Black Dragons [Long-term selective culling project]

[LaurenRitz]

Why was it presumptuous? I like following these projects. I have a similar project, but coming from a different starting point.

 

[Red Mangrove]

Why was it presumptuous? I like following these projects. I have a similar project, but coming from a different starting point.

Genuinely creating a new breed seems like a multigenerational project involving many different parties. The best case scenario I'm looking at here is creating a landrace that comes out of the woods sometimes and scares my neighbors

 

[Medodge]

Genuinely creating a new breed seems like a multigenerational project involving many different parties. The best case scenario I'm looking at here is creating a landrace that comes out of the woods sometimes and scares my neighbors

Now that’s funny.

 

[NagemTX]

Genuinely creating a new breed seems like a multigenerational project involving many different parties. The best case scenario I'm looking at here is creating a landrace that comes out of the woods sometimes and scares my neighbors

The best kind of project results.

 

[my spoiled chickens]

On my small and humble homestead I will be attempting to create a new survival chicken breed. I'm doing this because in my experience so far there exists no perfect dual-purpose breed

Commercial farms and hatcheries are the main producers of chickens in 2023. Even my "pure" red junglefowl hen is probably severely inbred from having small pool of ancestors at Cackle Hatchery- and none of her ancestors at Cackle were selectively bred for survival purposes. They were merely locked in a box and chosen based entirely on appearance as well as other obvious, superficial traits

I would expect nothing less or more from a chicken merchant


My End Goal: a large dual-purpose breed capable of independent survival. Actively carnivorous behavior (beyond the merely insectivorous) would be ideal.
Also, for my own personal joy I would like to make these chickens with a dangerous and draconic appearance. Preferably dark legs and blue eggs, but this may be sacrificed entirely for the first and foremost purpose of survivalism

Present Materials:

• Indio Gigante rooster
• Fayoumi rooster, his 3 sisters, and 1 Fayoumi chick
• Red Junglefowl (RJF) hen
• Asil hen and her 8 Indio Gigante mixed babies
• ~20 American Gamefowl (AGF) hens
• ~10 AGF / RJF hens
• 7 Rhode Island Red (RIR) hens
• 5 AGF / RIR hens
• 15 Ameraucana / 14 AGF and 1 RJF chicks
• 4 Lavender Brahma / Lavender Orpington crosses that I never intended to breed at all
• 15 Indio Gigante, Brahma and Orpington mixes. All black
• 15 Indio Gigante / RIR chicks
• 30 Indio Gigante / AGF chicks
• 2 Silkies that exist as an evil, dangerous presence to my survival breeding project

Current objective is re-homing my Indio Gigante and then letting the Fayoumi take over. The Fayoumi will reign here, and I will hand select the finest of cockerels to serve beneath them until the Fayoumi themselves are overthrown

My current broodcock: 1 year old Indio Gigante nicknamed "All-Might". A calm and peaceful gentleman. The symbol of peace
View attachment 3571425


The next broodcock: 8 month old Egyptian Fayoumi my children have named "Deku". He's currently incarcerated in chicken jail, in an attempt to separate him from his sisters. However they are honestly the most noble chickens I have ever beheld and refuse to join my Indio Gigante and abandon their brother
View attachment 3571427
He will be released from comfortable political prison soon, and it will be his turn to reign on the land

OMG I LOVE THE NAME ALL MIGHT! I got that reference! AND HOPE IS NOT LOST , BECAUSE I AM HERE!!

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

The reality is that free-ranging chickens left to their own devices end up looking like small game chickens. Large birds need more food and birds that lay a lot of eggs need more food. The survivors are the ones that require less food which is smaller stature, less meat and fewer eggs. Basically all the feral chickens you see around the world. Sort of like how all multi-generational feral dogs all look the same. They don’t get huge or tiny…just medium all the way.

 

[Red Mangrove]

The reality is that free-ranging chickens left to their own devices end up looking like small game chickens. Large birds need more food and birds that lay a lot of eggs need more food. The survivors are the ones that require less food which is smaller stature, less meat and fewer eggs. Basically all the feral chickens you see around the world. Sort of like how all multi-generational feral dogs all look the same. They don’t get huge or tiny…just medium all the way.

Yes, I made this exact observation in another thread-

In my experience it's not hard to breed chickens capable of surviving in a suitable environment. Quality genetics in a quality environment will produce a fit landrace very fast. The end result in most environments will end up very similar functionally to wild junglefowl. However junglefowl aren't very useful to humans given their small amount of meat and eggs, which brings us back to the original purpose of why humans domesticated junglefowl in the first place.