Best Free Range Survival Homestead Chickens 2021 Update Florida Cracker Gamefowl, Liege, and Turkeys

Please check out my new book Free Range Survival Chickens. This is, in my opinion, the most comprehensive book on how to successfully free range chickens available: a.co/d/i4dKQlz Update for my free-range, self-sufficient, homestead survival chickens, the Florida Cracker gamefowl. I also show off other poultry I’m raising and discuss my future breeding plans. My book on how to raise chickens free range with minimal care will be out soon (Summer 2024). #chicken #homesteading #freerangechicken #backyardchickens #permaculture #organicfarming

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

Let me know how ya’ll are liking the new camera. There should be a significant picture quality increase over previous videos. Also let me know if 4k is happening for those of you with 4k displays.

[@calebmartinez8771]

Camera is great please Pump Up the Volume

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

Will do. At the end of the clip I was using the camera’s native mic and it picked up all that wind noise. In fact I originally shot the whole video with the native mic and the wind noise was terrible, so I went back and reshot it all except the end with my daughter using a shotgun mic pointed to me for commentary and with a thick wind break. It muffled the recording but did a good job of cutting out the wind. My computer speakers can be loud so it is isn’t always clear to me when I’m editing how loud something ends up being.

[@calebmartinez8771]

@@Florida_Bullfrog thank you sir. I enjoy your channel

[@davidtodd2111]

Would you be interested in crossing some line with me on your game bird eggs? I have only standard old English games free ranging on my farm. They have been raising their own chicks and doing very well for me now for 5 1/2yrs. They are free range day and night 24/7 365days a year. I im purposely raising them to let nature pick the survivors and produce the next years stock this way. My hens have a very protective traits and i have had them fight off dogs, foxes, and hawks that would go after their chicks.

[@kralupinensis]

The perfect survival chicken breed is Sumatra chicken. Amazing flight and escape skills when attacked by predators.

[@randomcuriosities8441]

These birds are from a rough neighborhood called "The chicken projects" lol

[@mayshomesteadchronicles]

😂 this comment had me literally laughing

[@bryannakvinda8411]

I am in process of doing the same thing in Oklahoma

[@cheribrodeur1568]

If you ever sell some of your roosters and hens I’d be interested in starting a small flock.

[@pag8591]

I got mine from Meyer Hatchery via mail

[@Huntatroll]

@@pag8591 I can’t find the breed on meyer?

[@geneneill530]

I am fascinated with the concept of Cracker gamefowl. Do they tend to lay in nest boxes, or is it like an Easter egg hunt every time you collect eggs? Thanks for making this video. Very well done.

[@floydmaine3613]

Love the chicken updates please keep them coming

[@GuardianAngel..]

Your chickens are nothing short of Amazing Sir 👍

[@lararosevelt545]

Love the video and the lessons on florida chicken history! What kind of chickens run the keys?

[@pacmangallon6700]

I really love color red jungle fowl and then taste of the meat very delicious done broiler chicken

[@ThatOneguy-br3uf]

I had some just like these. They called them red jungle fowl but after many years eventually the Bob cats got them all. Too much brush on my property for ambush points. They could fly like the wind no doubt though. You provide great info and are clearly an intelligent gentleman. Thanks for sharing.

[@ramadhanramadhan3698]

Well Mr Bullfrog, you have a nice farm I like it, but the Way how you run it, it's really amazing and natural hope good price on its end product. Big up.

[@Dominic.Minischetti]

They are beautiful birds! Thanks for sharing!

[@igotboredfkit]

Definitely worth the wait on the new camera! Awesome to see how the other birds are doing it'll be interesting to see how those dark hens cross in with your current game fowl.

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

There is a little known kind of feral chicken from Georgia called the Carolina bantam. It was created through natural selection under the supervision of a prominent chicken biologist in the middle of last century who first let various random bantams breed freely in a barnyard then he turned them loose in a river bottom in Georgia. They’ve adapted and live as a wild species. They are often used in university studies but aren’t widely well known beyond the poultry academic community. Through natural selection, they became black with flecks of brown. Apparently that camouflaged them better than other colors for Eastern hardwoods. Perhaps they blend into the shadows better. I am curious to see if larger chickens like these would also be so selected.

