Malay

I have been searching for Malay for about half a decade now and finally got my first pair. They are more wonderful than I could have imagined. Their size and sturdiness is awe inspiring; they are the most unusual and yet majestic fowls I have come across. If not handled they may be rather flighty, however after handling my pair they have begun to tame down nicely. They can be a little hard to handle if you don't know how to properly hold and move a bird of this size. They do eat tons, and are very picky eaters. I do not see them being useful producers of either eggs or meat at any point. They also require a lot of space. However, if you have the time, space, money, and of course interest in the breed, they can be very rewarding to keep.

I used to raise and show Wheaten Malay. They are awesome dinosaur-like birds. Your friends will be surprised to see a chicken like this. Mine were out of German stock. The cock was 38" tall (over 3 feet) and weighed as much as some of our turkeys. We had to use a goose legband for him, his legs were massive and long. They have cool personalities, they are not afraid of anything. They eat alot. I had no problems with cockerels because i always would separate them from the girls at 4-6 weeks and put an old cock with them to stop fights from escalating. They can be kept this way until they are about 5 months, then they need their own pen. Once you separate them from their coopmates, do not try to reintroduce them. They need alot of space to range and excercise. they cannot fly. They will lay and breed well if given enough space to excercise. They take two years to mature to full size. It is cool to be sitting on a chair and have a chicken walk up to you and look you in the eye! They have pearl colored eyes and a heavy brow which makes an even more intense looking expression.
Not good for kids because they could accidentally hurt your child. When stressed they go into "fight mode" not "flight" so if they are scared, handle them respectfully.

Malay is a nice breed for someone who just wants something different and fun. They can be unfriendly to other roosters but usually work it out pretty well. i changed thinking to more utility birds and so they had to go. i do this with plants as well.

my malays can get over 90cm tall and over 6kg
mine are very aggresive to other chooks but fine with people.
mine also pretty much live wild looking after themself fine.
the hens are awsome mothers but can break eggs, because of their weight and will atack anything to protect them, mine go for snakes, dogs, cats and more........but this can also mean the death of them or their chicks because one accidental kick will kill them with ease.
hope this is helpful
cheers MANZO

I just love the look of them

We added a Malay to our already established flock and it was picked on big time. We will never do that again, lesson learned. However because it was so picked on, it was very friendly towards us. They are scary looking because they are so tall and have pointy eyebrows but ours was quite sweet until she decided to sit on her eggs and started protecting them from us. Layed an egg a day for us

I have been breeding Malays for only 18 months. I used to breed Silkies,but fell in love with these ugly giants. If raised from young they become very tame,and I can lay one of them on her back on the palm of my hand and she won't move! I wouldn't have them around small children,simply because they grow so tall,they can be eyeball to eyeball with a toddler and may not mean to inflict harm,but a peck could be lethal! Also,they are very greedy,and will jump up and grab any food that you are carrying! But I love my Malay Game,and fell that they are well worth any effort I put into their upkeep.

I have been oogling Malays for a long time. I finally got my first trio at a show Saturday (1/7/12). They are red pyle projects from a breeder/shower. He is re-creating the color because he couldn't find any. I love them! They are just over 2 ft tall, and probly weigh 9+ lbs each. I'm hoping to get a BBRed rooster and hen from him to work on the color also.

Project color Red Pyle 1yr old hen, and 7 month old cockeral