Jumaat, 6 Julai 2012

Ori Siam Bangkok.
Process Tukar Bulu.
Umur: 1 Tahun Lebih.

Taiwan..

Pembibit Pertama (Project 1)
Menang 2x
Umur: 1 tahun lebih.
Di kahwini sama indung India.

Siam..


Siam Ori bernama Siamey
Umur: 7 bulan (July 2012)
- Process kemas bulu dan dalam asuhan

Isnin, 23 April 2012

Today 22rd Dec, 12 at 12.30am.

Salam,

i just finish my game (DOTA) and sangat lah siuk but ada jua boring nya sikit pasal pakai cheats. Tiba2 ada plan kan update this blog, its been while im not posting dalam blog ni. Whats on my mind? its nothing, just thinking how to find $$$ for me, my wife and of course beloved daughter. Im thinking it not for today, but for the present and future. Kan cari kerja, diri alum ready banar kan bkeraja, tapi money tu become needs buat masa ni.. untuk membayar segala hutang. Waahhh, i make my life miserable. Used to have a wonderful life with my wife before ada nya hutang, my mistake ambil loan awal2.. so damn it am i. Pikir panjang sudah, tapi inda terpikir yang diri ni akan branti keraja. Menyasal tu ada jua sikit, inda menyasal ada jua... but its my decision sudah and its done. nothing could change it. Apa yang pasti, diri masa ni belajar malam and menganggur. Kind of siuk plg inda bkeraja ani, tapi LAGI siuk inda bkeraja and bduit, tau duduk dirumah, blajar malam, buat itu and ini, jalan jalan not my type except if ada tujuan and benda yang worth untuk nanti kan di bali. Okey, im out for sleep... ILOVEYOU wife and daughter!!! Sweet Dream.

Khamis, 15 Mac 2012

Special Breeding Program

By Bankert (The Gamecock, February 1995 pages 66, 67, 68 and 69) 

The purpose of following this method of breeding is to establish a family of fowl that primarily consists of the genetics of two cocks, with the traits of the two cocks dominant in the end product (specials) so that the furtherance of the family will be prepotent individuals that will instill the genetic lineage of the two cocks. 

The important factors initially are (1) that the two strains have similar genetic make-up and (2) that each cock come from a linebred family in which his genetic make-up is set and established. To further explain; the two strains must be compatible. This means that their fighting style has to be basically the same, such as manner of hitting. The Hulsey and Claret both hit in a straight, accurate manner. Roundheads, Shufflers, etc. hit in a swinging, roundhouse manner, with more hits delivered per each buckle, but with less accuracy that the straight hitting. If the two styles are crossed, they will not produce offspring that will be prepotent in passing on consistent traits, as their own make up is inconsistent and conflicting. They may produce gazed battle cocks, but will not produce offspring that will be useful for Breeding, as their genes are mixed up and the offspring the crossed fowl produce will vary. Therefore, the family will not succeed, as consistent individual traits cannot be established. (MY OPINION) 

In this case, both cocks come from “pure or linebreed” families, meaning that their traits have been well established through generations of breeding from a closed genetic pool and consistently conform with expected traits. 

The Hulsey; come yellow legged, straight combed, usually dark red, occasionally with white in wings and tail, medium-high station. They hit straight into the other cock, breaking about knee high consistently. They are not fast, but quick, as they recover from a buckle and as soon as they land they are in position to hit and usually do, beating the other cock to the punch. They lack overall speed, initial breaking height, and the worst fault is that as they mature, they develop a solid, muscular build which slows them down. They retain excellent power as the fight progresses, and are durable and hard to kill. They lack ring generalship, in that they do not set up their opponent with feints and sidestepping, as they go directly into another buckle as soon as they land from their previous buckle. The advantage is they often catch the other cock unprepared (unset) and off balance. They can be set up by a smart side-stepping cock because of this. They are very game and if hurt bad will hit when upside down, blind or coupled. They are very hard to kill. They are a gentle to fowl, never getting a manfighter or wild, man-shy cock. 

So, these traits, good and bad, are genetically set in this strain, and if bred to another of the same strain will consistently produce offspring with these same traits (and have so for generations). Therefore, they can be considered “pure or linebred.” 

