Show Off Your Games!

[sdm111]

My brother came over to help with the brood pen and he told me he actually gets about 30% of the dark version pullets.

Sounds about right

 

[centrarchid]

My brother came over to help with the brood pen and he told me he actually gets about 30% of the dark version pullets.

Out of which matings? Dark by dark? Light by light? Or does he also average in the dark by light too?

 

[flypen]

...

Out of which matings? Dark by dark? Light by light? Or does he also average in the dark by light too?

His brood cocks are chosen by the way they perform, size, and statue more than how much of a lemon hackle he has and he has pens with all light colored hens and pens with dark colored hens.

 

[flypen]

...

Out of which matings? Dark by dark? Light by light? Or does he also average in the dark by light too?

His brood cocks are chosen by the way they perform, size, and statue more than how much of a lemon hackle he has and he has pens with all light colored hens and pens with dark colored hens.

The two pens I hatched eggs out of this past spring both had dark hens. I do most of the hatching in my incubators other than a few hens that go broody

 

[flypen]

 

[centrarchid]

I do not select broodfowl based on color either which is part of the reason why rare / pretty colors do not dominate abundance-wise what I have. Never-the-less I track / record color variation just like other attributes of concern in part because it does not take much effort to record into the breeding ledger. Even the breeders of old did similar despite claiming not to use color as a criteria for selection as can be attested in accounts of how given strains where written. Since you have been breeding them for a while, even without basing pairings in the brood pen on color you could have enough information to figure out how color is inherited. My interest in color genetics goes back only ten years yet I have been able to mine breeding records from much further back to figure out most genetic questions I have had. Only problems have been with variants that do not inherit like the poultry genetic works indicate they do which is most likely to occur in games which have more genetic variation than the other types of chickens,

 

[childressj]

I have seen what he is looking for in American Games. We called them simply Blue-legged Hatch and last ones I saw came from a fellow very near Evansville, Indiana about 30 years ago. Those bred true.

centrarchid you are correct of course. When you consider that none of the "wild type" characteristics are rare, I found it very interesting that individuals with those characteristics were not easy for me to find. As others may be quick to point out, the fact that my friends and associates do not keep any, is no proof they are actually rare. As Centrarchid and I have discussed privately, cockers who line breed anything are getting harder to find and that is the only way to get them to look alike, that is to eventually breed true (all individuals come with those characteristics). Considering the diversity of the game gene pool and how recessive characteristics are carried but unseen, it will take single mating to do the job and line breeding comes with serious risks. I certainly see no reason why serious cockers should be interested in breeding with an eye for color even when they choose to line breed a family which would tend to make them conform with respect to comb and color. This challenge is no job for serious cockers, They have to breed winners no matter the color.

I thought that given the infusion of oriental blood, it might be good if someone would try to keep a family of our traditional type (which look more like the wild relative than oriental birds) that have the wild type comb and color so we could say "this might be about what the original domesticated chicken looked like". Of course one can say exactly the same thing about the RJF. My only reason for looking to keep a game family that looks like RJF is due to my respect for what has gone into the breeding of game fowl for 5,000 or more years. I also find it interesting that because of the way they are selected for the fittest, they appear more like the wild relative than other breeds. I have nothing against the mutations that make exhibition or game strains look more interesting. I just think someone should consider keeping a family (or ideally several unrelated families) for posterity that looked like the first domesticated ones. JShubin and I have exchanged eggs as he noted but not surprisingly given the handling in shipping, he hatched none and I hatch one and he was green legged. Cockers interestingly seem to prefer slate shanks the least. I found it interesting that green and yellow shanks require the yellow skin gene which is unknown in RJF. White skinned fowl can have white or slate shanks depending on the same gene that determines whether a yellow skinned fowl will be green or yellow legged.

I have thought the interest in exhibition might be key. The APA is not interested in games giving them a bad reputation but I think they might be convinced to allow a class of games which had a requirement for wild type color. They should be able to be convinced that birds bred to color are bred for exhibition and are by no means battle cocks or capable of being used to produce battle cocks. Even they know how pit fowl are bred as opposed to exhibition fowl. Of course we have exhibition games already but they look less like the wild relatives (Modern Games for example). Considering how many folks are interested in breeding chickens for exhibition, I expect there are people who are up to the challenge if the interest is there. I am not a good candidate to reach that goal because I am an old man out of time.

 

[childressj]

So I spent about 2.5 hours at Cuban Game farm not to far from my house... I met this guy at a gas station and he wanted to see my ID and asked if I was a cop... So I knew he was a hardcore breeder. This guy was very knowledgable and spent half his time here in US and the other in Cuba... He was 4th generation gaemfowl breeder and he all the pictures and breeding records dating back a hundred years... He showed me his facilities and spent hours talking to me about them. He had well over a 100 roosters on his property, with aviaries, breeding pens, and basically everything we all dream of. It was quite the experience. I told him I was interested in purchasing stag but he wanted $150. Which I didnt have lol, but he didnt mind, I could tell he really enjoyed talking to me about his love for gamefowl. I didnt want to take any photos but I grabbed these from the CL ad he posted...

So now I have a new friend. He basicallly shared his whole life story with me... Not bad considering he almost didnt want to deal with me at first.. because in his words "I dont see many white guys interested in gamefowl"... as he was eye balling me in my wife's fancy car.. lol

Everyone interested in game fowl should have a serious cocker for a friend. They are still around, just fewer of them. We just don't talk about what they do with them. It's agin' the rules and that's OK by me. I don't do it any longer and was always most interested in the genetics.

 

[flypen]

The new Kelsos, they are 21 months old the other pullet is in another pen because she's only 5 months old and has never been around the older one.

 

[sdm111]

Mighty fine! Mahogany hackles and streamers