Surprised 15 times over!!!

[yadaguhtoo]

Well two weeks ago my husband and I spotted a hen with 11 chicks and before we knew it our tom turkey stomped 3 of them to death so we grabbed her and the 8 remaining chicks and quickly built a brooder area to keep them safe and they are thriving. Now this past Sunday another hen appeared with 7 brand new babies and before the turkey (or our cat) could get them we built another brooder area quickly. Our turkey condo is now a chicken nursery (the turkeys didn't use it anyway). These hens are from a bunch of free range chickens that moved over from our former neighbors (disliked him)....he said they are some sort of Phillippino Browns ( fighting chickens). Has anybody heard of this breed before? I would like to know more about them if possible. We had to cull 4 roosters about a month ago and thougth we were down to just 1 rooster and 4 hens,but to our surprise we now have 21 of the buggers

I hope the pics worked!

 

[ChickasaurusRex]

Does the 1st one have a tail like the 2nd? Their face looks like Australorp... the little ones look like Australorp babies....?
Mamas are PRETTYYYYY! Chicks are ADORABLE!

 

[yadaguhtoo]

Yep they both have the same sort of tail. They are mostly black with a little bit of red feathering color around the head. What color eggs do Australorps lay? These eggs are very very light brown almost white.

 

[Pele]

Actually, you're pretty much on target. Their breed is Filipino (or Philippine) Long-tailed Chicken, and they are a variety of game fowl. I don't believe that they are standardized really, but from what I remember, they come mainly in a dark brown/black.

You are unfortunately correct about one of their uses. Fortunately, they are also good birds for meat and eggs (dual-purpose). Looks like you will have your hands full in a couple of months!

 

[yadaguhtoo]

Ya, Pele I agree with you after looking at some Australorps online. It sounds like Australorps are docile and about double the size of these birds. Our hens weigh I'm guessing 5 pounds tops if that, they are small birds and very fiesty. They don't bother us but are pretty aggressive to eachother, we had 2 hens fighting out in the driveway a few days ago and by the time I got there to break it up one of the hens was flat on her back panting like crazy and one of the reasons we culled roosters is that they were fighting to the death....they just don't give up! I think we will probably end up building another chicken coop and run and stop letting them run free as much (if we can catch the ones that are still loose and keep it down to 1 rooster). I have got into my Lavender orps and don't dare let them loose with these wild chickens Probably at least half of these babies are roosters and will be headed to freezer camp before to long......that is another thing I have to try to wrap my head around....butchering our own chickens...my sister-in-law is going to show us how the next time she butchers. When we have culled the rooster before we shot them with a 22 and buried them because we could not catch them....I know, I know, that is such a waste and felt terrible too.