Show Off Your Games!

[Regular Guy]

Thanks all, it's nice to get to be able to admire everyone's birds and show yours off as well. We are actually polluted with gamefowl here in upstate South Carolina lol, which brings me to my comments on researching their genetics. I have stacks of old "Grit n Steele' magazines full of great articles on gamefowl and breeding. The thing is, you can find most of these articles online now, although credit isn't always given to sources, so you may just have to google 'histories' and 'breeding' of gamefowl and weed through. Now this may not help you much in terms of genetic talk because these fowl weren't bred for looks, but there is a lot of good information there. You may be able to ascertain much from reading about the outcome of the crosses.

The most dependable way to breed consistency is to maintain 'pure' strains of gamefowl through various breeding methods. The outcome of crossing one strain or breed over another produces fairly consistent results and it also depends on which strain or breed is used as broodcock or broodhen as each way will produce a different outcome. For example, if you want to breed 'Black Greys' you would want to breed a Black broodcock over a grey broodhen and not the other way around.

I have friends who have bred pure the same strains of gamefowl for fifty years of more. My neighbor said his Dad told him the reason he was born was so that he would have some help feeding and watering his fowl, lol. I could have bought most anything over the internet but that's why I have the 'Blacks' I have now, because I know where they came from and how they were bred. You would think I would have easy access to some pure broodstock, maybe one day as we are all getting up in years. However, I just acquired some Sid Taylor hens that were exposed to the Sid Taylor Cock pictured above, thinking maybe I need to get down to tractor supply and get another incubator today!

 

[JShubin]

Regular Guy... you have any other breeds? Or are the blacks the only thing you are breeding right now?

 

[Regular Guy]

i do, mostly dual purpose breeds and some projects I've been messing with but I'm thinking about getting rid of everything but the blacks and maybe a few winter layers to make more room for a new breeding project I've been thinking about. I started collecting eggs today for the incubator, but still haven't committed to getting one. My laying hens are 1 1/2 to 2 years old so I need to get a few more pullets and maybe hatch some out of what I have now, build a few more pens too. I got busy "with life" and haven't hatched anything in a couple of years now.

 

[Regular Guy]

We're in 'chicken country' out here. A couple few years ago they put in a whole sub-division 'in the middle of the woods'. I was feeding up one winter day in the back and I saw a truck and thought, "what is that truck doing in the middle of the woods?". That's when I first noticed they were building it. Access is from a whole other area. I bet the realtors showed the houses in the middle of the day so the buyers wouldn't realize they were surrounded by crowing Roosters, so that doesn't take into account the chickens on other folks yards I still think of as mine!

 

[JShubin]

We're in 'chicken country' out here. A couple few years ago they put in a whole sub-division 'in the middle of the woods'. I was feeding up one winter day in the back and I saw a truck and thought, "what is that truck doing in the middle of the woods?". That's when I first noticed they were building it. Access is from a whole other area. I bet the realtors showed the houses in the middle of the day so the buyers wouldn't realize they were surrounded by crowing Roosters, so that doesn't take into account the chickens on other folks yards I still think of as mine!

Dang Suburbia is creeping in on your wild land. Next thing you know the yuppies will be complaining about noise and you'll lose your right to farm animals. It happened here in California. I am in one of the last towns in So Cal that is allowed to own farm animals, surrounded by suburbs and industry.

I need some layers, all I have is games. My wife hates that I have a million chickens but no eggs (during winter) (and spring and summer and fall cause I end up hatching all my eggs.) lol

So do you keep free range chickens as well? What do your neigbors think about "your" chickens?

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Dang Suburbia is creeping in on your wild land. Next thing you know the yuppies will be complaining about noise and you'll lose your right to farm animals. It happened here in California. I am in one of the last towns in So Cal that is allowed to own farm animals, surrounded by suburbs and industry.

I need some layers, all I have is games. My wife hates that I have a million chickens but no eggs (during winter) (and spring and summer and fall cause I end up hatching all my eggs.) lol

So do you keep free range chickens as well? What do your neigbors think about "your" chickens?

My games will lay in the winter if I keep a light on in there coop during the night. I am not saying they will lay lot, but they will lay all winter long if you do this. If you want some birds, just for eggs, I would recommend Marans. I know your wife will love the nice big the dark chocolate eggs.

