The Beautiful Boys - Flame

In my last post, I mentioned that I've long suspected that the cool colors in my flock sprung from Game Fowl lines.  However, right from the start, aggression in my roosters has been extremely rare.  I have only had one magnificent but nasty-tempered rooster in all this time, and he was culled before he reached breeding age.  If any other proof was needed regarding the disposition of my roosters, the fact that I'm currently housing SIX roosters in the same pen together should tell all.  (The seventh rooster is in his own breeding pen.)

How did I end up with seven roosters this fall?  Well, I hatched out a LOT of chicks back in May and June last year.  Many were roosters.  Some of these turned out fabulous, and in the end, there were so many good ones I didn't have the heart to cull them all.

I've just highlighted the meek and beautiful "Butterscotch" in my last post, but I think several of the boys deserve their own posting, so here's a tribute to "Flame".

Flame is a new rooster hatched in May 2011.  He does not have his own breeding pen yet, but he's second in command in the current pen, and I did catch him mounting one of the hens when "Cheeto" wasn't looking.  Flame is seen as a real threat to Cheeto, with good reason.  For an Aloha rooster, he's a big boy! 

I suspect that Flame is probably about 1/4 Sussex, as I did have a half Sussex, half Aloha hen in the breeder pens last year.  That would explain his size, his pink legs, (same color as a Sussex) and his very even dots of mottling - in pattern he resembles a Sussex rooster.  However, where a Sussex rooster would be mahogany and black, Flame is a bright, vibrant RED. 

Right now, I don't have room for a seperate breeding pen for him.  However, a friend of the program stopped by the other day to pick up Aloha eggs to hatch out, and announced that he'll be working on building some breeder pens.  He has bought some Buff Orpington hens - about six yellow hens in all.  I think if the pen is built, and the hens are there, I'd better send Flame his way for a visit, as he'd make an excellent cross with Buff hens.  (Though if I had to pick, I'd place "Flame" in with pure New Hampshire Red hens, too, and then cross those back to Cheeto's future offspring.)

I can't wait to get chicks out of Flame and some larger hens.  Guess I'll have to be patient.  Will keep you all posted on what happens!

Pedigree:  I suspect "Flame" is 1/4 Sussex, 1/4 NHR, and 1/2 Aloha.  If I'm right, these would be his parents, although this is just a guess, since we don't have chicken DNA testing, ha ha.

Above:  Breeding pen last season.  Note the bigger hen standing in the bowl, she's half Sussex.

A better shot of the hen I think could be his mom?

Another pic of the rooster who I think is his dad.

The Mysterious Orange Color

Now, I've long suspected a link between the strange mottled colors in my chickens, and the "game fowl" chickens.  This is for several reasons.  First, mottled colors are found in fighting chickens, although they aren't historically bred for color.  They were bred for fighting.  But the mottled color exists in Games, and breeds very easily in Game Fowl. 

Second, proximity - my strange Banty was found in Southwest Phoenix, and I've seen many game stock bred chickens in the neighborhood.  Third, was type - while Oddball the Banty (who started this whole line) was a short, round, banty-type hen, her "kids" have grown into, lanky, game-type bodies. 

A funny thing happened this last spring, however, when I noticed a young rooster in a strange orange color.  Orange.  No other word for it.  It was too dark for buff, too light for red, and weirdest of all, where the tail feathers should have been black, they were darker, but it was this soft cocoa-brown color instead. 

My homebred rooster "Pumpkin" now owned by Laree.

Her Web site:  http://thealohahenway.webs.com/

Right after I spotted this young roo developing, I saw this ad on Craigslist, advertising a "Punkin Game Rooster" for $150, not five miles from my house!  What was a "punkin game" and why did it look so much like my rooster?

NOT my chicken - Advertised for sale near my home on Craigslist.

I soon found there is a line of Game chickens called "Pumpkin Hulsey" and I've also seen "Yellow Birchen" and "Ginger" listed as this color.  This web site has lots of info, and apparently, this color in Game Fowl has been spotted long ago in England, and also today in the Phillipines.  Here's a great web site with more info:

http://thefallcreekranch.com/gamefowl/index.html

At this point that "Pumpkin" the rooster appeared, we were getting into some serious linebreeding.  Linebreeding is a great way to pull out those recessive genes, and apparently, this new color was in there somewhere!

I gifted "Pumpkin" to my friend Laree, where he will be used as her new flock leader. 

"Pumpkin" in his new home at Laree's place. 

And, I was blessed with yet another new boy to keep here, who I have now named "Butterscotch".

"Butterscotch" my second mottled roo in this color.

Note he is lighter in color, and has more white in his tail.

Depsite the fact that this color appears to come from "fighting" bird lines, I've found that strangely, both Pumpkin and Butterscotch have been the meekest, mildest, lowest in the pecking order roosters of the whole bunch.  Go figure! 

Check out his tail feathers - all that same reddish cocoa color.  Not a fleck of black anywhere.

Enjoy the pics.  Note that Butterscotch has a lot of growing up to do still, it will be several months before he fully matures, and even at maturity, he will be a small rooster.  I plan on penning him with some larger hens, to compensate for his lack of size. 

I definately want to cultivate this color, though I suspect it is a recessive color, and may be tough to reproduce reliably at first.  However, all birds with this color will be kept for the program.