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Hope you don't mind my two cents for what it is worth!
PH's and American Game's for that matter make great pets. I handled all of mine just like any other breed of chicken and they were friendly and sweet. Very smart birds. I think you will be very pleased with just how pet like they are. You will want to handle them as much as possible if you are showing. The more a Gamefowl is handled the the better and the judges like to be able to handle these birds with little fuss.
I used to breed standard American Games and showed them quite a bit.
The standard does call for a dubbed comb on the rooster. Mine were all straight dubbed.
The hardest part on showing a standard American bird is that you will be judged against the Old English Standard. Americans Games are shown as Standard Old English Gamebirds in the AOSB (Any Other Standard Breed) class, unless the show offers an American Game Class which is not common. The big difference here that the American Game typically does not have a spit breast while the Old English does. I have seen PH's with a spilt breast and without and in fact have shown against them and lost. I have seen a PH take the AOSB class and a PH also take more them a few American Game Classes.
I just had to took a look at Greenfire Famrs and he has some seriously nice birds, I hope you have a great hatch and wish you luck in the show world with your PH's! Good luck!
Thank you for you "2 cents" this is why I love the forum. The thing is I do have 3 children. 13, 12 & 7. MY DD (7 yr) LOVES her chickens. We leave the chicks in the house until Dad gets sick of the dust, because what else would you want to do but watch TV with a little peep on your lap! They will get plenty of handling and love. I am still leary of the dubbing but I remind myself that with our frigid winters, the boys combs will not freeze and therefore they will be happier.
They go in tomorrow-hoping for some of the lighter orange colored ones I think. Like a pumpkin in the sun.
I guess I had more then two cents!!!!!
Dubbing is not as bad as it seems, it's just messy, but you'll do just fine!
I have not looked at the how to dub link that Chris posted, but I can tell you these tips from my dubbing days:
1. It's a two person job
2. Buy dubbing scissors. We used a razor or scissors, but with dubbing scissors it's a whole lot easier.
3. We did the comb first, then the waddles.
4. After you dub, pluck a few downy feathers from their butt and stick them on the dubbed comb site. The feathers help to coagulate the blood then you leave the feathers on till they fall off-about 2-3 weeks. It takes about three to four months give or take to completely heal for show. At least that was my experience.
Supposedly running cold water over their feet for 30 seconds helps to stop the bleeding. I have not done it but a number of my friends did and swore by it.
5. You might want to consider a non show-able "practice" bird or two so your more comfortable dubbing before you dub your show birds.
Also, in reading the newer posts, it sounds like Greenfire breeds a nice strain of non gamey PH's. That is not to say that all PH's are non gamey. Your birds more then likely be nice, non gamey, and docile with the flock, BUT I would keep them separate like you planned. More to keep other little miscreants from starting up something they shouldn't and potentially damaging your show stock. This sucks, I've had that happen. So my best advice is to build a separate PH habitat and keep others away from your show investment.
Im wishing you luck with your hatch!!!
Hope you don't mind my two cents for what it is worth!
PH's and American Game's for that matter make great pets. I handled all of mine just like any other breed of chicken and they were friendly and sweet. Very smart birds. I think you will be very pleased with just how pet like they are. You will want to handle them as much as possible if you are showing. The more a Gamefowl is handled the the better and the judges like to be able to handle these birds with little fuss.
I used to breed standard American Games and showed them quite a bit.
The standard does call for a dubbed comb on the rooster. Mine were all straight dubbed.
The hardest part on showing a standard American bird is that you will be judged against the Old English Standard. Americans Games are shown as Standard Old English Gamebirds in the AOSB (Any Other Standard Breed) class, unless the show offers an American Game Class which is not common. The big difference here that the American Game typically does not have a spit breast while the Old English does. I have seen PH's with a spilt breast and without and in fact have shown against them and lost. I have seen a PH take the AOSB class and a PH also take more them a few American Game Classes.
I just had to took a look at Greenfire Famrs and he has some seriously nice birds, I hope you have a great hatch and wish you luck in the show world with your PH's! Good luck!
Thank you for you "2 cents" this is why I love the forum. The thing is I do have 3 children. 13, 12 & 7. MY DD (7 yr) LOVES her chickens. We leave the chicks in the house until Dad gets sick of the dust, because what else would you want to do but watch TV with a little peep on your lap! They will get plenty of handling and love. I am still leary of the dubbing but I remind myself that with our frigid winters, the boys combs will not freeze and therefore they will be happier.
They go in tomorrow-hoping for some of the lighter orange colored ones I think. Like a pumpkin in the sun.
I guess I had more then two cents!!!!!
Dubbing is not as bad as it seems, it's just messy, but you'll do just fine!
I have not looked at the how to dub link that Chris posted, but I can tell you these tips from my dubbing days:
1. It's a two person job
2. Buy dubbing scissors. We used a razor or scissors, but with dubbing scissors it's a whole lot easier.
3. We did the comb first, then the waddles.
4. After you dub, pluck a few downy feathers from their butt and stick them on the dubbed comb site. The feathers help to coagulate the blood then you leave the feathers on till they fall off-about 2-3 weeks. It takes about three to four months give or take to completely heal for show. At least that was my experience.
Supposedly running cold water over their feet for 30 seconds helps to stop the bleeding. I have not done it but a number of my friends did and swore by it.
5. You might want to consider a non show-able "practice" bird or two so your more comfortable dubbing before you dub your show birds.
Also, in reading the newer posts, it sounds like Greenfire breeds a nice strain of non gamey PH's. That is not to say that all PH's are non gamey. Your birds more then likely be nice, non gamey, and docile with the flock, BUT I would keep them separate like you planned. More to keep other little miscreants from starting up something they shouldn't and potentially damaging your show stock. This sucks, I've had that happen. So my best advice is to build a separate PH habitat and keep others away from your show investment.
Im wishing you luck with your hatch!!!