The Clarets: come white legged, straight combed, dark red with white in tail and wings, high stationed. They are very good, accurate cutters, with good speed, excellent quickness. They lack power. They hit straight, and recover their balance quickly after a buckle, but usually do not go straight into another buckle, but will try to set the other cock up. They do not like to get hit, and often will pass up a shot if they might get hit in return, opting for a clear shot without getting hit in return. They are very game, hit from all angles, and are vicious when hurt. They are not built muscularly, and are susceptible, power blows to the body, in that they to lose what power they have. They are hard to kill. Usually they are easy to tame and gentle, but occasionally will get a mild manfighter. They are somewhat highstrung as stags but gentle down quickly. 

So, with these two genetically similar strains, we have well established traits in each (both good and bad). The ideal family would keep the good traits that are found in both strains, and compensate for (or suppress) the bad traits of one with the good traits of the other, thereby diminishing or eliminating the bad traits altogether. 

It is now obvious why you cannot start with crossbred parent of conflicting genetic make-up – it cannot pass on Consistent traits (you don’t know what it will produce) especially if the parent is made up of two different hitting styles, i.e. straight or hooking. A family that is started this way. May produce some excellent individuals for battle, the first generation, but, if the crossbred individual is use for breeding, the family will get progressively worse each generation thereafter until you wind zip with a genetically confused, deficient, and therefore useless family. The primary fault will be, when in the heat of battle, the cock won’t know whether to hit, feint, pluck or break. And while he hesitates, the other cock will hit first. The point is, the cock’s fighting technique is instinctual, and if he is genetically “confused,” his instincts will be confused. You do not win with confused fighters. The fighting ability of the cocks is the most important element to establish, so the basic fighting style must be similar (although each strain will have minor differences). 

So the desirable traits from both families that we wish to establish, should be simple to do. If both are genetically stable, from a “pure or linebred” family, which in this case they are. These traits are; (less significant first – straight comb, dark red with occasionally white in tail and wings, high to medium/high station), most significant – very game, hit with a straight stroke, accurate cutters, and perform exceptionally when hurt (vicious killer instinct). Both are quick between buckles (recovery of balance), and are hard to kill. Their traits are a simple matter to establish in the new family as both strains produce these traits. 

The challenge is to eliminate or suppress the bad, or undesirable traits in each strain by negating them with the positive traits of the other. 

To start, you must use individuals that are exceptional from each strain. You can’t use a hen to establish a family (even if she is proven to throw a high percentage of winners) as you cannot judge each of the traits in her. You can in a cock. Another reason is that you can single mate the cock to many different hens, thereby allowing you more choice in the offspring of the matings for selecting individuals for the next generational brood yards. However, if you do have such a hen that, is “pure” and “proven”, so much the better. Your task will be easier, and the success of the family will be enhanced. 

Now, the cock; when he is fought, you will be able to see if the good traits are dominant, showing strong, and bad traits seem to be suppressed, or of such a lesser degree that they appear to be nonexistent. In simple terms, the cock to choose is one who is shown to possess genes that are dominant in good traits, (his fighting ability shows only good traits) and suppressing the weaker genes of the bad traits (the bad traits don’t show up). This can be done in any strain, as there is always an individual who is clearly superior, and doesn’t appear to have the bad traits normally apparent in the strain. That is why you must base the new family on the cocks, as you can actually his genetics in action. You can see which dominant genetic traits he possesses, and these will pass on when bred.
Any characteristic, or traits, can be either emphasized, or eliminated, in the family by carefully selecting the individuals this way as each new generation is breed. This point is not a new thing by any means. 

Now you have to select a cock from each strain. The best way is to fight them. How else can you judge a fight cock? Of course, you take a chance of losing the potential brood cock, but if he loses, you surely would not want to have used him to base a new family on anyway! The two purebred cocks I used here were both multi-time winners (the Hulsey 3 times, the Claret 8 times) but the amount of wins does not in itself prove everything. These cocks both won quickly the first fights, but each also won a hard drag fight. The quick wins show the cutting and fighting ability, and the drag fights, (when badly hurt) shows their durability, gameness, and desire to kill their opponent (which they both did, as they won by a direct kill, rather than winning on the count). This is very important to my idea of what the ideal traits should be, and I wanted to establish in the new family. 

It is important to keep in mind that stags will reflect the traits of the mother, while the pullets reflect the genes of the father. So in this program, the pullets are the offspring that will be used in the next generational brood yard, as they carry the traits of the one of the two original cocks, and they will be bred to the other cocks. Therefore, each generation this will contain more and more of the (2) original cocks’ genes.
Each time one of the cocks is inserted back into the breeding chart, you are successfully establishing the genetics of the cocks. Each time he is bred over a female that is carrying predominantly the genes of the other cock (stag takes mothers, pullets take fathers), you have offspring that will carry more and more of the genes from the two cocks. 

