[Sentenciador]

Getting Started
By: Twister
Taken from Grit & Steel October 1982

How does a newcomer to the sport go about getting a start with gamefowl? Ninety percent start out by having a battered or blinked cock given to them by a cocker friend who got him from so and so who had an aunt that lived out in the back country and somebody who was a friend to uncle Ned had walked a cock and a couple of pullets on their farm. Uncle Ned passed on to his reward and the chickens raised a bunch of stags and pullets. The stags go out to fighting come Fall and the pullets were scratching up Aunt Sally’s Persanthymums and Gerniums. Something had to give and Aunt Sally was of old Scotts stock so the birds were scattered to the wind.

But suppose you want to obtain some of the chickens advertised in the magazine? How does one go about it? There are hundreds of ads in the book with everything from power fowl to shotgun type speed birds. Some are bound to be good quality fowl and others are not. It takes all kind to make up the world so you might start by asking some of the regulars at the pits. Keep you ears and eyes open and don’t be afraid to ask questions. You’ll get plenty of free advice and you will just have to judge for yourself which is good and which is not. After you have thumbed through several issues of Grit and Steel try to make up your mind. You may want to phone the advertiser, fine, this gets right to the point. But for Pete’s sake don’t call him at some ungodly hour when he would be asleep. I would say between 6 and 9 p.m. would be the ideal time. Don’t be bashful. Tell him you are just getting started out and that you’ve heard a good deal about his fowl and that you would like to try some of them, perhaps a trio. I would ask him to mate up a trio that would produce a good solid pit fowl. The breeder will know his fowl better that anyone else to ask him to mate them up personally. Now most people will holler to get proven hens, but you don’t want to get four or five year old stock and that’s how long it takes to prove them. By them you’ve lost the most productive years of the hens. If you take big husky pullets and a bull stag you will come out ahead. If you take good care of them they will produce pretty good pit fowl and you can breed them as is for six or seven years. While you are at it if the seller has a battered cock, one that’s blinked, slipspurred or has his bill or toes damaged you may get a much better price on one of these and still have the bloodline you want. Don’t be cheap, this is 1982 and fowl cost a lot to keep. The day of the fifty dollar rooster and twenty dollar hen is gone. If at all possible, I would go to the breeder’s yard and pick them up there. He may let you pick out the pullets and stag you want. By all means check them for toe marks and wing bands. Pick the small butter ball female, round bodies. Stay away from the big gawley long keeled birds. Get a stag that’s spunky, nervous, alert, one that carries his chest high. I prefer medium stationed brood cocks. Pay cash and bring your own crates. You are going to spend several hundred bucks so don’t put your birds in the trunk. If necessary, put the wife in the trunk.

Inform the breeder that you will fight the stags from this trio and you have a half dozen buddies who will be watching them and who may be interested in getting the same stock. Tell him you’ll let him know in about 16 months how the offspring perform.

When you let home you must worm and louse them and them on good sturdy pens as close to the house as possible. Put oyster shell, grit and litter in the pen. Nail a gallon coffee can up near the roost where it won’t get wet and keep lay pellets and calf manna and oyster shell in it. Don’t let your fowl get wet and cold. Put at least two good covered nests in your pen and check them daily. You may want to spar your brood cock or stag. It’s not necessary. What you are looking for is gameness and cutting ability. You won’t determine this with the muffs on so concentrate on getting chicks off. Run a light cord out to the brood pen so you can give them a longer period of light. This will trigger the laying mechanism and they will begin to lay sooner. If you can’t go to the sellers place, that’s O.K. too. You can write him for the information you want but be sure to include a self addressed stamped envelope. You will come nearer getting an answer that way. Most breeders get stacks of inquiries and to answer them gets real expensive. Make your letter short and to the point, don’t poor mouth about being a poor boy just getting started. The breeder is a poor boy too and he has enough of his own troubles, and he’s heard all the sad tales you can think of. If you wish to have your fowl shipped to you, you may have to wait for several weeks because shipping involves getting health papers and shipping when air freight can take them. You will have to pay the air freight and depending on where you live this is going to cost you from thirty to a hundred bucks. So think about it. I believe it would be worth a twelve hour drive. Get a buddy that is interested in the game to go with you and help with the driving. If you don’t feel like you can do this, that the expense is too great, why not try ordering a setting of eggs from a reputable breeder. They have improved incubators a lot and I know lots of fellows that have gotten 90 to 99 percent hatches from eggs. A setting of eggs will cost from twenty to thirty bucks but you won’t be blowing the whole bankroll.

Most breeders will treat you right and are well versed in wrapping and shipping eggs. If you get them to mix you a setting of two breeds that’s fine as long as he marks each egg and you keep them separated in the incubator or use different hens. If possible get something like pure Hatch or White hackle or Roundhead or something you can cross later and experiment with. If you do order by mail, whether eggs or birds, send a money order or cashier’s check. You’ll get faster service not having to wait till your check clears.

Whatever you decide to do, my advise to you would be to do it all yourself. From the ordering to the receiving and hatching, marking and raising. By all means - do it yourself.