Jungle Fowl

[jodybrook]

Do we have a Jungle Fowl chick? I am completly new to chickens. I was gifted two black sex Links and they were broody and hatched a transplanted egg from a friend (also new to chickens). The hen and rooster were rescued from an abandoned property. Chick hatched from the smallest egg in the clutch.

 

[centrarchid]

Do we have a Jungle Fowl chick? I am completly new to chickens. I was gifted two black sex Links and they were broody and hatched a transplanted egg from a friend (also new to chickens). The hen and rooster were rescued from an abandoned property. Chick hatched from the smallest egg in the clutch.

What you are calling Jungle Fowl appear to be feral American Games. In the wrong hands (novice), I would not say rescue is what has happened.

 

[jodybrook]

Ok, so what would you say happened? The property had been abandoned and was being prepared for a home, so they were moved to a new location vs being killed.

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

The reality is that almost 100% (say, 98%) of what is sold as "Red Jungle Fowl" is not pure. Even in their native habitat most (possibly ALL) Red Jungle Fowl have been contaminated with domestic chicken genetics. So...pure Red Jungle Fowl is unlikely. That being said, domesticated chickens are mostly Red Jungle Fowl. If allowed to go feral and self-select those Red Jungle Fowl traits are most likely to surface. That chick is very "wild type" in appearance but could be pure brown leghorn, Cream Legbar, really many pure breeds and crosses. A brown, striped chick could be almost anything and adult chickens with that Red Jungle Fowl look could have a lot of other breeds mixed in. If you think about dogs all breeds are 99.9% wolf but feral dogs almost always end up looking a lot like a dingo after a few generations. Are those dogs dingoes? Well...not really. There are a bunch of dominant genes that surface when given the chance and the less successful genes get eliminated fairly quickly. The birds that were "rescued" are most likely the offspring that had a lot of those dominant (selected by environment over time) genetics that allowed for maximum survival and are going to display a lot of Red Jungle Fowl traits/genetics. So...are these chicks Red Jungle Fowl? No...not pure but maybe close to the species due to environmental pressure. They might be a really good balance between domestic and wild for your area. Enjoy them for what they are but feel free to add in different breeds to emphasize traits that you might like. For example, if they don't lay enough eggs you can add brown Leghorn. If you want longer tails, add in Sumatra or Phoenix. Have fun with them but don't expect them to fit into any purebred definition.

 

[jodybrook]

Thank you SO MUCH! That was a lot of fantastic information.

 

[centrarchid]

My assessment based on appearance of adults and their size. Several variants typical of American Games. Many of those same variants produce chicks with chipmunk stripes.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

,I had that Vietnamese Jungle Bird years ago and no one thought it was a chicken... I am pretty sure it was a Red Jungle Fowl but hard to tell from photos of the two species hens are similar and I found not have a surviving picture of her. I miss that hen. She was very different from the domestic chickens.

 

[smoothmule]

I have Red, Green, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Grey. Don't ever expect to buy real Jungle Fowl hatching eggs. Beware of the "fake" jungle fowl, such as what Cackle Hatchery sells or the ones from Hawaii. Even the San Diego Zoo allowed their pure Reds to interbreed with domestics.
The JF is not a chicken. They are in the same family as pheasants. The Green JF are very seasonal layers. They only lay 3 to 6 eggs, twice a year. Some of those will not hatch and the young are Extremely difficult to raise to maturity. Age 4 is the mature age for Green JF. They may breed and lay at age 3 but not quite mature.

 

[smoothmule]

One of my Ceylon males. They are not called roosters, that denotes a chicken male. They are pretty mellow, until breeding season....then the male becomes quite aggressive and territorial.

 

[bdfive]

Hmmm, will have to learn how to use the new BYC. Clicked "Quote" on Aguilera's post and was unable to post like in the past. Anyway, wanted to say I've never considered Jungle Fowl but owning that rooster could change my mind.