[@igotboredfkit]

@@Florida_Bullfrog this is basically what I plan on doing with ameraucana hens and black sumatra roosters on my property. Its in Georgia as well. mainly for pest control because I don't like chemicals. itll be interesting to see if mine turn out similarly given what im using to make them and the similar environments they'll be in. It'll also be interesting to see how they adapt to the 3 properties i plan to spread them amongst once(if) they get start populating well. One is a relative that lives directly on the river theres alot of underbrushless wooded flat areas, with extremely steep hills covered in bushes and kudzu. The 2nd is a friends. a more wooded hilly area with several large crevasses and lots of underbrush on it. About an hour from the river The 3rd is fairly wooded with large oaks and magnolia trees and scrub areas with large patches of open grass and clay. About 30 minutes from both the other two Just placed an order for 30 ameraucana and 3 sumatra chicks. I'll spread them to friends and family if they do well. also have a few coworkers who were interested in them when I brought up the idea at work one day.

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

My brother has some Sumatras he’s experimenting with.

[@charliew1758]

@@igotboredfkit Did your plan work? I’m very interested to see if this worked, thanks😁

[@igotboredfkit]

@@charliew1758 the ameraucanas are doing well so far but the sumatras didn't do well and died in the brooder. I have some mystic onyx chickens but I think I'm gonna check my local game farm and see if they have any game roosters that match the genetics I want.

[@bishalacharya]

Awesome information regarding chickens/fowls. Thank you

[@MrGuyCali]

Love the practical, historically relevant content!! However I don't think I'm alone in asking; is there any way you could do a video on your day-to-day or routine with these chickens? How many eggs? How much time it takes to collect? How you get them in for the night? Maybe even a video on the amount of meat from one of the roosters, and maybe you cooking it up? I'm sure many of us would LOVE a video that goes into detail about that! Thanks! Excited for the liege roosters!!!

[@MrGuyCali]

Also! If you could maybe take 10 or so eggs and weigh them so people can get an idea of the real size of the eggs. I think a lot of us are really just looking for as much data as we can get, this is some truly special content. Can't say enough how excited I am to see the liege roosters mixed in!!!

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I can do that. The Liege I have are all hens. My plan is to breed Number 1 to then.

[@MrGuyCali]

@@Florida_Bullfrog Yeah I mean i'm excited to see the roosters in 6 months to a year. Good stuff, thanks!

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I got three more videos to post then I’ll shoot and edit the daily routine video.

[@MrGuyCali]

@@Florida_Bullfrog Looking forward to it

[@rickosteen]

I'm from Citrus County, we had these birds when I was younger. Never realized they were the original game chickens.

[@Gunner-ll1zd]

This is a great and informative video!

[@pawpaw8116]

Just hatched 10/14 from your shipped eggs. Awesome hatch rate! Hope they will do well for me.

[@pawpaw8116]

Update*......unfortunately a fox got them all 😢

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

How did the fox get them?

[@pawpaw8116]

@@Florida_Bullfrog had them in an avairy. Btw, I live in Wisconsin.....so no way they'll survive our winter free ranged. Anyway, that damn fox dug under the what I thought was secure enough(but wasn't)fence one night and took them all out.

[@reclanton]

awesome!

[@airgunusa6643]

Hey buddy. I’ve been watching your channel for a long time. Just thought I’d reach out to you and see if you would like to join us this Saturday in Clermont for some fun shooting. We have a Airgun club here called Central Florida Airgunners. Will be meeting at 9o’clock on Saturday.

[@leroyjarvis5617]

Good information! Great video! I have a few hens and a rooster. The rooster is a silver Delaware and he's mean. Ive tried to break him from being aggressive but I guess he's bound for a heat treatment lol. Im thinking of putting hobbles on him.

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I’m well convinced that human aggressive roosters can’t be permanently broken of it.

