What does the Game in gamefowl mean?

[centrarchid]

Your birds appear to be American Games, a highly variable type of gamefowl that vary also in terms of when they come into their courage. With most, coming into courage is about time stags come into mature feathers. At that point, once social strife begins it does not stop. With a group of stags reared together, all can be good until a change in weather or social arrangements causes a disagreement. You birds are not mature yet but will be in another 60 to 90 days if they mature like mine. If they are in fact gamefowl, then problems will in all likelihood develope unless you have exceptional free-range facilites where discrete territories can setup and even then such arrangements may not be stable.

 

[Oldhound]

Um, calm down shortfuse. No one was discussing cockfighting but you. A question was asked about a frequently used term in the chicken world. That is all. And there is every right to ASK that question, since, as I mentioned, it IS a frequently used term. i currently have 3 50lb bags of "Gamefowl" ration crumbles at my house to feed to young birds because it is the highest crude protien availible at the feed store. There are also at least two types of chicken with "Game" int heir name, so do us all a favor and either answer the question or not, but keep your trolling anger to your self.Now, about the question, as I'm sure some intelligent person by now has answered, "Gamecocks" were bred for fighting. Which is now illegal, however the the breeds have been saved by conservationists because of their cultural/historical value; and because they are, honestly, quite lovely birds. "Game" can also be used to refer to any species of bird that is hunted, for sport or otherwise, such as pheasants and quail. These birds typically have higher crude protein needs while growing out, as well as specific characteristics and mannerisms unique to their species or breeding, Which is why you find the word "game" used fairly frquently in the poultry world.

I don't know where you got or why you would jump to conclusions and assume that I have a "shortfuse" or am "anger trolling" but you could not be further from the truth.
Sonoran Silkies is correct in stating that I was cautioning not to get the thread "locked". I admire gamefowl as well as many other breeds. In fact my very favorite chicken is Helen, an American gamefowl hen. Perhaps my post was too brief ,not fully detailed but I do not consider it inflammatory .

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Your birds appear to be American Games, a highly variable type of gamefowl that vary also in terms of when they come into their courage. With most, coming into courage is about time stags come into mature feathers. At that point, once social strife begins it does not stop. With a group of stags reared together, all can be good until a change in weather or social arrangements causes a disagreement. You birds are not mature yet but will be in another 60 to 90 days if they mature like mine. If they are in fact gamefowl, then problems will in all likelihood develope unless you have exceptional free-range facilites where discrete territories can setup and even then such arrangements may not be stable.

How do you tell American Games apart from Old English Games? The look the same to me.

 

[centrarchid]

I do not know and will venture to say the difference is not discrete or universally recognized. Supposedly, American Games are derived from Old English Games and Irish Games with lots of other types including Spanish Games and various Oriental Games thrown in to various degrees with various lines. Some American Games may infact be derived more from Orientals than anything directly from Europe. The American Games are thus as a group what is called a hybrid swarm although some / many lines breed true or are consistent at least within strain.

To me they look similar as well and the difference at this point may no longer be relevant.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I see a lot of both Old English and American Games at shows, and to me they look less alike than do barred rock and cuckoo marans or RIR and New Hampshire. Body type is different in a number of areas: everything from back length to tail curve to head set and a lot more.

 

[centrarchid]

I see a lot of both Old English and American Games at shows, and to me they look less alike than do barred rock and cuckoo marans or RIR and New Hampshire. Body type is different in a number of areas: everything from back length to tail curve to head set and a lot more.

There are two distinct types of Old English to my knowledge. One is Carlyle or some of similar spelling. With respect to appearance, my American Games would approximate pretty well the working type of Old English Game but are still American Game based on mixed ancestry.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: APA/ABA have only one standard for Old English (well two, considering both largefowl and bantam). Likewise with American Game. Other countries (such as Great Britain) may have additional types; I do not know.

Now if you are considering the American Game Fowl Society, it has a different set of standards, and I am not as familiar with them. I do know that the variety standards seem to be a bit more loose than in APA or ABA.

 

[Chris09]

Quote: from http://americangamefowl.org/americangamefowl.htm


There are two types of Old English Game one being the Oxford and the other is the Carlisle.
From my understanding the Oxford is more "Pit" Game where the Carlisle is more for show. It is also my understanding that there are very little if any "pure" Oxford Game around anymore. Even the Oxford Old English Gamefowl Club notes, "due to crossing with foreign blood many of the Oxford birds are quite unlike true Oxford English Game in shape or conformation".

Chris

 

[Cadjien_De_Louisiane]

Some say game is attitude and others say breed.

Game birds - Pheasant, Quail and Turkeys... Gamefowl - Breed.. Gameness - lets say two meet up in the wild (mature stag or cock) one with true gameness will never give up till one ends up done for, one thing on his mind, finish him.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Game birds - Pheasant, Quail and Turkeys... Gamefowl - Breed.. Gameness - lets say two meet up in the wild (mature stag or cock) one with true gameness will never give up till one ends up done for, one thing on his mind, finish him.

As a person with 30 years of experience studying just about every type of wild game fowl on the North and South American continents, I would have to firmly disagree with your statement. Wild birds regardless of kind, almost never fight over territory. Fighting among wild birds is strictly a method of establishing dominance with in a flock, and never result in intentional death. Wild fowl have a hard enough time surviving against the trials of nature. They would quickly go extent if they went around other members of their own flock. This is not to say that eventual death will not occur as a result of injuries sustained in battle or intentional starvation as a result of losing (common in older alpha males); but it is clearly not the intent of the battle to end up in death, but to establish dominance. The establishment of dominance is necessary and essential in nature to assure that the strongest genes survive.

Unlike humans, animals do not have the capacity to hate and make a decision to kill; they are simply following their instincts to survive and strengthen their group (flock, herd, etc.). It is entirely unnatural for wild birds to fight to the death within a flock. There are predatory birds that do kill to eat, but this is not what we are talking about. Humans have learned how to manipulate an animals instinct through training and selective breeding to cause animals to exhibit unnatural behavior, but there are studies that show that, even these specially bred animals, if left alone in a natural environment, will revert back to their natural instinct within a single generation.