Rocky VIIII - the Return

He's here....meet Rocky, my new Indian Game cockerel. 21 inches of pure muscle with an ego to match.

I bought him from our good friends Carol and Sandy because I'd like to a) try to breed some very tasty, well meated dinner birds and Light Sussex x Indian Game are supposed to be AWESOME and b) intoduce something other than Light Sussex or ISA Brown/Random hybrid to the existing flock.

I fell in love with a teeny wee Japanese midget something they had too that looked like a Wellsummer cockerel but only 6 inches high - unfortunately (but quite rightly) I was dissuaded from taking him too as he'd never have survived introduction. I have plans for a midget flock though consisting entirely of Japanese bantams.

Hector, the er...head honcho of our lot had a go at Rocky tonight when I let him out the box but he got a helluva fright when Rocky failed to back down and gave him an earful. There was a lot of squawking and shreiking for about 5 minutes then went quiet. I left Rocky saying hi to some of our rescued hybrids and Hector telling his Woman how he would have easily had Rocky if it wasn't so cold and well, with his dodgy knee and arthritis...

From Omlet.com

Indian Game birds are bred in Cornwall and have been since the 19th century. They are sometimes referred to as Cornish. They do prefer to live where the climate is mild. The bird descends from an Asil, an Indian breed of bird whose name means aristocratic. Although the bird looks fierce and stout it has never been used as a fighting bird. They were and still are very popular due to their very large proportion of breast meat. They are used for cross breeding purposes for their meat. Although called Indian Game they are not classed as game at exhibition standard. The shortness of the legs and the increased width of the bird is something that has been developed over this century. Earlier birds had longer legs. Crossbreeds of this bird are what we find in our supermarket shelves today.

Behaviour
The Indian Game is both sensible and tame and very confident in character. Their strange shape does make them vulnerable to lice and mite infestation as they find it hard to preen under their tails. As its purpose is mainly cross breeding for meat it does not lay that many eggs. It can become broody and protective. A full grown bird can become tricky to pick up due to its width. They do need to have low perches and large pop holes to get through.

Varieties
Standard colours for this bird are dark, jubilee and blue laced. The plumage on the females gives a very elegant look. The feathers are hard, close and double laced. The cock bird in dark colour does not have the lacing but a beetle green shine on his back feathers. The jubilee has white where the dark has black and the females again are well laced. The blue laced is the most attractive of the three. It has blue where the dark has black. Over the breastbone there usually is an area with no feathers. The eyes are pale red or pearl. The earlobes are red and the legs are orange or yellow.