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

[Florida Bullfrog]

Made any decisions on if and what in regard to infusing any fresh blood at breeding season

Into the Cracker side or either side?

 

[sdm111]

Into the Cracker side or either side?

Either

 

[sdm111]

I am just curious as what breed you would use and why you picked it?

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I am just curious as what breed you would use and why you picked it?

On the Cracker side, I already infused Blueface American gamefowl. My two current stags are 1/2 Blueface, 1/2 Cracker. I picked the Blueface because by appearance there is a link between the Blueface and the Crackers. Both sets of birds have strong junglefowl looks. I think many of the wild-type American gamefowl that are commonly called Blueface today are simply RJF-like gamefowl of the sort that were common on Florida homesteads and I suspect historical Cracker gamefowl and modern Blueface are one in the same (not to be confused with the “real” Blueface that Sweater McGinnis had that I believe fell into obscurity when he died). I think there was simply a landrace of RJF-looking and infused American gamefowl in the deep south that all share common genetics from the old Spanish empire as much as the English and somewhere in that mix were some RJF hybrids the Spanish brought in. At some point those birds started being called Blueface, but they are actually independent of Sweater McGinnis and may have never passed through his hands. Anyhow, I also chose Blueface because these particular Blueface are raised hard-core free range in Florida woods like I prefer and have larger bodies than many American gamefowl. I do not intend to add more outside blood to the Cracker side at this time, unless perhaps I try the fayoumi crosses I have. I have also considered trying the American aseel cross I have. She is wild colored and straight combed, so her offspring to a half Cracker stag should make a junglefowl-looking bird with a larger size and more defined muscle structure.

On the terrorfowl side, I will be adding some Thai and outside Liege/Bruges blood in the future. I chose the particular Liege/Bruges because this brood cock is a confirmed killer of predators and the Thai because I like their looks as largish looking aseel and there is an argument to be made that Thai lines may be more primitive or foundational than some other oriental lines. Even if that supposition is wrong, I think there is vigor and fierceness that comes out when orientals are crossed and crossed again. That will be a ways away though before that new blood is added.

Most immediately, I’m crossing into the aseel x Liege side some fresh individuals that are close and distant cousins to my aseel x Liege crosses, and also adding Cracker and American blood. I am adding the Cracker blood because the three way crosses I’ve already produced of Cracker, Liege, and aseel have been excellent free rangers already and great looking birds, and I believe the American I’m going to cross in will have the same results but with larger offspring. I like larger wings for the body size and I hope the bakivoids help with that. In the crosses I already made, they appear to.

That aseel x American pullet I have is really excellent and by the time all is said and done, she may get crossed into everything.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

This is the aseel x American pullet again. I absolutely adore her. The more I think about it, the more likely I am going to pair her back to Lanky or Erik once I get as many Indo eggs off of her I can. It was always my original intent to hide aseel in the background of the Crackers, and she is the best bird to do it with.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I redid the video of my brother's Liege. I'll work it into a proper channel update later.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

He's a big boy.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Several updates on the terrorfowl side:
(pics taken in the rain)

1. Azog's pullets and hens are cranking out 3-4 eggs daily. I ought not have trouble filling the incubators and broody hens. Azog has outgrown my current scales in terms of being simply too large for me to keep him on them, so I have some larger scales on the way that he should be able to stand and shuffle around on and still be on them.

2. Azog is trying to challenge Lanky, but they can't get to each other to come to blows through the double layer of wire.

3. Both of Indo's hens are now setting, including the aseel x American cross. I have decided to let her brood a clutch. She has 14 eggs under her. 3 are hers, the rest are out of Azog's coop. The Cracker hen on the left has been setting for about 2 weeks I think and 10 of 12 are developing. All of the eggs are her's fertilized by Indo. Which is interesting because I let her eggs sit in the nest for the 2-3 weeks it took her to lay them and they stayed out on some chilly nights. Doesn't seem to have effected fertility much.

4. In total, I have about 46 terrorfowl project eggs under incubation at the moment, all fathered by Indo or Azog.

Cracker improvement project:

1. This spot of woods and field has been behind electric netting for several months. About half an acre. I've been running live traps inside and I am reasonable sure no varmints are left inside it. In the next couple of weeks I'm going to set up a deer feeder and fill it with laying pellets, cracked corn, wild bird seeds, and high quality scratch grains. I will set the feeder to go off twice a day. I will then move ALL of my free range Cracker hens and Lanky to it and leave them to fend for themselves, except for what the feeder provides. I will also provide them with a pale of water I'll keep full.

