Jungle Fowl

[trailchick]

OK, thanks for the opinion,

I just noticed his rating which is not stellar, and that always weighs into my
decisions for buying shipped hatching eggs.....

 

[Dwkuska]

They do appear like many junglefowl, although I find it odd those males dont have much coloration on em. But the Black/grey legs is a good sign. Let us know what you decide. On a side not check to see if any members in Kauai Hawaii could get you eggs/hens. The birds there are originally from the Phillipines if I understand correctly.

 

[centrarchid]

They do appear like many junglefowl, although I find it odd those males dont have much coloration on em. But the Black/grey legs is a good sign. Let us know what you decide. On a side not check to see if any members in Kauai Hawaii could get you eggs/hens. The birds there are originally from the Phillipines if I understand correctly.

If the Kauai Island red jungle fowl are from the free ranging feral flocks, then they have lots of domestic in them.

 

[Ntsees]

If the birds in Hawaii are acceptable to you, then I suggest you check out the birds roaming in Fitzgerald, GA. Here's my "preference" (even though I wouldn't prefer any of them but it's just to give you an idea of my ranking) ranging from least preferred to most preferred: Hawaii rjf, Fitzgerald rjf, rjf in the ad (assuming the eggs are actually from the birds in the photos), rjf from Philippines. Personal opinion on rjf from the Philippines: no matter how great the specimens look, the entire population as a whole has become questionable when it comes to purity.

 

[Dwkuska]

If the Kauai Island red jungle fowl are from the free ranging feral flocks, then they have lots of domestic in them.

Yeah I thought about that after I posted, However when I go there I know this old islander(I think he is Japanese) who breeds/raises them. He tells me they are his "art" so I thought perphaps might be some pure(well as much as is possible) strains floating around.

 

[centrarchid]

Yeah I thought about that after I posted, However when I go there I know this old islander(I think he is Japanese) who breeds/raises them. He tells me they are his "art" so I thought perphaps might be some pure(well as much as is possible) strains floating around.

If the birds are free-ranging I think it is doubtfull full red jungle fowl exist in pure form on island. I went to Kauai about 15 years ago in part to look at the birds (chickens included) and found them everywhere. I observed mocking birds and cardinals plus a host of others including non-jungle fowl pheasants that were exotic to Hawaii. Many but not all looked like American game chickens with some having a production breed look to them. All were much larger than red jungle fowl, They also do not fly much, not nearly as much as my American games. On an island essentially devoid of predators, red jungle fowl will not be at advantage against larger domestics since intraspecific competition will tend to favor increased size.

On this business of purchasing "pure" red jungle fowl at high prices, be skeptical. Unless genetic documentation exist supporting they are pure, I would not trust such assertations if birds are maintained primarily for purpose of sale. Be doubly skeptical if parties with "pure" red jungle fowl say they are the only ones with pure and selling them at high prices.

One more point on this purity business. Not a single party that has mentioned purity has indicated awareness of subspecies with respect to differences between them. This means we suffering horribly at word of mouth.



When desiring red jungle fowl, consider what they are being used for, The pure ones if they can be acquired are a tough management challenge even for those well versed in poultry and wildlife.

 

[Dwkuska]

I'm sorry I am not a man of words... can you put that in laymens terms? My wife isnt around to interpret.

 

[centrarchid]

I'm sorry I am not a man of words... can you put that in laymens terms? My wife isnt around to interpret.

My spelling and poor grammar is bulk of problem there.

Feral birds of Kauai are not pure anything unless somebody is confining them. The bulk of the feral birds of some form of domestic chicken in them making them as a whole a lot bigger than wild jungle of southern Asia and Indian sub-continent. They birds there mate according to their own fancy and it does not always mean with your own kind. The feral birds to my eyes look like gamechickens with a little something else mixed in with some birds. Not much wildlife eats the birds there so they do not need to be a able to fly much. Not needing to fly much and having to compete with lots of other poultry makes for intense competition where bigger is often better and red jungle fowl would be on the smaller end of size range.

Folks selling red jungle fowl may be trying to up asking price by pointing out limited availability and stating similar products provided by others are not true red jungle fowl. If they say they are pure and wanting me to pay a lot per individual bird, then they must have documentation from a certified lab indicating the birds are in fact pure.

Most folks that seem be touting purity of a given line seem not to be considering birds not being "pure" to there eyes based on appearance are not taking into consideration that more than one sub-species of red jungle fowl exists and that they are different from each other. Most of the "lines" I have seen advertised in US are derived from India, northern I think. Other subspecies occur further east that maybe quite different and possibly different enough that somebody only familiar with the Indian red jungle fowl would reject the more eastern subspecies as being pure red jungle fowl.


Red jungle fowl are relatively large wild birds. Accounts on them vary greatly but a consistent observation is they do not have the same homing tendencies that domesticated fowl have. The red jungle fowl also is inclined to give everything it has to escape a percieved threat by explosive flight attempts that can damage birds colliding with confinement barriers like roof of pen. They are also likely to be stressed by typical husbandry techniques which can limit their ability to thrie and reproduce when in confinement. I work with wild animals and this can be a major consideration.

Ask your self, what do you want pure red jungle fowl for? It will help you decide what they are worth and what needs to be done to successfully keep them.

 

[Dwkuska]

Me myself personally? I dont particularly care if mine are pure or not. The birds I wanted were the one's I saw roaming Kauai Hawaii so thats what I got. Now are they Eastern jungle fowl, indian jungle fowl... Idk but for the purpose on conversation I am stating my birds are red jungle fowl. Since they may not fit in any other species I would say that is what my birds are closest too. I just like the coloring and the fact that the roosters we saw in Hawaii took better care of their young then any other chicken/rooster I have seen.

 

[centrarchid]

Me myself personally? I dont particularly care if mine are pure or not. The birds I wanted were the one's I saw roaming Kauai Hawaii so thats what I got. Now are they Eastern jungle fowl, indian jungle fowl... Idk but for the purpose on conversation I am stating my birds are red jungle fowl. Since they may not fit in any other species I would say that is what my birds are closest too. I just like the coloring and the fact that the roosters we saw in Hawaii took better care of their young then any other chicken/rooster I have seen.

Show pictures of your birds as they mature. I observed harems with chicks at a park on the north west extreme of island. Broods were not large but hens could be observed communicating with rooster I thought was harem master. Only obvious potential predators where hawk owls and even hens seemed more than a match for those. Loss of chicks may have been more nutritional or disease related.

My American game roosters exhibit strong parenting skills when maintained in harems. I am not certain all those behaviors are derived exclusively from red jungle ancestor, grey jungle fowl ancestor or selection of domestication acting on mutations. I have not had "pure" red jungle fowl to enable such comparisons.