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Pros & Cons of Keeping American Game Chickens!

Our weekly series comparing chicken breed benefits and disadvantages includes American Game chickens.

After getting requests for an article about this breed for the last month, we finally got around to writing one.

Some owners like tending for this breed, while others don’t.

To assist our readers in deciding whether or not to keep this chicken variety, this post elaborates on our personal study and experiences with this breed.

PROS:

1. American Game Hens are great mothers

American Game Hen is a great mother
via Pinterest

These chickens are known for being protective and intelligent, making them great moms.

The parents are very attentive to their young and some could even argue they become overprotective when their young cry for aid.

Because of their natural maternal tendencies, many chicken keepers select this type to serve as the mother hen for eggs of other chicken breeds.

2. Colorful and culturally significant

The founding fathers of the United States, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, all played important roles in American history and were proud owners of this breed.

Because of this benefit, the breed is very desirable to have in any flock and has significant cultural and historical significance.

Other than that the American Game chickens are available in all colors that chickens can be available in. Their roosters can come in mixtures of different colors and that makes them the perfect addition to any flock to give it a nice esthetic value.

3. Roosters are protective of young chicks

Warming and protecting younger chicks during the colder months is an unusual behavior for roosters.

The difficulty with most chooks is that they are too proud to assist younger hens, but you shouldn’t have this issue with American Game roosters.

4. A+ free-rangers

American Game chickens are the best birds for free-ranging. The roosters would alert the flock to any incoming danger and, if need be will stand his ground to protect the mother hens and chicks, making it possible for them to reach safety.

They are swift runners and can spot danger quickly. They can eat nearly everything, and when released into the wild, they will forage for their own food, reducing the amount of food needed to keep them alive.

5. Strong Birds gamefowl

Super powerful birds. Without much or any veterinary care or medicine, these hens may recover from infections that would normally be fatal to other types of chickens.

They have a high tolerance for pain and a rapid recovery rate, so they can go back to business as usual after they’ve recovered from an injury.

6. Proficient fliers

Due of their lack of wings, American game chickens are excellent aviators in comparison to other kinds of chickens.

What’s more, they’re excellent as free-range birds since they’ll take to the air at the first opportunity or hint of danger from a predator on the ground.

7. Money Savers

Gamefowls allow you to save money, especially if they are allowed to free-range. They don’t need much food to survive or remain healthy, and normally one palm-full of food is enough to last ONE gamefowl the entire day. Just make sure they have access to water at all times.

8. Is American Game chicken egg healthy?

In addition to being the most costly eggs on the market, the eggs of this particular chicken breed also happen to be the healthiest. Both local doctors and senior citizens here like this egg above others.

They are an excellent investment potential because of their higher price compared to huge eggs despite the fact that they do not lay enormous eggs.

CONS:

They don’t satisfy egg-only chicken owners.

Some chicken keepers like huge eggs, whereas the American Game chickens lay medium-sized eggs.

Egg-only chicken keepers, as a result, prefer to avoid incorporating this breed into their flock.

Even though they will lay eggs on a consistent basis and go into broody once a month, the size of their eggs is less than the eggs produced by other breeds of chickens.

Roosters can threaten to kill any predator, but they also fight each other.

Roosters can threaten to kill any predator, but they also fight each other.
via Pinterest

The roosters become hostile towards one another but are kind to the hens and chicks.

Though this is to be expected when discussing roosters, we discovered that several chicken keepers claimed that they had never seen a rooster rebel against the pecking order with other roosters as much as the American Game roosters.

Male chicks may be hostile.

When weaned from their mothers at a young age, American game chicks may often become violent against one another well before they reach maturity or begin to crow.

It would take up a lot of room to keep them all in separate enclosures since they would start fighting and even killing each other if you didn’t.

Separating American Game roosters may be tricky, so be careful.

Roosters that are separated for an extended period of time are nearly impossible to reintegrate with each other, and any altercations to the roosters’ appearance, e.g., cutting of comb and waddle (dubbin), would result in aggression towards each other.

In certain cases, hens may act aggressively against other hens.

Since mother hens may be just as vicious as roosters and can sometimes fight to the death with one another, it can be challenging to keep a flock together.

People-aggressive behavior is a prevalent issue with American game chickens.

The instinct to defend one’s territory makes gamefowl potentially hostile to people and other animals.

How hostile are hens to humans?

Some gamefowl may become or are born quite hostile against humans and other animals, although mother hens are most violent while hatching eggs or protecting young.

The roosters on the other hand, can be naturally aggressive.

There are some who are born violent and others who develop such tendencies via repeated bloody encounters. Both the beaks and the spurs provide a significant threat when these birds get aggressive. This makes it problematic to release some of them into the open or to keep them in homes with young children.

The strength of a gamefowl’s bloodline through time determines the bird’s positive and negative characteristics. These gamefowl are not pure gamefowl since they have been hybridized with other kinds.

There’s a point when you want pure gamefowl and then you want to get rid of them and then you don’t know what to do with them. These fowl present as both fascinating and perplexing.

How to Become Self-Sufficient on ¼ Acre

Do you agree with our pros & cons list about the American Game chickens? Share your experiences with us in the comment section below or via e-mail support@typesofchicken.com

References:
The strength of a gamefowl's bloodline through time determines the bird's positive and negative characteristics. These gamefowl are not pure gamefowl since they have been hybridized with other kinds.

There's a point when you want pure gamefowl and then you want to get rid of them and then you don't know what to do with them. These fowl present as both fascinating and perplexing.
3.7/5 - (3 votes)
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10 thoughts on “Pros & Cons of Keeping American Game Chickens!”

  1. Hi I’m from india (south india ) I like to get american game foul (even chicks) how van I get them to me .Plz help me

    Reply
  2. Thanks for the info. Sounds like an amazing breed of chicken. Most chickens aren’t for the faint of heart, but these seem especially so. Seems if you separate the mother with chicks it should work out well, but that is a good idea anyway. I have only had one rooster. Silver Laced Wyandotte. He was huge and beautiful and fun to watch. He brought food to the hens and once fought off a huge rat snake right in front of me. He let me carry him about like a parrot because I had hand raised him from a day old chick. My neighbor (in a rural area) pitched a fit so I can’t have any more roosters, but I still keep chickens. I am wondering if hand raising one of these game birds would tame it a bit as it does other chickens?

    Reply
  3. There are alternatives for aggressiveness. Blinders are very useful, so keep in mind even if one is aggressive, that doesn’t mean you can’t keep it in your flock.

    Reply
  4. I inherited a flock of game chickens, and they are fun birds. The stags that come up are not fought off by the main rooster, but operate as satellites and perimeter defense. My favorite stag gave his life for the flock, got carried away by a coyote, but previously had fought off an owl, hawk, and established himself as 2nd in line. He knew words, and would alert if I said “HAWK!” They fight for rank, but if they are raised together, not to the death. They like having names, the roos walk proudly and crow when called by name, the hens calm when you call them by name. I received so many that not all have names, but the ones I know appreciate it. Some hens just blend in, like the pheasants and the all black. Have a birchen roo, #2 is black breasted red, #3 is all black. Thaddeus RIP was spangled wheaten. One hen went broody before he died, those chicks are pullets now. I hope one is his, will find out when they reach adult molt.

    Reply

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