 

[JShubin]

My games will lay in the winter if I keep a light on in there coop during the night. I am not saying they will lay lot, but they will lay all winter long if you do this. If you want some birds, just for eggs, I would recommend Marans. I know your wife will love the nice big the dark chocolate eggs.

Yeah she would like a steady flow of eggs. I really want some Russian Orloffs but the closest breeder I could find is 2 hours away and each hen is $35. Marans are a good idea I see a lot of those on local craigslist for relatively cheap.

The light idea might be worth it because I wouldnt hatch any during the winter... I could stock my fridge pretty quick even if they lay one a week. I have a lot of game hens.
What kind of light do you use? colored? and do you dual purpose the light for warmth?

 

[JShubin]

Last of my greys... Grandma and granddaughter.
grandma is a lot bigger, meaner and double spurred.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Yeah she would like a steady flow of eggs. I really want some Russian Orloffs but the closest breeder I could find is 2 hours away and each hen is $35. Marans are a good idea I see a lot of those on local craigslist for relatively cheap.

The light idea might be worth it because I wouldnt hatch any during the winter... I could stock my fridge pretty quick even if they lay one a week. I have a lot of game hens.
What kind of light do you use? colored? and do you dual purpose the light for warmth?

I just use a 60 CFL (Compact Florescent) bulb. It it provides plenty of like and uses very little electricity. It takes about two weeks after you put the light on them for their metabolism to change and start producing eggs. Games need about 15 hours of light a day before their instincts will kick in an tell them to start laying. This is why they do not lay in the winter, there is not a enough daylight hours. It has nothing to do with the temperature. It is all about the light. To get my birds going in the winter, I usually just leave the light on 24/7, Once they are going good, I use a timer to turn the light on about 2:00am. It is better to add light to the morning hours then the evening hours, because it encourages early morning laying. You should get 2 two 3 eggs a week out of your game hens if you put a light on them. Of course, they need a minimum of 16% protein feed as we.

Just to answer some common questions that may be arise about this.

1. No, you will not wear your hens out. Laying eggs is a natural function of their life. Doing this does not hurt your birds in anyway as long as you are giving them proper nutrition.

2. No. You will not exhaust their egg supply. Hens are born with every egg they will ever lay inside them, this is true, but they are born with literally hundreds of thousands of eggs in them and they do not live long enough to even use up a fraction of their egg supply. Hen's slow down their egg laying because of age, not because they have no eggs left. A hen's peak laying potential is between one and a half years old to a little over three years old. A game hen can lay up to 160 eggs a year during this time frame if properly cared for and provided with artificial light during the winter.

 

[flypen]

I just use a 60 CFL (Compact Florescent) bulb.  It it provides plenty of like and uses very little electricity. It takes about two weeks after you put the light on them for their metabolism to change and start producing eggs.  Games need about 15 hours of light a day before their instincts will kick in an tell them to start laying.  This is why they do not lay in the winter, there is not a enough daylight hours.  It has nothing to do with the temperature.  It is all about the light.  To get my birds going in the winter, I usually just leave the light on 24/7, Once they are going good, I use a timer to turn the light on about 2:00am. It is better to add light to the morning hours then the evening hours, because it encourages early morning laying. You should get 2 two 3 eggs a week out of your game hens if you put a light on them.  Of course, they need a minimum of 16% protein feed as we.

Just to answer some common questions that may be arise about this.  

1. No, you will not wear your hens out.  Laying eggs is a natural function of their life. Doing this does not hurt your birds in anyway as long as you are giving them proper nutrition.  

2.  No. You will not exhaust their egg supply.  Hens are born with every egg they will ever lay inside them, this is true, but they are born with literally hundreds of thousands of eggs in them and they do not live long enough to even use up a fraction of their egg supply.  Hen's slow down their egg laying because of age, not because they have no eggs left.  A hen's peak laying potential is between one and a half years old to a little over three years old. A game hen can lay up to 160 eggs a year during this time frame if properly cared for and provided with artificial light during the winter.

I do this on a couple of my brood pens but with a timer and a 13w fluorescent bulb