Sunday, February 27, 2011

How to tame fighting chicken

Due to forbidden fighting act at United States, United Kingdom and European countries, some people do not raise the fighting chicken such English game fowl, American game fowl, Asli, Sigun, Cubalayan, Philippine, Bangkok and Sumatra, and others. It is hard to care this chicken with other chicken due to its aggressiveness. A fighting cock in a flocks and coops can disturb other cock or roosters.

There are the degrees of tames of chicken:

    * Tame to all people: This chicken is easy going and friendly. Only few fighting chicken has this characteristics.
    * Tame to certain people: This chicken tame to the owner or people who care the chicken. They may bit unrecognized people who try closing the chicken.
    * Not tame with all people: Some chicken is really bad character. They also peck the owner or the people who feed them. I have ever cared this chicken. This is difficult to tame the chicken.

Despite the aggressiveness, some people still care fighting cock for other purpose. In my country, a breeder company use Bangkok Chicken as grandparent stock to produce broiler chicken. Bangkok Chicken has wide breast and produce white flesh. English people care Old English game as exhibition or ornamental chicken.

If you want still raise a fighting cock, here are the steps:

1. Separate them from other rooster. Do not put more than one rooster in a flock.

2. Remove the most dangerous chick. We can see the sign of most dangerous chick. Notice that the chicken often pecks their brother or sister.

3. Raise the fighting cock with the peaceful chicken since young. Perhaps it could decrease the aggressiveness chicken.

4. Hatch with peaceful chicken or hatching machine.  A peaceful mother may teach the chicken to be a peaceful chicken.

5. Debeaking or cut the edge of chicken beak. It may reduce the aggressiveness. There is cons of debeaking due it could harm to the chicken.

6. Cross with other chicken. You can reduce the aggressiveness with cross the chicken with peaceful chicken breed such as Rhode Island Red, Red Sex Link, New Hampshire, and others.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Maleo Bird : Endemic Celebes Bird that lays giant eggs

Maleo is an endemic bird from Celebes or Sulawesi Island that cannot be found elsewhere. This bird is similar to the jungle fowl and has a body size that is approximately 55 cm. Either male or female has a crest that hard that can detect the temperature of the sand.
Long and sharp beak is black. Maleo has big feet like a chicken and black. Color black fur and white breasted. Maleo bird color pattern is similar to the Penguin or Tuxedo. Its tail is similar to the tail of a hen.
This is a forest bird habitat in the selecting the sand beach or hot springs. Sand is very important for the breeding of this animal. Maleo live in small groups consisting of a dozen birds.
Unlike common birds, Maleo does not incubate their eggs. They entrusted the sand to incubate their children. They can predict where the best sand to incubate their children. Couple Maleo not keep their eggs until its hatch and they also do not care for their children like other poultry.
Maleo chick faces cruel forest. After hatching, they should get out of the sand for a breath of fresh air. They had to fly at age one day and foraging in the forest. The young bird is an easy target for predators such as dogs, cats, monitor lizards, hawks, rats, and others.
The existence of Maleo increasingly threatened because of poaching and the narrowing of forest land.
Maleo birds are hunted for meat and eggs. Bird Eggs Maleo 5-8 times the size of chicken eggs. The length of the eggs can reach 20 cm. The color is light brown eggs. A female will pass out for a while every time laying the egg. 
Read also:
Lady Amherst Pheasant
Cassowary
Green Java Peacock
Green Jungle Fowl
Malayan Peacock

Monday, February 21, 2011

How to make mini incubator

My brother raises Bangkok chicken at backyard. He has two hens that was laying some eggs. Each hen lays 13 eggs in a clutch. A hen hatch 13 eggs but it eat three eggs. I think the chicken know that it is impossible to hatch more than 10 eggs. Other chicken does not go broody, it let the eggs. It is unusual for Bangkok chicken. Most Bangkok Chicken goes broody.
I have an idea to create a mini incubator chicken to hatch the thirteenth eggs. In my country, we are difficult to buy mini incubator because there is no pet shop that sell mini incubator.
Before make incubator you should provide wood, lamp, rack, water tray, thermometer and other. You also need tools like saw, hammer, burdizzo, and other tools.
Before creating the incubator, you are better to draw the design.

Here are the steps of making mini incubator:

1. Create a wooden box 60x60x60 cm. Create the frame of the box first and The front side is glass, so you can see the progress of hatching. Nail to cover the frame with triplex or wood. Notice: some wood contain chemist that is very dangerous to embryo. The poison often fails the egg hatch.
2. Put the tray at the middle box. You can make tray with fence or you can use the wire try. Do not use plastic tray because it will not good for the eggs.  
3. You can put water tray below the rack. This water is important for keeping humidity.
4. Sticky the thermometer inside the box so you can watch the thermometer degree.
5. Install the lamp at the top box. Use 40 watt lamp. Check the temperature and keep the temperature not more than 40 degrees Celsius or the eggs will be burned or well done.

How to operate the machine

After you finished the hatch machine, you can try hatching the chicken eggs.
1. Turn on the light. Be sure that the temperature should be 101 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Fill the water try with pure water.
3. Put the eggs on rack. Be sure there is a space between the eggs.
4. Close the machine door
5. Scroll the eggs three times a day
6. After 21 days, the eggs will be hatched. Let the chick for one days and you can remove the chicken to the brooder cops.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Cubalayan : Fighting Rooster that produce white meat from Fidel Castro's Country

Cubalayan is a chicken that originated at Cuba. Spanish people brought this chicken from Philiphine. Cubalayan is almost similar to Philippine chicken in performance. It means Cubalayan is a descendant of Red Jungle Fowl. Some Cubalayan has similar feather to its ancestor color partridge or red breasted black. Cubalayan is also available in silver duckwing, black, blue wheaten, white, and others.  

