Show Off Your American Gamefowl and Chat Thread!!!

[centrarchid]

It may be we are dealing with an artifact of the jungle fowl ancestry where males do not fight much outside of breeding season. For many games, that may have some similarity to fighting season. I do not recall events when it got into summer and fall because of molt and heat. Also, since most gamefowl folks in my area are also farmers it was tough to get away from farming obligations during that time each year.

 

[roosterhavoc]

What do they provide protection from? Push a spur through them once and see if the resist penetration. To my eye the hackles are more for display. Areas damaged in combat are body and head when spurs and wings natural.

It’s not a bulletproof vest but they definitely protect the birds skin from cuts, scratches from other birds normally encountered in the wild.

 

[centrarchid]

I remember poking through dead piles looking for lethal wounds. Almost all where to body. Relatively few where to head.

 

[B123]

I remember poking through dead piles looking for lethal wounds. Almost all where to body. Relatively few where to head.

My vet friend shared a similar comment. He collected a bunch of fowl one time and necropsied all of them to determine cause of death. The majority were lung punctures.

 

[B123]

Eclipse molt is interesting. From what I have read, there is a cost to having those bright flashy colors. It appears to be somewhat hormonal/environmental as having females around can delay the molt. Maybe it goes hand in hand with the high energy cost of mating season and chasing off rival males?

 

[roosterhavoc]

Awhile back you guys were all talking about broken eggs when setting. I haven’t noticed a single problem with spurred hens. I have noticed 90% of the time if I have a broken egg it’s because the egg stuck to the hens bare belly when they got up to eat/drink. I moved a hen the other day and her belly looked like it was waxed. As the heat builds up under the hen and the eggs lose moisture some just stick I guess.

 

[centrarchid]

Somehow the hens prevent moisture loss from eggs, otherwise hatch rate would be lower during periods of low temperatures and drought. Later I will try to post picture of what I called spurred hens for comparison.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Science can’t explain it all. Try if you like but you’ll never find an answer to everything. I’m here for the ride

 

[SOHC-FTW]

Tom flipping cruise.

 

[centrarchid]

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