[@leroyjarvis5617]

@@Florida_Bullfrog yea, the heat treatment is the only way I reckon, mighty tasty too I might add, lol. Stay safe brother!

[@hotchihuahua1546]

You have some healthy birds !

[@lunarrn]

I wish you still sold on Ebay.

[@boom1925]

Wow. Your chickens are gorgeous and your free range ideas are spot on for survival. I just harvested four free range Australorp roosters yesterday. I caught the first two pretty easily, but the other two were very skittish. My twelve year old son and I broke out our pellet rifles and went hunting. It was his first time hunting anything and he was so proud of his kill. He kept telling me how much fun he had so I got to thinking of raising a totally independent flock we could hunt at will. A youtube search led me right to you. A question I have is do you think the Liege will do good with young children ages 5-12? I also have some dogs, cats, turkeys, chickens, and pigs.

[@frustratedmajority851]

You talking about liege fighters?

[@anandchundi6805]

Do your cracker roosters crow a lot? I don't really hear them in your videos. Also do they crow at the crack of dawn? Must be a quiet breed

[@Brinnyanderson]

I'm so happy to have found your channel. I live in Clay County. I've learned so much from your videos. Your birds are gorgeous.

[@Drewskidelmar]

Hi glad I found your video !, I’m looking to get some bantams to free range on our new homestead , we are on the panhandle as well

[@michaelclement4961]

Nice little asil cross. Looks like a half and half. Nice station on them

[@nelsonlucio1010]

If you selling chicken let me know thanks

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

Check back later tonight. I’m about to update my eBay listings in the description.

[@nelsonlucio1010]

Congratulations nice farm 😄😄😄

[@dwightmcvey2265]

We have a large flock of these wandering free on a property we bought in northeast Florida. They are a lot of fun to watch.

[@steveflowers01]

Hey bub. Our family has run cattle in lower central Florida since 1878. Check out pictures from Carlton Ward. Great video, great birds

[@yasinkurt1271]

they look wonderful...

[@debbiemasters6086]

Howdy, I just found your videos. Which is awesome cuz I'm in N. Florida & couldn't find any one around me that had any videos that was on what I needed so what I'd like to know is are you still doing videos to date in 2022. I need to know more about my chickens & maybe need to know where to get other chickens from. Okay then, hopefully I'll hear back from you or see another updated video. Thank you. Oh, I wanted to say that I appreciate your videos so informative & such Beautiful ❤️ braids. Wow...glad to hear that you're bringing back a bird that should've Never gone extinct. In today's day & age We all need to do everything we can to protect nature & the wild life. Thank you sir for sure a great video. I realize these that I'm watching are a year old I'm hoping for new ones.

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I'm actually working on a book about survival chickens for David the Good, I'm spending a lot of my free time writing the book, so I won't have many chicken updates until the book is done.

[@libertyforamericanow]

Thats funny. Ive created the same breed just by chance. They are so broody. They love dissappearing for 3 weeks and showing back up with 10 chicks at a time

[@duckmanjoel]

How do Florida Cracker Gamefowl handle hawks?? We have so many hawks. Also, Raccoons and foxes and coyotes.

[@Shahi_lancer]

These birds look like wild chicken aka red jungle fowl. Were these bred from domesticated chicken or red jungle fowl?

[@davidsantossilvadavid6706]

Love chickens The way how you take care of them is❤ I will subscribe From Brazil

[@gethookedoutdoors]

Those asils will kill a hawk I have a spurred hen that had a brood of chicks and she whipped a chicken hawk in my front yard killed it in a heart beat saved every chick I breed cobra asils and I also cross them with American game birds I love the cross but I also love the pure asils one of my favorite birds I own

[@krzysztofrudnicki5841]

They look like green legged partridge chickens from Poland. Also good survival chicken breed.

[@alexanderaguilar2059]

They sure look like Blueface gamefowl. I sure wonder if they're Billy Ruble gamefowl.

[@darenleeper1644]

Strange they don't scratch. Our chickes scratch scratch peck peck. Our chickens scratch scratch peck peck. Probably nicer for the lawn what you got there.

