Which game fowl do you think this is?

[TameraG]

I am about to hatch out some eggs and I’m not sure what kind of game fowl they are. Some have yellow legs and some have white. The hens are very slender, leggy and upright. The eggs laid are an off-white color. The roosters are beautiful but obviously don’t get along very well with each other. The chicks were multicolored some with darker markings and some very yellowish. I read that game fowl are not good layers, but these hens laid even during the winter and were averaging an egg a day except they are extremely broody. Any insights that you may have relating to what kind of breed this is would be greatly appreciated

 

[TameraG]

The reason I am hatching out these eggs is that I was extremely impressed with the intelligence of the breed and the egg laying capacity of hens. They may be such good layers because their owner pampers them with home-cooked meals specifically for them and gives them mealworms, and all kinds of yummy treats. Except when being offered a treat, the hens are very standoffish. The roosters, however, have quite the personalities and when they are hanging out clothes or doing other things outdoors, they like to get up close eye level and give them lots of attention. They treat their owners almost like beloved members of their flock. They have been cuddled since they were young, so that may be part of the reason that they are so affectionate and attentive to their people. One of the roosters whom they named sheriff, tries to keep all the other roosters in line. However, some of the least dominant ones are constantly sparring when they can get by with it when Sheriff is not around in an obvious attempt to climb the hierarchy and they do a lot of damage to each other. Several of them were turned out to free range or kept in a separate pen with friends to cut back on the damage they were inflicting on each other. It seems like so many of the highly domesticated breeds of chickens seem to have their broodiness bred out of them, and they don’t seem to have the alertness and intelligence that these birds seem to possess. Prior to these particular birds being pampered, they were free ranging and foraging and being very self-sufficient. They are broody and very good mothers. I guess the fact that they are so intelligent, such good mothers and great layers, who even lay during the winter motivated me to hatch their eggs. However, I live in town and I need to figure out if the coloring of the chicks to give me a clue as to gender as I really would like to keep the hens, but my neighbors would probably not appreciate the crowing of those beautiful roosters. I will want to sell the male chicks to others who would like to breed some intelligence into their flock and have a rooster that’s going to be super alert to protecting his harem. I have noticed the similarity between these and roundhead game fowl. But since I am uncertain of the name of their breed, I am not sure what to tell people relative to what they would be getting.

 

[TameraG]

Someone insightfully pointed out that they had peacombs. I am wondering if those peacombs and the coloring could suggest which game fowl they are. Someone had suggested that they might be Welsummers but Welsummers have a single comb and dark speckled eggs and they don’t stand so upright.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

Are you not able to ask the farm who has the chickens?

 

[oncebefore]

They remind me the wild chickens everywhere on Kauai and Maui islands. Look just like that. ( I read somewhere the wild chickens there are Junglefowls, ancestry of domestic chickens. The ones in Hawaii islands I think is from Atvaism (back to ancestry traits).