By breeding in this manner you will gain hybrid vigor (by crossing two strains) and be able to eliminate traits (such as a manfighter) by not using that individual that shows that trait (a dominant gene that throws manfighter) to breed the next generation to check on the quality of that generation of matings. If you single mated several yards, and if one yard has produced superior stags, then those pullets from that yard should be used in the next generation (back over one of the original cocks, etc.)
Now, you say on the chart it shows that pullets only are saved for breeding after the 2nd generation. True, but the stag in that mating (2nd), as well as the two original cocks that are used and re-inserted throughout the entire program, in every mating, are selected in this manner. And the pullets in every mating are genetically prone to their father’s genetic make-up, which HE is of the superior, dominant genes of which you have seen, via his fighting ability. 

You will notice that I preferred using pullets that were white legged. The reason is that they are showing dominant traits of the Clarets, which were superior in ring generalship and slightly better cutters, so the stags they produced would be more apt to show these traits. In the final mating, the Hulsey cock is used over ¾ Claret pullets (to retain the power). These pullets are (genetically) basically the same as the Claret cock. So, in a manner of speaking, you are producing offspring in this final mating that are out of the Hulsey cock and the Claret cock! You have successfully achieved the desired goal of establishing a family out of two cocks – two exceptional cocks. 

This system is ideal for small breeders or beginners who may initially have only a few individuals in which to work with, and wishes to start and maintain a family of fowl that fight in a manner that the breeder desires. This system has worked very well for me.

On Gamefowl Breeding

ON GAMEFOWL BREEDING 

By M. L. Fernando 

SOME WONDER HOW CERTAIN COCKER-breeders produce outstanding fighting cocks without any knowledge of gamefowl breeding basics. Others do well in game-fowl breeding loaded with all breeding methods found in the book. The former succeed due to their innate talent or "feel" of the gamefowls, while the latter reach breeding goals due to education. Those whom the author have seen attain breeding goals in so short a time, have that "feel" of the gamecock and read a lot of books and magazines pertaining to gamefowls. It is with this thought that the author decided to touch on this subject?

There are lots of breeding theories found in the book, but the two most famous are inbreeding and cross-breeding. Let us first touch on inbreeding, Inbreeding is the mating of closely related fowls. If you want to know how to inbreed gamefowls, Iook at the percentage of inbreeding below.

1. Mating brother & sister- 25% (intensive inbreeding). 2. Mating half-brother & half-sister- 12.5% (moderate inbreeding). 3. Mating uncle & niece; aunt & nephew -12.5% (moderate inbreeding). 4. Mating grandparent & grandchild 12.5% (moderate inbreeding). 5. Mating first cousins - 6.3% (mild inbreeding).

Select the percentage of inbreeding you think will be applicable to your gamefowls. Remember that the purpose of inbreeding is to fix like genes. The more you inbreed; the more like genes are fixed. These will be further boosted by inbreeding birds having the same phenotype characters tied to some genotypes.

When you inbreed fowls, watch out for atavism. Atavism is the recurrence in a descendant of characters of a remote ancestor. It may result in deformed beaks, eyes with irregular pupils, breast defects, crooked toes and backs, etc. Atavism will also result in phenotype throwbacks - especially plummage phenotypes. Throwbacks are homozygous dominant.

A friend of mine once bred a pair of Ray Hoskins Grey. Out of this pair of Grey fowls - two of the progeny were Whites. This pair of White throwbacks begot outstanding cocks - all Whites. He also crossed the throwbacks on other Whites of different strain and still come up with winners. The cross of the White throwback with mongrel cocks also produced good pit fowls. When atavism results in color throwbacks, check if the color phenotype is tied with fighting prowess genotype. When bred, it will give positive results. Genetics is a very tricky business and does not always follow prescribed rules designated by us. Most breeders maintain highly inbred strain of fowls as seed fowls. These breeders do not fight broodfowls; they only fight battlefowls.

Hugh Norman, the "Master Breeder", made famous the Rebel Strain of game-fowls. He was one of those breeders who maintain inbred strains and cross them for hybrid vigor (heterosis). To him broodfowls and battlefowls are not the same. He does not fight broodfowls nor breed battlefowls. In this method, the more inbred your seed fowls are, the greater will be the "nick" or hybrid vigor when they are crossed.