[@Boocake1488]

Sir, it sounds like you have an over-abundance of roosters. Would you consider selling them to your fellow Floridians?

[@philipwxiong8539]

Hello friend, do you still have some of your craker gamefowl for sale? I would like to buy if you sell them? Philip Xiong

[@genxreactions]

Your Crackers look like Old English Game Bantams, I have some

[@longtime6047]

I'm intrigued and entertained by these "survivor chicken project" videos. keep up the good work mate.

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I have an update video on my hybrid chicks that I'm going to upload in the next day or two.

[@GastropodGaming2006]

man, i really like these vids

[@buddydavidson8549]

I was born and raised in Baker Florida my mom was born and raised in Pensacola Florida her dad was born and raised in Pensacola Florida so I'm at least a third generation Floridian

[@AnimeDreamingEcchi]

Can I buy some from you and you ship it to Georgia

[@buddydavidson8549]

I wonder if they're shotgun chickens are drag chickens

[@brianmueller6418]

I love your channel I love to see you hunt deer and hogs with your air rifles

[@mattpeacock5208]

That is the prettiest rooster ever bro! Keep it up!

[@cheerup5267]

Those chicken looks like darag chicken of the Philippines...

[@jamisonrein1303]

I can't find the cracker chicken hatching eggs on the ebay link, are these still for sale?

[@Retrieverman1]

Have you done any videos about bulldogs and Southern farms? There is a long-standing tradition in the Deep South that a homestead have a very large bulldog as its main farm dog. There is a great video about what's called a White English Bulldog (not to be confused wth the show dog) that a man named Hoffman had growing up. i have been trying to tract down the origins of these Southern bulldogs for a while. Some sources say they are derived from the Spanish alano (a bullfighting dog that was depicted by de Goya). Others say that they were the banddogges and bulldogs of the English cavaliers who came to the South after losing the English Civil War (and are the main origin for the American Southern culture as we understand it). A friend of mine had a White English bulldog of the type I'm talking about, and that dog was the absolute best farm dog you could imagine. It would herd stock with very little training. Took direction about leaving chickens alone. From what I have read, the Johson and Scott American bulldogs derive from this animal, but those have a little bit of pit bull them. Pit bulls were Yankee dogs that were brought by the Irish immigrants to Boston and New York for pit fighting, but these dogs have all wound up conflated together, in part because they have crossed the farm bulldogs with the fighting dogs over the years. To me, those farm bulldogs are as emblematic of the South as just about anything.

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I haven’t seen a White English in about a decade. I have a composite photo of my wife with hers growing up and then her with my White English when we were dating. I’ll try to post it over in my community feed.

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

@Scottie Westfall I just posted a pic of a couple of White English in my community feed.

[@rhinohorn5145]

HI sr do u sale the pair of game chicken,if u do let me know i like to have a pair

[@rabbani8613]

It' like forest wild chicken. Both rooster and hens..

[@kellyobrien5574]

where are you and how much is a crackle game bird you said you are selling

[@raymccarty4612]

Where in North Florida? I am in Macclenny.

[@perpetual-si5go]

Can i get this cracker birds or their fertile eggs delivered to Nigeria? Thanks

[@donaldatkinson7937]

They look just like brown leghorns.

[@cynthiadellinger4507]

Thanks for sharing this it was very interesting . I read everything on any chicken that I find. Oh I just want to make one other comment. I haven't heard the word Florida cracker

[@cynthiadellinger4507]

Since I was a little girl I heard the word Florida cracker I was born in Miami Florida but I'm in North Carolina original home of my family my grandpa used to call me a Florida cracker I never really understand what it meant. Add chicken video with interest

[@RipPimpCScrewstonTX]

How much smaller than American game?

[@coppertopv365]

Cracker imo isnt Racist. It started as i understand as the sound of the Whip used in Cattle business. Not by color till later, then used to describe a Select Southern heritage. I'm just North/South Country, northern born, military Veteran, and now southern.. I dislike city living, I was close enough to a City in the Army. I dont like all the Hustle and Bustle, Crowds, and noise. I like the Country. .an I like a Yard. My in laws have Cattle, and I help with the Cattle, and Hay fields. I been thinking about getting some chickens.. my wife used to have pigs in FFA. This video might make me speed up the process of getting chickens, only draw back is we have a Dog, a Kinda Big Dog that may attack them.. so I have to ready the Yard and Section them off.

