Show Off Your Games!

[centrarchid]

He is a barnyard chicken and wont be near any real gamecocks. He is not mine, so I cant dub him, but he would look cool .

I have never bred non-game blood to my games, but I imagine it has been done in the past many times. I assume this is where we get the color varieties of games we see today.

Hypothetically, if I could breed a family of Leghorns that can out perform any American Game, would you be interested in breeding that bloodline? Someone created gamefowl a long time ago, so it could be reproduced again today if we wanted to, but its a "cardinal sin" so we dont even bother to try.

A lot of the color variation in chickens was probably first developed in games as mutations that where then incorporated into the production and ornamental breeds.

You could create games from silkies but time required would be impractical when intermediates of selection process would be decidedly inferior to existing games for a very long time. During the early stages of creating gamefowl, everybody had about the same quality to work with so even though would not be competitive with present day games they would still be superior to wild birds.

 

[JShubin]

A lot of the color variation in chickens was probably first developed in games as mutations that where then incorporated into the production and ornamental breeds.

You could create games from silkies but time required would be impractical when intermediates of selection process would be decidedly inferior to existing games for a very long time. During the early stages of creating gamefowl, everybody had about the same quality to work with so even though would not be competitive with present day games they would still be superior to wild birds.

I like your viewpoint about the color variations originating in games and then propogated to production breeds... Never thought about it that way.

There is no doubt that it would be a lengthy and extensive process recreating a game breed from production/oriental/wild stock. But it could be done. Look at the specialized breeds of dogs, for example herding dogs come in many varieties. Different cultures managed to produce similar herding traits from different stock, now these breeds are competetive with eachother.

 

[centrarchid]

I like your viewpoint about the color variations originating in games and then propogated to production breeds... Never thought about it that way.

There is no doubt that it would be a lengthy and extensive process recreating a game breed from production/oriental/wild stock. But it could be done. Look at the specialized breeds of dogs, for example herding dogs come in many varieties. Different cultures managed to produce similar herding traits from different stock, now these breeds are competetive with eachother.

You are very correct. You are just wading in water with parties that would much rather stick with what is already in place breeding wise rather than invest in a long-term and very expensive effort to re-invent the wheel, even of it is possible to create something better. A hot as the game guys by get about outcrossing into some very different, you could get a very similar pattern from the commercial production breed folks where out crossing is simply too expensive to breed back up from when the market / competition is tough.

 

[JShubin]

You are very correct. You are just wading in water with parties that would much rather stick with what is already in place breeding wise rather than invest in a long-term and very expensive effort to re-invent the wheel, even of it is possible to create something better. A hot as the game guys by get about outcrossing into some very different, you could get a very similar pattern from the commercial production breed folks where out crossing is simply too expensive to breed back up from when the market / competition is tough.

I just realized that we sort of have two distinct breeds of "game" fowl. On one side we have the Western variety, which could include OEG, Spnaish and Irish breeds, and the others are the oriental breeds like; Asil, Malay, Thai...

I dont know the history of the Western breeds but they seem distinctly different from Orientals... does anyone know how far back these two types are separated? History lesson?

 

[centrarchid]

Separation time certainly predates import of gamefowl into Europe. By that time birds consistent in appearance with extant Asil had already been around for nearly a couple thousand years in the Indus Valley so split surely occurred prior to that time. I doubt the western games were solely derived from the Asil types, rather both are derived from a common ancestor that was more similar to the western. Archeological finds for Asil types much better so evidence of its existence is stronger. My knowledge of selection and evolution makes me think split occurred when progenitors of Asil still looked more like the western games.


This does not exclude introduction of Asil type blood into western games later. That needs genetic study to determine importance. Historical accounts not always reliable on things like that.

This subject is much more interesting than will likely be tolerated here and is tied into other chicken breeds as well.
Part of what is of interest can be found in link below. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-chicken-conquered-the-world-87583657/?no-ist Also check out this paper. I am unable to link full manuscript, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10528-006-9058-6#page-1

 

[sdm111]

hatch 2

 

[sdm111]

hatch 3

 

[JShubin]

hatch 3

lucky Lol

 

[centrarchid]

I have been tracking a few hens over last four years or so more closely in respect to their clutch size at onset of incubation. Pullets allowed to set for first time in early spring have consistently produced more eggs sometimes up around 20 before going broody. After that first clutch, subsequent clutches (even those produced in early spring) produced by the same birds are down in the 10-14 eggs range. Those larger first clutches are not as consistent where they are more likely to have low hatch. It is not a fertility issue as when such eggs are hatched elsewhere (designated broody hen or incubator), the hatch rate is comparable to that of more mature hens. The pullets a have some trouble covering all and the early laid eggs in clutch may go too long before incubation starts.

 

[sdm111]

I have grey pullets ( the only ones I let go broody) some try to set on 18 eggs while right now I have 2 setting on 3 eggs total s