In the Norman Method, we line breed our fowls before crossing. Line-breeding is inbreeding to an individual, each generation we "double up" the genes of the progeny? By line-breeding we try to produce individual(s) genetically as close as the original. Each mating should be carefully evaluated up to the last mating. The progeny from the last mating are kept as replacement broodfowls or be used as seed fowls for crossing.

Let us illustrate how line-breeding is done.



This mating produced two stags of different phenotypes? STAG (9) is hetero-genous Dominant (½) Yellow-leg while STAG (10) has a double dose of (ya) allelle, making it homozygous Recessive (pure) Willow-legs. This proves once again that when we breed back, we "double up" like genes in the progeny making them as close as the original.

If you are a backyard breeder, chances are you do not have enough space to accommodate these fowls for line-breeding. I suggest you line-breed only to one individual. Try to find out which of the pair is more prepotent, and breed back to that individual. Then you can close the line-bred progeny with otherfowls. Hete-rosis or hybrid vigor will not be as strong as that of both line-bred crosses, but will be sufficient to produce good pit fowls. Of course, this will depend upon the performance and prepotency of your original pair of brood fowls and your evaluation and selection of each mating prior to the cross.

Now, let us touch on cross-breeding. Crossbreeding is the mating of gamefowls not related by blood to each other? This is usually done to combine the good quail-ties of the broodfowls. There are three methods of breeding gamefowls by crossbreeding. They are discussed below.

1. STRAIGHT-CROSS--In this method, two strains are mated. One good example is the power-speed blend of Ruble Hatch and Black Traveler. Here, the male offspring will take after the hens. 2. THREE WAY-CROSS--If you have a family of Kelso that cuts better in open sparring and needs more wallop, get an even cross like a Hatch-Claret and breed it over the Kelso hens. The progeny out of this mating will retain the desired characteristics of the Kelso, cutting ability of the Claret, and the power of the Hatch.
3. FOUR WAY CROSS--This is the mating of two straight crosses like the mating of Hatch-Claret to a Kelso-Roundhead cross.

In cross-breeding, remember the following adage. "Cross breeds or hybrids almost invariably pass along their worst characteristics. The good qualities often are the result of the cross and cannot be passed along." This was taken from the book "Modern Breeding of Game Fowl" by Mr. Frank "Narragansett" Shy.

Another method of breeding worth mentioning in this piece is the "Narragansett Method" made popular by Frank Shy, another "Master Breeder" famous for the strain of gamefowls called the Narragansetts. This method advocates the transmission of the blood of a prepotent individual to the progeny in "small doses" by repeated injections of the blood from several mates rather than intensive inbreeding.

Let us elucidate it further. Suppose you have an outstanding broodcock. Single mate him with several hens and as certain which ones throw the best progeny. Suppose you selected two hens that produce very good pit fowl and fight alike. The progeny of the two unrelated hens should be crossed. This will be half-brother and half-sister mating which is 12.5% inbreeding. If you want to infuse new blood, be sure the fowl is the same as your original trio in conformation and fighting style.
Let us illustrate the "Narragansett Method" below.

Dotted lines cock (stag) Solid lines hen (pullet)
From the illustration of the Narragansett Method, we mated COCK (A) to HEN (B) and HEN (C). The mating of HEN (B) and COCK (A) resulted in progeny (1) which are 1/2 blood of COCK (A). The pairing of HEN (C) and COCK (A) begot offspring (2) which are ½ blood of COCK (A). We then crossed progeny (1) and (2) to produce offspring (3) and (4)· These are half-brother and half-sister matings that produced progeny (3) and (4), which are still blood of the original COCK (A).
This is as far as we can go. We cannot breed progeny (3) and (4) to any of the original trio since it will be close cosanguinous matings· We have to procure another broodcock that resembles the original COCK (A) in conformation and fighting style· Get the best pul lets from progeny (3) and (4) and mate them with COCK (D).

These matings will result in progeny (5) and (6) that are 1/4 blood of the original COCK (A).
In order to establish the desirable characteristics of COCK (A), we shall mate the choice pullets of progeny (5) and (6) with COCK (A). These matings will produce offspring (7), (8), (9), and (10) that are 5/8 blood of the original COCK (A). We can still mate progeny that are 5/8 blood of the original COCK (A) with HEN (B) and HEN (C), but they are not within the scope of this article. Figure it out and make an illustration of these matings. We illustrated the point that in order to increase the desired characteristics of COCK (A), we injected his blood repeatedly in small doses.
Another breeding method worth mentioning is Out-Breeding. Out-Breeding is the mating of the same strain of fowls that belong to different breeders but kept almost pure. If you have a strain of Kelso and you do not kow-tow to inbreeding, you can procure a Kelso cock from another breeder and breed him over your Kelso hens. Progeny from these matings will still be pure Kelsos and you did not inbreed at all.