[@larryjohnson3185]

Would love to get some fertilized batum eggs

[@yasinkurt1271]

Mongoo nice blue red partridge colors

[@russellfredrick6519]

I'm always happy to see a new video from you. Your chicken project is awesome. Do you have problems with number one being aggressive towards people? Do you gather enough eggs every weeks to meet your needs?

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

No, Number 1 is completely human friendly as is his father Hei Hei. Of the 4 Cracker roosters I started with, 3 were human aggressive and only Hei Hei was friendly. So I built the flock mostly off of him. Right now a flock of 30 Cracker hens is giving me 6-9 eggs a day, of those eggs that are laid in nest boxes. It is still early in the season and as we go further into spring more and more hens will start laying. They lay heavy until they lay about a dozen to twenty eggs then they go broody. I have one that is broody now I am trying to break.

[@earthdragon88backyard]

Those looks like hatches gamefowl

[@paulyang748]

Cracker Game Fowl? Isn't it just a Red Jungle Fowl

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

If they were straight red junglefowl they would have to be kept in an aviary. Pure red junglefowl are wild pheasants that won’t live on a farm.

[@kyleclayton2360]

I need a pair or trio. Do you ship to Oregon?

[@TheGrmany69]

Fine animals, this is the type of environment you find throughout Venezuelan lowlands and most people have opted to ditch these exact varieties you put here for these derelict 50's hyper intensive production systems... of course, they struggled during the most severe stage of the crisis becase it's a high resource-demanding system.

[@markcrumbley5681]

Tell me more about roosters it will kill hawks

[@Talitacanzz]

Itu ayam hutan nya sudah di ternakkan ya?

[@yasinkurt1271]

hens like cream legbar chicken

[@leestewart72]

They look like Welsummers

[@waqasvirk1244]

😘😘🥰🥰❤️❤️👍👍👌👌

[@Pure.Red.Jungle.fowl.chicken]

L

[@davidtaylor6244]

I’m near Marianna Florida. I am on my family’s homestead. I’d love to get some breed stock from you. Where are you located

[@kao677]

It chicken Thailand

[@Retrieverman1]

Would these cross well with an Egyptian fayoumi? That's basically the Egyptian version of one of these. They have junglefowl in them too, but from way further back.

[@patty9265]

Your rooster are pretty.

[@libertyforamericanow]

No more ebay listings? Guess it didn't work out

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I sold as many as my hens could lay. Something around 1200 eggs in a year I think I sold. But I just lost interest in selling them. Towards the end the postal service started becoming sloppy with handling hatching eggs and it was becoming common where one in so many shipments would get lost or damaged. I saw a postal employee actually throw one shipment box like a frisbee about 8 feet.

[@alexanderaguilar2059]

I like those asils but keep them separately because they only hit the head and neck and they will kill your cracker birds. Those hens have redquill in them. Nice to see a fellow breeder.

[@brandonarredondo121]

How rare are these cracker birds? I could almost swear ive seen wild chickens in florida and they look exactly like those! They all look the same hens and Cockerels. The chicks were chocolate and dark colored. Cool!

[@manuelrojas9749]

Jungle fowl?

[@Slievenamon]

Also, an 8lb rooster will take four times longer to cook than 4 roosters that weigh 2lb.

[@zakkrick]

I know all there is to take care a chicken. Sometimes I try not to cross breed any chicken because sometimes they look good when they reach adult size. You got the the type chickens that I like, which are game chicken

[@sankarun]

Wow! What a collection 😍Sir ! Where did you get these beautiful red jungle fowl rooster and hen? How can i get a pair of them in India (Asia)

[@masonmurphy2294]

Didn’t know your flock came from citrus county ! Being from Homosassa and watching your videos !!!

