# Need American Gamefowl HELP



## LittleWings

I have had chickens for a while but no experience with AG. I recently acquired these two (or they acquired me). The hen has been living in a barn that is in a field next to my place for 2 1/2 years that I know of. She recently decided to come visit my hens that were in the yard and put herself up with them that night. She seemed very healthy and laid 4 eggs in the first 5 days she was here.
The next day, a roo that I had been hearing for a few days in the distance crowing but getting closer and closer, showed up wanting in on the action. I threw a little scratch out and he came over the fence and made himself at home. (These guys fly well!) His saddle feathers are trimmed and his spurs are cut off.

Are these the right kind to breed together?
Is he a roo worth breeding forward?
Is the hen worth breeding forward?
Why are his feathers trimmed?
Why are his spurs cut?


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## WeeLittleChicken

I do not know anything about games or their colors but I can tell you likely why their wings are cut. I do this to my Seramas... it's because being so small they can fly very well and that's not always a good thing. You clip their wings in the hopes they can't jump the fence or boundary you've made for them. The spurs... some people do that to avoid getting kicked by one.


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## LittleWings

His wings aren't clipped, his saddle feathers are cut off short. Not sure why you would do that.


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## powderhogg01

Maybe some hippies cut his feathers for their hair? Seems odd to me. Either way he is pretty, I would keep him around if he wants. Likely have a better life with you anyways.


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## WeeLittleChicken

Are you sure he's not just plucked? My girls go after saddle feathers every time they molt... the lowest one on the totem pole gets it the worst. Maybe he just wasn't a dominant enough rooster and wandered off to find greener pastures? It's nice he has a girlfriend. Best of luck with them!


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## LittleWings

WeeLittleChicken said:


> Are you sure he's not just plucked? My girls go after saddle feathers every time they molt... the lowest one on the totem pole gets it the worst. Maybe he just wasn't a dominant enough rooster and wandered off to find greener pastures? It's nice he has a girlfriend. Best of luck with them!


Saddle feathers are trimmed like he got a haircut.


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## WeeLittleChicken

How odd! Maybe he was being harvested for jewelry feathers? He's certainly pretty enough - those feathers usually come from slaughtered roosters, maybe someone found a way around that? Or there's a child on the loose with scissors and a lack of supervision? Never seen anything like it...


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## fuzziebutt

Doesn't look like he has much of a comb, either. It sounds to me like he is someone's showchicken that has gotten away. They trim the spurs when they show, maybe they trim the feathers, too.


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## jmw283

Do u have other roosters on the property. I've seen that before and it's done for cock fighting. It's easier for the razors to fit over the spur and they are clipped and sometimes plucked to get a better cut from the other bird. I'm not s bird fighter I'm in law enforcement and we have a problem where with this where I work. 

Keep an eye on him around any other male bird if he try to fight them more than normal u may have to get ride of him. Good luck


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## LittleWings

Thanks everyone. I googled it today and it is for fighting. Some call it a battle cut. They trim saddle, sickle, tail, back and vent feathers. There are no injuries on him that I can see. 

He has defiantly been handled. I went to the only person around me that has chickens, that I know of and it wasn't his. 

I have roos in the pens next to him. They squabble, but they all do that. I defiantly don't want to further cock fighting, and if that is what happens to the offspring that are sold from them then I don't want to breed them.


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## jmw283

They can be rehabilitated if u are wanting to keep him. Im sorry about the current outcome good luck


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## powderhogg01

Maybe this leather foot of a rooster came to you in order to live a life out of the fighting ring. Maybe this roo is a lover not a fighter. And maybe you report the findings to an authority figure. 
Cock fighting is wrong, and that rooster had to come from somewhere close.


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## WeeLittleChicken

Awwwwwwwe, I guess it's a good thing he found you! That's terrible. Maybe he wasn't a winner so they left him aside the road somewhere.  That doesn't explain the hen though. Maybe they are escapees from nearby. 

I have a rescued pit bull who I am pretty sure came from a line used for fighting. Really tragic. She's a wonderful people friendly dog but I can never quite trust her with other dogs even though she got out of that mess when she wasn't even weaned yet (taken by an even more misinformed soul who thought he was doing her a favor.) 

People are such disgusting things sometimes. Maybe he can live a happy retirement now. Best wishes.


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## kjohnstone

fuzziebutt said:


> Doesn't look like he has much of a comb, either. It sounds to me like he is someone's showchicken that has gotten away. They trim the spurs when they show, maybe they trim the feathers, too.


I read that cutting the comb is done for gamefowl roosters for show purposes, I'm sure for fighting too, it's called "dubbing". Maybe cutting the saddle feathers shorter also makes them less vulnerable to feather plucking in fighting?  Whatever the reasons, he's in a good place now!


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## kjohnstone

Buckeye chickens have game fowl heritage, since the lady who started the breed thought that the result of her efforts were too lazy/sedentary, perfected the breed by bringing in the gamefowl. The hen seems to be a good layer, so definitely worth keeping if not breeding. She's pretty too.


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## LittleWings

Well I took them back to the horse barn in a large field next to my place. That is where she has lived for two years. That is not where the roo came from though. I'm hoping he likes it there and stays. She will show him where the water is. That poor hen has been all by herself setting on her unfertile eggs for two years. 
In a month or so there should be a bunch of fuzzybutts running around over there like it used to be. 
I did get 6 eggs from her before I took them over there. They are in the bator.

Thanks everyone for the comments.