Some backyard breeders blend native Orientals with American gamefowls? If you are in this class of cocker-breeders, better learn the IVY Method of grading Orientals· Ivy favors the 1/4 Oriental either in a two or three-way cross. In this method, you only need a single Oriental cock to produce 1/2 grade hens. Remember that Oriental grade breeding is a trial and error method.
Let us explain how this is done. In the two-way cross, first you mate the native cock with, let us say, a Davis Mims. This mating will produce offspring with 1/2 native Oriental blood. We select the best 1/2 native Oriental hens and mate them again with a Davis Mims cock. This two-way cross will produce offspring that are 1/4 native Oriental grades.

If you want a three-way cross, you mate select 1/2 native Oriental hens (cross between a native cock with Davis Mims hen) with a Davis Mims-Hatch Gull cross· The progeny out of this mating will be ¼ Hatch Gull, ½ Davis Mims, and 1/4 Oriental (native cock). The author favors 1/8 Oriental grades though.

The key to success in the production of native Oriental grades is selection and brutal culling. Select flicking type native Oriental cocks that could cut and always top the opponent every fly. These ring generals dictate the game but have little power so infuse at least % power blood (HATCH). The native cock you should breed must exhibit nothing but gameness when fought at two years old. The author have witnessed many native Orientals run when fought in slashers? They do not last the full route. However, there are a few that last the whole ten minutes and can stand deep cutting when fought at two years of age and above. These native Oriental types are worth breeding? They need very little work when conditioned to fight and are very resistant to diseases.

New Breed in Four Generations

A New Breed in Four Generations and Other Quick Fixes 


People breed game chickens for many reasons. I like breeding them because I felt like I was creating something, and that feeling felt good. Breeds or strains of chickens, are one and the same for the purpose of this paper, and we are going to explore ONE way to breed a new strain. Most successful breeders can almost tell you what a certain mating will produce and they have a goal for that mating. We will set a few goals for our new strain. 

1. All the fowl will have the same style of fighting, and for me, I want gamecocks that will meet the other rooster in the air and climb to the ceiling, to top the other rooster. He will be a cutter of course and there will be no question as to his gameness. 

2. My chickens will be pure greys bred from ½ red and ½ grey parents. 

3. They will all look identical (males will be silver-back greys with yellow legs and straight combs. The hens will look like full sisters, and their eyes will be parallel to their middle toe. 

Step 1. I will buy two broodcocks from watching several big meets and watching as many full brothers to my broodcocks fight. I will buy a rooster and hen from one breeder and a rooster and hen from another breeder. I will have seen these gamecocks and their brother fight and win at the top level of competition.
Step 2. I will breed the gamecocks to the other gamecock’s sister and these matings will produce reds, greys, and colors in between. (If I had enough money, I would breed a parallel strain of reds, or have a friend do so for me. I would bring this blood back latter.) I would cull all the reds and reddish greys, after fighting them to determine what styles of fighting I had. If they are as good as they should be, they will strill bring a good price. Hopefully, I would have had some of my mostly grey colored roosters fight the required style and win in top company.
Step 3. I would breed all of these to their mostly grey colored cousins from the other pen.
Step 4. These second matings are going to give us too many chickens, but from this generation will begin to have the needed material to make our selections to establish our new breed. These chickens should be silver grey with light red tint. There will be differences in fighting styles, but most should meet our goal. We will be very selective and pick four pens for our next brood pens. Only the very best according to our goals will be bred. We will want to breed up close and as far away from relations as possible, diversity in pedigree, but sameness in fighting style and looks. The gamecocks from this set of matings should look alike and fight alike for the most part. We will need to cull all the rest of the fowl once we make our choices.
Step 5. We should have fowl that look alike and fight alike by now, but we also should have some pens or individuals that are far superior to the rest. We will select from these matings only three pens of the very best. These fowl will not be know as Roger’s Rockets.
Step 6. The maintenance of our new breed will depend on maintaining hybrid vigor by breeding close one generation, and far away the next. I think I would call Mark Marsh, or someone like him, and seek his advice on maintaining a strain. Culling fowl even if they are very good is necessary. We will need to cull the entire previous generation or we will fall into some traps and forget our goal. It is good to keep up with the good ones and maybe bring their blood back down the road. 

