Developing My Own Breed Of Large Gamefowl For Free Range Survival (Junglefowl x Liege)

[raingarden]

Azog is 5lb,13oz as of tonight. That means his growth has now accelerated to about 1.4oz a day since his last weigh-in on November 21. Previously his growth rate was holding at or around .8oz a day.

Wow. I didn't know a gamefowl could do that. That is almost exactly the weight gain you would expect from a laying hen of that age. The feed conversion ratio is probably quite a bit less than 3:1 too (weight gain per weight of feed. provided)..

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Wow. I didn't know a gamefowl could do that. That is almost exactly the weight gain you would expect from a laying hen of that age. The feed conversion ratio is probably quite a bit less than 3:1 too (weight gain per weight of feed. provided)..

I think there’s a lot going on. Much of it is genetic, he’s 3/4 Liege and catching up to where I’d expect a pure Liege to be at this stage. He’ll be 7 months old late next week. This is about the age they start showing their size. He may also have some hybrid vigor happening.

Yet I also think my change in how I regulate my birds’ digestive health is making a difference. I’ve wormed him twice now and also given him a lot of grit in the form of granite and oyster-shell. I think his and the other birds’ digestive tracts are working with an efficiency they’ve not worked at since my first gen Crackers nearly 4 years ago.

 

[Cat Ballou]

Awesome project! I’m new to BYC and just found your thread.

What part of Florida are you in? There is a 400-year-old colony of feral Spanish chickens running around Saint Augustine. Would be an interesting addition to anyone’s flock!

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Awesome project! I’m new to BYC and just found your thread.

What part of Florida are you in? There is a 400-year-old colony of feral Spanish chickens running around Saint Augustine. Would be an interesting addition to anyone’s flock!

North-North Central near the GA border.

There are actually many dozens, if not hundreds, of feral flocks and colonies all over Florida. Generally only the ones around the tourist destinations are well known; Saint Augustine, Tampa (Ybor), Key West, ect. But many smaller towns, cities, and wild places have feral colonies that only locals know about. They’re mixes of Spanish gamefowl, American gamefowl, junglefowl hybrids, and random modern coop breeds that get mixed in.

I know of one true feral colony and one suspected feral colony within a short distance of my home. The confirmed feral colony is in the middle of Lake City and is at least 50 years old (the oldest witnesses I have spoke to who remember them in early childhood are in their 50s). The suspected feral colony is in the Osceola National Forest, but they’re on the edge of the forest and farmlands and I have not talked to the local farms to confirm they aren’t far-roaming free rangers off of one of those farms. I do know of other witnesses who have seen ferals in the Osceola and they may or may not be the same flock I am aware of.

 

[ElleEmie]

Have you seen “Yuba City Chickens? Feral flock in California.
I have been working on my lines. They roost high in trees but I have some determined racoons…..

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Have you seen “Yuba City Chickens? Feral flock in California.
I have been working on my lines. They roost high in trees but I have some determined racoons…..

I have not. I am only really familiar with some of the feral flocks in Florida and have some knowledge of the Fitzgerald, Georgia colony.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I am trying to switch out Lanky and Indo so that Indo will be penned with the aseel x American pullet and Lanky will be free ranging. I am running into an unexpected problem. When Lanky is in his coop and Indo is free range, the two ignore each other.

When reversed this morning, they fought though the wire non-stop for hours until I switched them back to their previous setups.

I’m going to try again tonight after dark. Usually I switch rooster after dark and don’t have problems but today I made the switch after daylight. I may also wrap some poultry wire around the coop. I have another coop that I had to double wire to stop wire fights. I may have to do the same on this one.

 

[ElleEmie]

Deff watch for that. I’ve had experience of birds taking the skin off their feet to the bone cage fighting….

 

[Molpet]

Lanky doesn't want to loose his hens.

 

[raingarden]

I had some birds fighting through the side of a bird netting pen. One jumped up and lunged at the other feet first. His spur got caught in the netting and he was hanging there upside down when I found him. Embarrassed, but largely unharmed.

Another time one broke the sheath off one of his spurs when it caught in the chicken wire.