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## LittleWings

Update. 

Well that didn't last. They both came back the next day, so now they have their own pen and I have hatched 4 chicks and have 10 more in the incubator. She is such a good layer for her age.  

She had 10 eggs in her nest and wasn't acting broody at all so I took them and put them in the bator.


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## MaransGuy

We dub our roosters comb's and we cut their spurs. That is a beautiful rooster and hen! We raise them and they are one of my favorites! You're so lucky they just wandered up there. I wish they had done that here, lol.


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## LittleWings

Thanks. I know little about AG. I wasn't even sure if these would be a good pair to breed. 

Do you only dub the ones that you are going to show?


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## MaransGuy

LittleWings said:


> Thanks. I know little about AG. I wasn't even sure if these would be a good pair to breed.
> 
> Do you only dub the ones that you are going to show?


I don't show. Our main goal is to select for healthy, vigorous, good laying hens. We are currently trying to select for single combs also. They seem to do better in the heat. The hen is looks beautiful and sounds to be a great layer.  The rooster looks beautiful also. This is a pic of my breeding rooster for my main pen. These are some on the hens that I own also. Hope all this helped!


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## LittleWings

He is beautiful! I can't wait for mines feathers to grow back. 

Your hens are nice too. What are those dark ones?

The chicks are brown chipmunk. I can't wait to see what they turn out like. Any tips on sexing them?

You have been a great help.


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## MaransGuy

LittleWings said:


> He is beautiful! I can't wait for mines feathers to grow back.
> 
> Your hens are nice too. What are those dark ones?
> 
> The chicks are brown chipmunk. I can't wait to see what they turn out like. Any tips on sexing them?
> 
> You have been a great help.


I don't know the exact color variety the black ones are. We try not to breed for a specific color, but instead select for the best qualities in them. All the ones I raise are full-blooded. When you said "The chicks are brown chipmunk." it made me think on mine. This is a pic of one of the chicks I hatched off this year. It turned out to be a female. As for sexing the birds, I can't tell you much. I can usually tell by the time their wings are fully feathered out. It is difficult if you have never raised them before. Once you raise them for a while it will get alot easier.


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## LittleWings

This is one of my chicks. They are all 3 the same pattern.


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## MaransGuy

Awww, so cute! Thanks for all the nice comments about my chickens by the way.  Your American Game fowl are very nice as well. I wish they would have wandered up in my yard, lol.


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## BuckeyeChickens

LittleWings said:


> I have had chickens for a while but no experience with AG. I recently acquired these two (or they acquired me).
> 
> Are these the right kind to breed together?
> Is he a roo worth breeding forward?
> Is the hen worth breeding forward?
> Why are his feathers trimmed?
> Why are his spurs cut?


I breed and keep a few American Games like someone pointed out in a previous post....my name is Jeff but on this forum I am known as "BuckeyeChickens". I keep several breeds of American Games at my place in SW Ohio but focus mainly on Delaware Blues which are very rare.

Your COCK looks like a typical Black Breasted Red and his feathers, comb and spurs were cut for illegal fighting more than likely! People who show American Games are required to "Dub" them which is removing the comb and wattles when they are young stags (young Game males are called stags not cockerels in the gamefowl world and Cocks not roosters!). His feathers will grow back when he moults and his spurs will grow back, too and I would not cut them off in the future! Are they worth breeding??? Why not see what their chicks turn out to be??? You wont know until you try and maybe you will have a great new line of gamefowl in the future! Keep a bunch of chicks and mate the daughters back to the Cock and the nicest Stag back to his momma.....this is called Line Breeding and is the way it has been done for hundreds of years.

Keep us posted and good luck with the breeding program!


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## BuckeyeChickens

MaransGuy said:


> I don't show. Our main goal is to select for healthy, vigorous, good laying hens. We are currently trying to select for single combs also. They seem to do better in the heat. The hen is looks beautiful and sounds to be a great layer.  The rooster looks beautiful also. This is a pic of my breeding rooster for my main pen. These are some on the hens that I own also. Hope all this helped!


Nice gamefowl MaransGuy! I don't show my gamefowl either and dubbing is a requirement for showing. Up north, I'm in Ohio, dubbing those single combs helps with frostbite issues in the winter, too! I keep both pea comb and single comb games....my Delaware Blues are single combs and my "Hatch" line is from the Herman Pinnon Pea Combed Yellow Leg Hatch line from Missouri. Really nice Black Breasted Red's....I also have a couple other "Hatch" lines that come green legged but they are pea combed as well. Below is a pic of my Hatch Cock;










This is one of my Delaware Blues;


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## MaransGuy

Very nice Jeff! I love AG. Yours are very beautiful. I don't breed any specific color. I just select for good qualities in the birds. I like a variety of colors.


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## Frank18

I bought him and a hen a couple of days ago the guy said hes irish game i think hes hatch


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## power

Games come in all different colors. Many of them look the same as your rooster. It is abut the most common color for games. People who raise them for fighting will dub and trim them. People who raise them for a hobby will usually learn to trim them or only keep one rooster. Leaving the comb and wattles on them can make a bloody mess when they start fighting.
It isn't unusual for people who fight them to get rid of a rooster that will not fight. From the looks of your rooster it didn't fight or wasn't used for fighting. Most likely it wouldn't fight. 
They are great farm birds. They set their own eggs, don't lay a lot of eggs, not worth cleaning to eat, beautiful to look at, and very hardy.


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