OTHER QUICK FIXES: 

STAG YARDS help grow better stags because there is less competition for feed and attention. Green grass and a light for insects will make the yard better. A tall tree for a roost is great.
HEN YARDS are just as important as stag yards
BIDDIES needs a MOTHER hen to teach them early life skills.
FAT is important in a chicken’s diet, (most people will not agree)
EGG YOLK is a complete chicken feed.

More Ideas on Maintaining a Breed

More Ideas on Maintaining a Breed 


After I wrote my first article on establishing a breed, several people ask about how to maintain a breed. I did a little research and some thinking and came up with the following ideas.
The first factor is maintaining a large breeding population to select a few very outstanding fowl to perpetuate the strain. This population should contain some close bred and some almost unrelated fowl. The idea is to inbreed and then outcross then inbreed and outcross and so on. When I say outcross, I mean within the breed. 

A second factor would be to have the healthiest conditions to raise our fowl. The best bred fowl raised poorly will not result in good fowl. I feel that many good strains have been lost because of over crowded conditions and poor feeding practices. 

A third factor is money and time. (enough said)
Now to some productive practices. These ideas are not listed in order of importance, but all should be used at some point in the breeding program to maintain your strain with quality fowl.
1. The most successful matings should be duplicated with close relatives and if the Nick is true, you will have quality fowl from those matings to breed. For example, you breed a many time winner to a well bred well made hen and get world beaters. Get a good brother to the rooster and breed to some good sisters to the hen. You might even go breeding cousins of the original pair together.
2. The above mentioned pen should be linebred. Breed a good stag to his mother’s sisters and some good pullets to the rooster’s brothers. Then bring the reslting offspring back together. These would be bred much like the original cross and they should resemble the original cross breds. If you are lucky enough to get these results, then you can breed back to old original stock. This is inbreeding through line breeding and out crossing by crossing two line bred strains. The possibilities are endless when you maintain enough stock.
3. Breed some of the oldest stock to some of the youngest stock even when they are close bred. The tendency is to breed away from some of the good characteristics by accident and this will bring those back into the gene pool and very often it will result in hybrid vigor also.
4. Learn who has some of the same fowl and if they are good, bring their blood into your line. For example the Pitmaster breeds Redfox fowl and the Redfox fowl are being bred by Jack back in Alabama. If these two guys trust each other, they would have a lot going for each one by exchanging fowl from time to time. They have the same fowl, but because they are individuals, they will select for different traits. This practice will result in hybrid vigor also.
5. You don’t have to breed all your good stock every year. Most people have too many fowl to care for, it is much better to raise only what you can care for, but don’t let the unused brood fowl get away from you. You will need them later. Some years you will need to breed only battle stock, by breeding to other breeds.
6. Keep good records. You will need to know how all of your fowl are related. Record the fighting records of the roosters. You need to know which hens produce the most eggs and raise healthy babies as well.
7. Breeding brothers to sisters is usually unproductive, but if when the next generation is considered, it has a use. I like to select the hens from brother-sister matings that look the most like their grandmother and stags that look like their grandfather and cross these back to the old stocks (a brother to the old rooster and a sister to old hen). This is another form of linebreeding by intense inbreeding and then line breeding to the old stock. These fowl may not be strong enough to win at the top level, but they are very often great producers.
8. Bring your linebred strains together when you want to fight successfully, these crosses will have enough hybrid vigor to provide the bottom.
9. Always keep linebreeding only the very best crosses of these crosses. Every six or seven years you should be able to start a new line of fowl and bred these back to the old fowl.
10. Numbers are needed to maintain the line, but plan your breeding program so that you make only the number of brood pens that you need each year.
11. One last thought, have at least a five year plan for your matings. Plan breedings that will not be produced until five or ten years from now. This is one form of goal setting and it will provide you will a guide.

Maintaing a Family of Gamefowl

Maintaining a Family of Gamefowl 


Several months ago a good friend asked us to write an article that would map out a method on how to maintain a family of gamefowl. At the time, we did not give the matter much thought simply because we did not consider ourselves qualified to be writing about the subject.
Not that we claim to be experts on the subject now, but after maintaining a couple of strains of gamefowl at a high level of competitiveness since 1985, there are a few thoughts we can share with you that may help you in your breeding efforts. We will list as they come to mind, in no particular order of importance.
SINGLEMATE – You must know exactly who the parents are on both sides. Most great families owe their greatness to a few outstanding individuals and it is your never ending job to find them in your fowl. The only way we know to do this is by singlemating. 