The fence by itself won't keep them in. It's only 4 feet tall and they can fly over that easy. But I'm betting the feeder will provide significantly more tasty food for them than they normally get from me in a day and I bet they'll stay simply because of the easy food. The fence's primary purpose is to give them some protection from the resident bobcat and to give them a defined territory I'm hoping they will bond with and I can eventually remove the fence and they continue to stay in that vicinity without walking up to the farm house. There is a line of natural barriers between the farmyard and this section of woods I hope will encourage them to set up shop here and remain.

2. Lanky has developed a floppy tail. That's a pet peeve of mine. It's totally superficial to my knowledge. I simply don't like it. Makes me think a rooster's tail muscles are weak or defective. I've only ever seen one floppy tailed Cracker, which is my brother's Cracker brood cock. His offspring don't seem to inherit it though.

3. After I release the Cracker flock in the woods, I will only be keeping Erik and 2 Cracker hens up at the homestead. I actually think Erik is the better rooster, even though he looks more like an American game than my Cracker junglefowl hybrids. One of the hens I'm keeping up here is my best Cracker hen. I think her and Erik will make a good pair.

4. 3 of the 3/4 Cracker cockerels took sick with the free-range sickness after a rapid temperature drop and simply culled them as soon as I saw it on the second morning of them showing symptoms of lethargy and ruffled feathers. Another cockerel died in a downpour yesterday. 10 remain, and they seem very vibrant and strong. All but 2 of the 10 are pullets, and of the 2 cockerels, one is actually a AGB not a 3/4 Cracker.

My theory on the free-range sickness is ever evolving, and another factor I think I need to consider is them simply getting sick from being too cold. Conventional wisdom is that chicks don't need heat after 4-6 weeks old and nighttime temperatures don't dip lower than 65F. Yet I have noticed that free-range mommas keep their chicks warm at night, even on the roost, for many more weeks than that. I have a heater going in the coop the 10 are roosting in at night and I think that's helping. Our nights are regularly in the 40s and 50s this time of year. Sickness attacks almost always happen after heavy downpours or during cool, foggy, mornings, and I am considering that many of the chick deaths are not from the same sickness that can effect older birds when turned out for the first time, but are in fact nothing more than the chicken version of hypothermia for birds that are simply too young to keep their heat cranked up when drenched in cold rain. I'm usually throwing chicks out at 6-8 weeks.

 

[genesis1verse1]

Is the half an acre you are going to turn the crackers out into going to be enough for them? How many are there? I would be concerned with them flying over the netting and then being sitting ducks for predators. I've used electric netting and done this same thing but with less feral type birds that wouldn't fly as much as a cracker. My birds that did get out tended to be stupid and could never figure out to fly over the fence and get back in with the rest of the flock. I've lost some of them that gave up looking for a way back inside the fence and slept in the open ground next to the fence and got taken by predators. Of course, that's one way to cull out stupid birds I guess.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Is the half an acre you are going to turn the crackers out into going to be enough for them? How many are there? I would be concerned with them flying over the netting and then being sitting ducks for predators. I've used electric netting and done this same thing but with less feral type birds that wouldn't fly as much as a cracker. My birds that did get out tended to be stupid and could never figure out to fly over the fence and get back in with the rest of the flock. I've lost some of them that gave up looking for a way back inside the fence and slept in the open ground next to the fence and got taken by predators. Of course, that's one way to cull out stupid birds I guess.

Yes, I think half an acre will be enough considering they’re going to be getting a lot of supplemental feed, a lot more than what the birds at the house get.

I’m not worried about them getting out and being wiped out by predators. With the exception of the individual bobcat that’s been living around them for about 4 years, I think they’ll be too fast for predators. Owls will be a problem in a way they’re not around the house, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I’m more concerned about them crossing the fence and walking back up to the house, then Lanky being killed by Indo. I am betting that they’re going to love a constant supply of food from the deer feeder that they’ll be content to scratch under it all day. If they’ll stay behind the fence for weeks, I think they’ll stay even when I take the fence down. Hopefully by then I’ll have disposed of the big bobcat once and for all. I am experimenting with a cellular trail camera that can show me when the bobcat is prowling in real time. I think he’ll use the trees to get into the fence and catch some chickens, but won’t quickly get back out the same way he got in. If I can catch him inside the fence I’ll put my dogs on him, tree him, and kill him.