weeks later and found the cock dead of unknown causes. I set every egg that was laid after he died in hopes of getting as many offspring as possible. Eggs proved fertile for 29 days after his death. Since I prefer the walnut / strawberry comb, I am breeding for that comb type. I culled all offspring that showed the pea comb, giving those to my brother in Central Florida as a satellite flock in case something were to happen to my flock.
Of those raised in 2011, I shared a few birds with a friend in North Carolina. That left me with a flock of six cocks and twelve hens. Some of the hens showed slight evidence of pea comb, but my goal for 2012 was to produce as many offspring as possible before our spring vacation. After culling twice thus far, I still have more than one hundred young Saipans to go though before deciding on my 2013 breeding pens.
I plan to develop seven different bloodlines in order to decrease the possibility of breeding depression such as that which I encountered when I raised Tomaru Longcrowers for several years.
While others raising mongrel stock are concentrating on height of the birds, my primary goal is to conserve the breed. Secondary goals here are breeding for the silver platinum color my first Saipans had, and for the walnut / strawberry comb. I am considering breeding a line for no comb or wattles.
A national conservation organization offered to do free DNA testing on my Saipans last year, but with the down turn in the economy, they lost their funding for the project. I am in hopes that the offer will be made again within the next year.
Ralph Wright
Lake City, Florida