[@hughesoutdooradventures2341]

Is there a recommended acreage to free range poultry like this and do you have any advice for someone in a slightly colder climate like Kentucky

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

Go with full size American gamefowl. Appalachia used to be full of free range American game chickens back when cockfighting was legal across most states. I believe a robust flock of 20 hens and a brood cock can be supported on 2-3 acres of mixed habitat. Some woods, an open field or lawn growing like a meadow, an overgrown fenceline, ect. Chickens are edge animals like whitetail deer are. They like the transition zones between habitats. They need cover from above, leaf litter, grass and weeds, bugs, and water.

[@benjimenfranklin7650]

Actually I believe they are calling bantam chickens .

[@eddieandrews3854]

How do I find your eggs for the American Game Bantams on eBay?

[@duckmanjoel]

Your FL Cracker gamefowl look a lot like Brown leghorns

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

That’s because brown leghorns look a lot like red junglefowl and gamefowl in coloration. Leghorns were once wild chickens from the Livorno region of Italy and existed in a feral state as far back as the BC era, where Cato the Elder and other Roman authors remarked about the wild chickens of the region. The Romans called them “junglefowl” but the ancient agricultural experts speculated that the wild chickens of the region were domesticated chickens that reverted to a feral state instead of being original junglefowl. The Romans knew that chickens were domesticated from wild junglefowl from the far East.

[@duckmanjoel]

@@Florida_Bullfrog When I was a kid, a hunter brought me two wild turkey eggs. I hatched one that grew up to be a female. Being raised alone by a kid, she stayed in the yard. We put two leghorn eggs in her nest with the nonfertile turkey eggs. Those two eggs hatched and were completely wild. One grew to be a rooster and the other a hen. You couldn't get within 50 feet of them. But the hen lacked the instinct to sit on her eggs. I found a nest with about 40 eggs in it. She laid in a nest but never would sit on them. Fast forword today, I have a Silver Duckwing Bantam that hatched some bobwhite quail eggs. She raised them in the yard and they are about as big as her now. Most success I have had at keeping quail around. The quail don't always go in the pen at night but they are there in the morning to get the bird seed and mealworms. I can almost get close enough to pick them up when I throw out the meal worms. But only one female quail out of nine. LOL

[@randallcrawford4141]

Hi thanks I appreciate the information...now free range how do they do with other predators like racoons or coyotes? I like the idea of that black breed killing hawks and seen Roosters of other breeds that are protective of their hens do that too ...I want to free range but also breed for eggs and meat...and would like to hear your viewpoint on that too ...thanks 👍

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I never lose any to coons and only layer breeds to coyotes.

[@nicholasbennett8612]

When will there be more chickens to buy? I’ve been planning to to make my own breed of chicken for my homestead and you’ve already done it so if I can buy some from you that’ll give me chickens till I can get my breed figured out

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

Probably a while. I was thinking I might offer some in the summer but my hens keep going broody.

[@pongthait1234]

Like

[@yeryang383]

I have been going over a few of your videos. Do you sale the wild jungle fowl. I’m really interested if you don’t mind please let me know. Thank you.

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I sell the hatching eggs, but please see my most recent videos. My brood cock is seriously wounded and recovering. I'll have to test his fertility before I offer any off of him.

[@frustratedmajority851]

Any knowledge about liege fighters? Looks like a super rooster to me but my knowledge is minimal

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I have 2 pure Liege hens and half Liege half aseel rooster. My brother breeds pure Liege. What we have found is that they are highly inbred and a bit fragile for that reason. Egg fertility is poor. We have found that they outcross excellently and their traits tend to dominate on hybrids. I am aware of two different local people I trust who verify their Liege roosters each killed a hawk. Because the importer for Liege is in north Florida quite a few farms have them around.

[@kzw5263]

Good video. I am in process right now with making a wild/homestead chicken mix of my own.

[@ricric1]

Can i purchase a trio ??

[@Florida_Bullfrog]

I’m not offering any at this time.

[@verdleyadjodha4668]

Do u sell I would like to buy and how much