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

[Shadrach]

I believe they would. It is almost always the artificially incubated birds that fair poorly when thrown out to free range for the first time. Just today I turned out a pure Cracker hen who only hatched 3 chicks (3/4 Cracker, 1/4 Blueface). I let her brood her chicks for a couple of weeks in a small coop. Now they have free range of the farmyard. I suspect they’ll return to the same coop every night. All three chicks represent the same cross, they are all hers fathered by Lanky. This fall I started keeping eggs separate from each hen for the first time. Every batch so set is only of one hen and one rooster and are toe punched accordingly. I’m looking to see if certain hen/rooster combinations make better survivors than others.

The worst issue I have with mother hens is them flying up high to roost too early. I have lost entire broods from hens leaving them all on the ground as they fly up into trees or a high nest box. The best way I’ve found to combat this is to lock them in small coops for the first couple of weeks and then leave the coop open for them to come and go from. They seem to return to that safe coop each night and to stay on the ground longer with the chicks. I also include low roosts that chicks can usually access by week 2-3.

I’ve had the odd chick that will make it up steep inclines on day one and up to an 7-8 foot roosting bar just as soon as they can flap and fly. Ideally I’d love to only let those amazingly early developers be the survivors and breeders. But that wouldn only net me a couple of new birds a year for the next couple of years.

I got around the mothers leaving chicks on the ground by moving them to a broody coop once hatched if they hatched wild. It takes a couple or three days of being there to put the chicks in with mum if they cant manage a ramp and they are sorted after that.
In case anyone tries it, wear eye protection even if you're used to handling stroppy hens. The mums come out of the coop in full battle order when the chicks give a distress call and mum doesn't care how big you are and of course, you'll have one hand taken holding the chick.

 

[Shadrach]

The ivermectin is expensive, but because it is applied in literal drops one bottle would last a long time.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. As I shuffled around chickens last night I noted nearly all my birds had much better breasts than pre-worming.

It may be different where you are but Ivermectin in the area of Spain I was in and now here in the UK was not effective against worms. Flubendazole products still work even for tapeworm given at the right dosage.

 

[Shadrach]

Appologies for the post flood. I'm trying to catch up.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

In anticipation of receiving 3 Liege x aseel pullets this weekend, I just turned all of my layers out to free range. Azog was beating up on the other Wyandotte that was still with him and I am concerned I will not be able to easily discern the layer eggs from the new pullets. Shadow lays tan eggs like a layer and is already tricky to tell from others, except her eggs are oblong.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

It may be different where you are but Ivermectin in the area of Spain I was in and now here in the UK was not effective against worms. Flubendazole products still work even for tapeworm given at the right dosage.

My problem may be a protozoa instead of worms.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I got around the mothers leaving chicks on the ground by moving them to a broody coop once hatched if they hatched wild. It takes a couple or three days of being there to put the chicks in with mum if they cant manage a ramp and they are sorted after that.
In case anyone tries it, wear eye protection even if you're used to handling stroppy hens. The mums come out of the coop in full battle order when the chicks give a distress call and mum doesn't care how big you are and of course, you'll have one hand taken holding the chick.

I too have done this. I have a small coop in particular I only use for this purpose. Like you said, it takes 2-3 days of them being locked in and after that the hen always returns to it. Hens I so condition have higher chick retention.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Here’s another Indo-Liege cross that was raised off farm from a hatching egg. Looks alot like Azog’s brother above.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

He has a huge tail for a Liege.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

It comes from Indo.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Yeah, he has a nice tail. However, it would seem that the other bird's tail is longer than both Indo and any Liege I've seen. Could just be the picture.