KEEP ACCURATE RECORDS – Of your matings and the offspring they produce as well as the performance of the offspring from each of these matings. This is the tool you will use to evaluate each singlemating and decide whether to continue it or not. Without good records, you cannot make sound breeding decisions. A NOTE OF CAUTION: If you track your fowl using a computer program, be sure and keep that information backed up on a disk everytime you update it, because if your computer crashes (which they all do now and then) that information may be permanently unavailable. 

BE EXTREMELY SELECTIVE IN YOUR MATINGS – Very picky if you will, of both parents. They must be perfect in every way and HEALTY. Spend as much time as you need to deciding which individuals to mate. Study them carefully and make sure they will further your breeding goals. Follow your gut instinct and the facts rather than getting hung up on breed names, feather and leg colors, etc, as in the end all that matters is the PERFORMANCE of their offspring. 

ONLY HAVE ONE OR TWO FAMILIES – Unless you have an unlimited amount of money, time and space, you need to concentrate your efforts on one or two families of fowl at the most. That is why you must find the ones that suit you the best and build from there. It’s a lot of fun to have different types of gamefowl, and we all have been there at some time in our lives. But if you are serious about your breeding program, you cannot afford to take this route. Each time you acquire new fowl, you will be taking away time, space, etc, from the ones you started out with and want to perpetuate. 

PROVE EACH MATING – You will have to use other hens or an incubator to hatch the eggs from your singlemated pens in order to raise a good number of chicks from them. The more stags you can raise from a pair, the better you will be able to evaluate the production of that pair. Again, good record keeping is a must. Before deciding to breed any offspring from any of these matings, make sure the production of the pair lives up to your scrutiny and expectations. Work base on the results you achieve. It should take you on the average close to 2 years to prove the results of a pair, unless they are an early maturing strain. 

DO NOT MAKE NEW MATINGS EACH YEAR – If you find a top producing pair, keep them together as long as you can before branching out and breeding to other individuals. A good pair should produce for 5 or more years depending on how old they were at the time you started with them. Remember that each new mating you put together will have to be put to the same scrutiny and that you will need additional space and pens to care for their offspring. So plan the number of matings carefully based on all the resource you have and the goals you hope to achieve. 

DO NOT SKIMP ON FEED AND CARE – This one are will defeat you before you ever get stated. Good feed and care are what produces healthy fowl, and health is what you need for the longevity of a family of fowl. If you can turn your hens out to free range after the breeding season, you can keep them looking, feeling and acting like pullets for many years. We’ve had 10 year old hens that did not show their age and produced like pullets because they were turned out to free range at the conclusion of each breeding season. Sure you will probably lose some, but you will lose them quicker if you keep them penned up all their lives. 

KEEP A SAFE NUMBER REPLACEMENTS - With gamefowl, disaster seems to always be lurking just around the corner. For this reason, once you locate your top producing pairs, it is a good idea to keep at least a couple of females and male from each of them even though you may not breed these offspring for couple of years or so. What you can do is replace these with subsequent years offspring from these pairs so you can have some fairly young individuals to use and carry on their bloodline. The blood of many good producing individuals is never carried on simply because their owners failed to plan and did not keep any of their offspring (because they were not going to breed them at the time), then they lose the hen or cock for one reason or another and that is far as they are able to go with that pair. 

FIND THE BREEDING METHOD THAT WORKS FOR YOU – As most of you know, there is inbreeding, linebreeding, infusing, crossbreeding, and on and on. Which of these should you use is something you will have to find out for yourself based on the goals you have set in your breeding program., and your ability to make the right selections. Again, this is where good record keeping will prove to be a valuable tool in deciding which individual fowls blood should be used to carry on and improve the performance of the family. 

We hope you are not too disappointed in finding out that we had no charts or graphs in this article showing you how the matings are to be carried out to produce super gamefowl for a lifetime. The reason for that is there is no such thing. It is all a matter of having good fowl to start with, keeping them healthy, singlemating, keeping extremely good production and performance records, and having the ability to analyze and interpret those records to decide your matings and the breeding methods you will use.

