A Passion for Rare Poultry Antiquities

[justbugged]

Thank you for the explanation. I had felt like I dropped into the middle of a university lecture. I am fascinated by the subject, and was learning about something I am interested in, but I was also aware that I had missed a number of pre-electives, and the 101 thru 110 classes. I was trying catch up, and then things got weird. I was starting to wonder what was going on, and what I had missed. If you have more information, please don't underestimate some of us. While I know that I am not ready to take on a breeding program. But I am still interested and would love to know more about origins and history of the North American Araucana. You still have some incredible birds, and I truly appreciate your sharing.


I wouldn't underestimate the possibility of alcohol use either. It was my first impression.

 

[Resolution]

What follows is conjecture.

Austronesian Seafarers carried Gallus giganteus from the Comoros Islands and/or Madagascar to their homelands in South East Asia and Indonesia.

Fossil records reveal that, long ago, junglefowl very similar to the species we know today scratched and pecked a wide swath of Eurasia, the Middle East and East Africa .

Like many landbirds of remote islands unoccupied by human predators, Gallus giganteus was gigantic and semi-flightless. It had no innate fear of humans. It was also very closely related to other Junglefowl native today only in Southern, South East Asia and Indonesia.

There may have been more than one form native to any number of isolated islands in the Indian Ocean. These islands would hypothetically, be remnants of larger land bodies washed beneath the sea during theInterglacial Period. This is a cyclical period in time when the earth's huge glacial sheets melt rapidly, rising the level of the oceans. This large junglefowl became marooned on a few islands where it became flightless and fearless. One form may have been prominently crested with no wattles. Its gular lappet may have been as prominent as that of the Green Junglefowl. Its comb was a big knob. The facial area was partially feathered, specialized downy plumuelles covering the suborbital and subaurical regions. Another form or just possibly a different sex - exhibited completely bare face with prominent cap of feathers on its head but no crest -no feathering on the face. It may be that both forms were naked necked or at least seasonally when the sexes moulted their neck plumes, revealing vividly coloured skin.

This group of flightless fowl were carried everywhere the Austronesians went. They were crossbred with the South East Asian Red Junglefowl native to the Austronesian's homeland. This probably occurred very early on in the development of the domesticated species we all know so much about.


Concurrently, a different peoples indigenous to Indonesia ( the Austronesians were newcomers) known as the Melanesians were flourishing in their own ancient culture. They had independently domesticated their own native fowl the Indonesian Red Junglefowl, a close cousin of the continental South East Asian species. They had also experimented with hybridization with the Austronesian's fowl to create the world's first fighting games .

Another experimental byproduct of cultural infusion that also occurred very early on in the domestication of the junglefowl was the paternal hybridization
of Green Junglefowl males on the domesticated Red Junglefowl and Austronesian fowl females. This created another race of fowl, the "Early Migration Seafarers" These birds held additional ceremonial and religious esteem than the Malay's Game Fowl.

These two subraces were carried everywhere either of the respective seafarer cultures and new cultures formed by the admixtured populations between them (=Polynesian) took these invaluable commodities.


Seafaring cultures tend to bring their livestock to new homes -new frontiers. Sometimes on islands with favorable ecology those population of introduced livestock became naturalized as purely feral species.

Because the founder pools were so small, unusual mutations ( i.e. hyper-melanizm; dwarfism; zygotactyla; all the above) would often become dominant features in the genetic landscape. These unique populations represent unique evolutionary novelties. They are not true species and can interbreed freely with their close relatives remaining back on whatever continent the parental species originated. But due to their isolation and closed gene pools they often appear so.

 

[OwensMom]

This is fascinating!! I purchased 5 EE from the local feed store this spring. They are Auracana X RIR. We have noticed that their behavior is very different from out other poultry(BO, Plymouth Rocks, Austrolorps). We have noticed they are more aggressive and more easily excited than the others. As a matter of fact we have taken to calling them our Velasoraptors!! Maybe we are not so far off.
Since I love dinosauers, I would love to help in preservation. I don't think that I have the necessary housing for them. Please continue this discussion with photos. I'm fascinated. Thanks

 

[birdsNbeesNseeds]

Quote:
I agree that you may want to contact this group. Your birds are so uncommon and rare that you may also want to contact zoological parks, professors at universities, or other conservation programs. You may have to get the word out-

 

[Resolution]

Quote:
I agree that you may want to contact this group. Your birds are so uncommon and rare that you may also want to contact zoological parks, professors at universities, or other conservation programs. You may have to get the word out-

Thanks! The stock actually came from professional institutions. I'm not in the chicken business- thank the powers above that We've found homes for most of the rare stock as of yesterday. There will be a few birds that are young chicks now that may need homes in the fall.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Quote:
Good news!

 

[Resolution]

If any of you still want birds now is the time to grab them. Send boxes and shipping. Everything else is negotiable. I am getting rid of all the stock not absolutely necessary to keep and will never again be played like the fool that I have been this last year. As we will never rear birds for collectors or hatcheries again you really should snap up the stock now. I'm moving back to camels and yaks. I love poultry and aviculture but the amount of energy and time it takes to deal with one or two hats of onagers is not only not worth it- it works against the principles that deserve passion. None of the farms I convinced to hatch and rear chicks for these nutters will ever be enthused to do so again.


Is it just me or are there lots of people getting into poultry that have no farm experience whatsoever?

Has anyone on this board ever been asked to bring cash to pay for their birds upon picking them up or before hand?
Because I demanded this of one idiot she decided I must be a fraud, for asking her to bring the cash for the birds she was picking up.
Just paid for a yak last week, in cash. Had to drive over state lines to pay for that yak, in cash. Have to buy a female camel in a few months, in cash. I'll have to drive to pick her up and cross state lines- with cash- and we can guarantee four legged livestock costs a great deal more than two legged critters. I don't know these people and I'm not a wheeler dealer. One thing is for sure, if you are going to sell livestock or even buy it, you may well want to go through a broker. The broker is responsible for vetting the person selling or buying the livestock and that acts as a barrier between yourself and the con artists and the nutters and jack offs that just soak up as much time and energy as they possibly can.

 

[speckledhen]

This thread has been cleaned up. Please, keep this on track and keep personal feuds out of the thread.

 

[V Comb]

I loved the Jitokkoh ever since I saw it!

 

[geebs]

Res: I went over it in my mind a zillion times... I just can't make a commitment to such a rare antiquity.. I am afraid that I would not be the best steward... The burden would be too heavy for me to bear the responsibility...

Geez that sounds retarded... Blech... I am not a gifted wordsmith... It just worries me deeply that I might kill something irreplaceable because of inexperience and lack of knowledge... I think I will have to stick with groundbirds of more familiar origin... (OH SO TEMPTED THOUGH)...