I, too have a dream of creating monsters by selectively breeding ordinary creatures. But I'll keep the nefarious details of my plan to myself...for the time being.
I am all in on your experiment as I am currently breeding my own chicken line but I have to say Indo is a bit scary. You may end up bringing the T rex back.
wouldn't most chickens eat meat if it's available? I know perma pasture farms feeds all their hog scraps to their chickens after they butcher and they're just normal breeds. even my hyline browns will chase lizards when I toss one in. they're usually just too slow. I think most feral chickens eat very little grain, mostly small animals and forage. it's a cool project though. I'm about to get some game mutts from a guy that has a bunch free roaming. he's got some gorgeous roosters too that are huge!
Yes most chickens will eat meat scraps. I regularly feed all of mine guts and cuttings from game and livestock I butcher. The odd behavior is the predatory aspect. Although its not unheard of for chickens to kill mice or other small animals, its very weird for Indo to kill and eat chicks he didn’t father and for chickens to otherwise be predators first (not counting insects) and browsers second. Indo is appearing to be a dedicated predator of vertebrates. I wish I could have filmed the initial attacks on the chicks. They were violent and fast about like I’d expect from a bird of prey.
As to the chick behavior, its not clear to me how much of it is him desiring meat vs him culling the young of a rival. I have a momma with a clutch of bitties he fathered most of. When I turn them out in a few days I’ll have to monitor his reaction. Whether he preys upon his own or not may be telling as to whether food or genetics are his primary motivators.
It will depend on if he confines it to rival chicks or not. If he only targets chicks that aren’t his, I think its survival of the fittest playing out. I have a batch of chicks off of him I’m about to turn out to see how he reacts to.
@@Florida_Bullfrog I like your thought process and experimentation. I have another question, how do you collect eggs from your free range chickens? I had a bear smash my chicken coop so I could definitely use a more resilient 100% free range chicken.
I scatter nest boxes around the farm yard around chest-high and put a ceramic egg in them. It lurers most of the hens of the various breeds, including the game breeds, to use the boxes. I guess I get 75% of the eggs most months. Sometimes I lose eggs when several hens go set at once in various boxes and other hens don’t have access to their preferred box. Those hens will usually start a hidden nest. Also crows are terrible about raiding the nest boxes.
Next generations if they cross with Jungle fowl they will no longer eat baby chicks. This is mainly due to the current size difference between this rooster and the miniature wild hens, this rooster has learned it but its sons will not do it. Once they cross, their chickens will not be so small for them and this will not happen in future generations. I'm working on my own line between Sumatra chicken and Jungle fowl. The roosters already have an absolutely perfect look in F1, I have never seen a more beautiful animal. Thanks to unusually strong wings and a longer "pheasant" tail, hens and roosters can fly long distances and they are elusive to predators. Extremely strong and independent chickens that will find all the food themselves. Sumatra chicken has unique genes and will greatly improve the line for frerange breeding. Love them.
OK…this might actually explain why I’m not getting any hybrid chicks to survive…they might be getting eaten by my other chickens. I know once I let a penned up hen raise chicks and they “disappeared” and then I saw one fit through the mesh into an adjoining pen and a big hen just swallowed it whole! Those are basically the hens in my free-range flock now.
Does that big Shamo cross cock have access to your missing chicks? He’s got some serious primitive genetics happening and its the orientals that traditionally have the carnivorous streak. Are you familiar with the Saipan junglefowl?
@@Florida_Bullfrog all my free-range birds have access to each other. Probably half the free-range hens and more than half of the free-range roosters have Shamo in them. I forgot that I actually have about 4 other part Shamo roosters that sleep in the trees. Three of those escaped while one…well…his name is Hatchet. I was culling a bunch of little cockerels that weren’t solid black and somehow I missed with the hatchet and when I tossed what I thought would be his headless body aside he just ran off. He was really too small to survive on his own yet months later he’s still managed to survive.
Hi. I enjoy watching your breeding program and will Surely influence my own..I was investigating what is referred to as land race chickens. Chicken's that lived and survived and bred on their own... One is called a icelandic chicken and Sweedesh flower chicken! ... because I am in a colder climate need a chicken that can survive predators and live off the land but survive the cold weather too ! Plus be able to survive hot summer months here In Missouri is got a - 6 in winter and 104° in summer and bobcats and bear's and coyotes .... So I'm thinking of a chicken that can survive all dangers and still flourish like a flying in the trees but aggressive meat eater like you dinosaur chickens. Have you tried feeding small fish to them ... thinking in Florida a fish eating chicken would probably grow huge and think of all the protein in their diet ....any how like your videos and inspiring breeding program. For a wild or landrace chicken! Is a great idea!
Hey I love your videos I've been breeding some survivors myself I've got red junglefowl and red junglefowlcross I've got sacilian buttercup junglefowl cross and some American game but the down side of what I have to say is it's not good that he's eating those chicks I had that problem before too but a true rooster should not do that a true rooster respects his flock with his life
What part of Florida are you located in. I just found your videos while looking for info on hunting deer with air guns in Florida. Now I have found that I like most of your videos, lol. If you have a pic of the chicken breed your trying to recreate my father is great at breeding for specific traits and tracking genetics.
I love these videos there really amazing I watch every one of these vids every time I watch one I want to mix some of my large egg laying hens you know domestic chickens with my gamecock and see who they turn out
Possibly. I have a full clutch of bitties he fathered with only a couple in the clutch he didn’t father. It is not clear to me if the chick killing behavior is for the meat or if its to cull the young of rivals. When I turn out this clutch I’ll monitor his reaction.
Not at the moment. This year I'm building up my stock. I want hundreds running around my farm eventually. If I build up my hen reserves this year I'll have plenty laying next year both for food and to sell.
@@Florida_Bullfrog excellent sounds like a good plan , well let me know when the time comes please , i would really like to own some of your dino chickens
All chickens eat small animals and I’ve also seen large egg layer breed roosters eat small chicks, when I was a kid I had two juvenile American game roosters and I would catch small snakes, toads and mice to watch how they ate them and even now occasionally I get ground beef to feed my birds and they go crazy for it
I may offer them one day, but for now I’m still working on them. The mouse eater in the video is grown now but I want the line to be twice as large in body size.