Line Breeding

by Dr Charles R H Everett & Craig Russell

 
My personal research in breeding has led me to begin gathering and collecting articles and books by cockfighters (cockers) of long ago; these men of the past preserved several different breeds of chickens for hundreds possibly even thousands of years. During that time they maintained type and vigor to an unparallel degree. It is my belief that their methods of breeding should be examined in detail to be utilized by the modern preservationist. Let me add, however, that this article is not an endorsement or defense of cockfighting; neither will I belie them in any manner. Instead, it is a heartfelt acknowledgement to men who perfected the art of breeding chickens. Further, I believe the modern preservationist can learn much more from the breeding techniques of cockers than he/she can from textbooks on commercial poultry breeding. (Note* It should go without saying that at all times you must select for vigor and type regardless of the breeding system utilized. Cocker Tan Bark states, “Good breeding is only a matter of intelligent selection of brood fowl…” (Tan Bark, Game Chickens and How to Breed Them, 1964, p. 27). What the ole time cockers strove for was prepotency. They desired to be able to predict with reasonable accuracy the outcome of any particular mating. For this reason, no cocker worth his salt would have consistently used the out-and-out system. Granted, at times they did cross, but very carefully. Their records consistently indicate that when they did cross they did so using the same strain of fowl they were hoping to improve. Of course, they were looking for gameness, but using their methods a breeder can breed for type, fertility, egg production, etc. The first system I would introduce was utilized by William Morgan, of Morgan Whitehackle fame, and some of the English cockers. It is a form of breeding known as “3 times in and once out.” This system was used to produce, in cockers’ terms, a “pure strain.” The following chart will explain how the system works. First Generation Hen Cock ½ hen ½ cock 

Second Generation Hen to son Cock to daughter ¾ hen ¾ cock 

Third Generation Hen to grandson Cock to granddaughter 7/8 hen 7/8 cock 

Fourth Generation Hen to ggrandson Cock to ggranddaughter 15/16 hen 15/16 cock 

Now in the 5th generation you breed the 15/16 hen to the 15/16 cock. Then, choosing the best hen(s) and cock(s) you begin again (Narragansett, The Gamecock, 1985, pp. 44-45). C. A. Finsterbusch recommends the same breeding strategy in his famous book Cockfighting All Over the Word page 152—153. If they chose to continue line breeding these fowl were what they termed “seed stock.” Seed stock was never pitted. Instead, they were crossed to a different strain to produce their “battle cocks.” Battle cocks were never used in breeding pens if this system were employed. Or, at this point you choose the three to five best hens and begin the clan mating system. Alva Campbell who created the “Campbell Blue Boones” during the early years of the twentieth century line bred his outstanding pullets to one cock, “Daniel Boone,” for eleven straight years (Histories of Game Strains, Grit and Steel, no date given, p.26). D. H. Pierce claimed his “Wisconsin Red Shufflers” were line bred for 35 years with no loss of vigor or gameness. (Histories of Game Strains, Grit and Steel, no date given, p. 20). How did these men accomplish this when so many modern textbooks on poultry genetics maintain this is impossible to do? I have discovered several key answers. First, “an inbreeder must breed only from his most vigorous… specimens” (Tan Bark, Game Chickens, 1964, p. 28). Second, they culled ruthlessly. Third, in any form of line breeding the youthfulness of the stock used cannot be overstated. Fourth, they often carried on the same mating (One cock to one hen) for four or five years. Thus, in twenty years it was possible to have only produced four or five distinct generations. When cockers happened upon a cock and hen that produced winners in the pit, then they mated these two year after year. Fifth, they kept accurate records of every mating and often practiced single matings. Sixth, they only attempted close inbreeding on free range giving the birds every advantage of producing constitutional soundness and vitality (Tan Bark, Game Chickens, 1964, p. 28). These six keys allowed the cockers to be greatly successful at the art of breeding game fowl centuries before the advent of modern genetics. Many cockers practiced variations of the rolling-matings and clan-matings systems. When practicing the rolling-matings they would often include side matings of line breeding. When using the clan system the large breeders often kept five to seven clans. (They called them “yards.”) With the clan matings they most often used the matriarchal system as advocated by Dick Demansky. At times they would create “new” clans or yards of full sisters when a particular hen within the clan produced exceptional sons. Thus, this one hen became prepotent in the new yard through her daughters. Like those of traditional farmers, for whom poultry was an important part of the subsistence, the methods of cockers have often been disparaged by modern experts. But for serious preservationists and small flock owners in general their tried and true methods are among the surest ways to turn simple reproduction into serious breeding and systematic flock improvement. One of the truly wonderful things about raising chickens is that you the breeder can choose your own system of breeding to create your “own strain.” Yes, you can even experiment! Regardless of how you personally feel about the sport of cockfighting, these men of a by gone era have much to teach us. So, why not learn from the original preservationist: cockers?