It has slender body and long sickle tail feather that almost touch land. It is six to seven lbs in weight. The head looks very strong. This chicken performance is almost similar to fighting rooster or pit cock. It has strong curved beak that can hit the enemy. The skull is also strong too.

Although this chicken can fight well, this chicken raise for its meat. The chicken has much breast meat and the meat is also white in color.

Upper the head, there is a pea comb. Below the beak, there are double wattles. The skin of this chicken is white. The feet are yellow in color. Like other pit cock, It has spurs. The chicken has no feather on its leg.

This chicken is not hardy winter due to the origin in tropical region. This chicken is good forager too. Due to its aggressiveness, do not put any rooster with cubalayan rooster in a coop. The Cubalayan will bully other roosters.

The hen is good mothers and goes broody. The hen lays around 200 eggs in a year. The color of egg is cream and tinted.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

How to heat the cage with coal

In my country, the electricity does not reach the village. That is why it is difficult to heat the broiler cage or chicken cage. They prefer to use coal or wood to heat the chicken especially small chicken. It keeps the cage warm.

They make a zinc tube that is one meter height. There is some porous or holes in the side of tube. Surely, they cover the tube with the fence so the chick cannot touch the tube that could kill the chick.


However this why is not health. The smoke that is result from coal burn could harm to people and chicken. For the long term, the smoke can cause cancer and other diseases. The owner should provide good ventilation too so the smoke will not poison the chicken.

Some farm also provide coal heater to the coops. There are some company provide big coal heater.

Read also : How to raise broiler Chicken
New Hampshire Chicken

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Old English Game Fowl: A retired Fighting fowl



Old English game was a famous cockfighting or cockpit from England. The function of the chicken has changed become exhibition chicken since some country forbade the cockfighting. Old English game is the ancestor of American game fowl whose has similar performance.
Even the chicken is raise for exhibition but the characteristics of the cockfighting still there. The chicken is slim and the feet are strong. 

The variations color is partridge, silver duckwing, blue, gray and red, and more. The sickle is not curve shape but flatten. The game fowl has spurs that is the weapon to defeat the other chicken. The head is small like egg or egg shape. The fowl has small pea comb. Most cockfighting has small comb. If the cock has wide comb, the owner cut the comb. The wide comb is an easy target for the enemy.
This chicken is not tame. More than one cock in one flock is a damages. You should separate each rooster to avoid the fighting. Reversely, you can add some hen at the flock. The Old English game hen is a good mother and good setter which hatch their eggs.

read also : 

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Modena Pigeon : Beatiful Pigeon from Modena, Italy

Modena has beautiful feather and performance. They have unique pattern color that is different with the ancestor rock dove and the other pigeon. The breast and the back is white in color, while the wing, the tail feather, head and shoulder are black or brown. The neck color is brown or black with green shine.

The breast is wide but the tail is narrow. That is why this bird is for ornamental only. The body shape is U like wine glass. You need to provide a good cage for this beautiful bird.
Read also
Jacobin Pigeon
American Giant Homer Pigeon

Photo by : jim.gifford

Saturday, February 5, 2011

How to produce bantam chicken

Bantam Chicken is a miniature of chicken whose has shorter feet and lighter body than the standard chicken. Some bantam has been developed from standard chicken such as Rhode Island, Wyandotte, Plymouth rock, New Hampshire and more.

There are steps to produce the Bantam chicken. This is not easy ways to produce the chicken from standard chicken breed. You may find the difficult to do it.

1. Select the shortest chicken from standard type. Use this chicken for parent of the bantam. Find the shortest hen too.

2. Join the pair of the chicken and hatch the eggs. You can cross the father with the kid, grandson, or great grandson. Select the shortest descendant

3. Cross your chicken with bantam too.

Notes: Crossing the chicken with the descendant can decrease the quality of chicken. For example: A standard chicken can lay 200 eggs in a year. You cannot hope that the descendant can lays 200 eggs like the ancestor. Serama Bantam lays 5 to seven eggs only while the ancestor can lays 7-12 eggs.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Hamburg Chicken : A Nice Small Chicken From Germany and Holland

Hamburg chicken is developed in Germany and Holland (Netherland). It has beautiful silver and black color. This chicken is for ornamental or exhibition only due to its beautiful feather and the size. The color variation of this chicken is Black, Golden-Penciled, Golden-Spangled, Silver-Spangled, and more.
The Hamburg is only 1.8 to 2.3 kg or five pounds, while the hen is 1.75 to 2.2 kg or 4 lbs. Hamburg is also available in bantam version chicken that body is small, weighing not more than one kilogram.
It has medium rose comb at upper the head. Below the beak, there is a pair of medium wattles. The earlobes are white in color.


The chicken is slim unlike other German chicken breed. That is why the bird can fly though for short distance. You should fence this chicken at your backyard, if you want care this bird.

This hen lays small and white glossy egg. Like Rhode Island, the hen can lay faster than other chicken breed. Unfortunately, we have not see any literature that record the egg yield per year.

Read also:
How to produce Bantam Chicken
Old English game bantam
Booted Bantam
Wyandotte Bantam
Dutch Bantam