Red Pile Chickens

[Chris Steele]

I've looked and looked, but I just can't find anything about them on the internet. Can someone help me out? A caresheet would be nice, thanks.

 

[Karen Hulvey]

What is the sceintific name of a 'RED PILE CHICKEN"? How about a picture too.

 

[Chris Steele]

I'd like to know that too. I guess it is just a term that we rednecks here use for that type of chicken. Wish I knew it's common name.

 

[Karen Hulvey]

So you really are serious here? I thought you were joking, really.:

Now my interest is piqued.

Is this a real animal?
Is it a special breed of chicken? (you know, hen lays eggs, rooster crows, etc)

 

[Karen Hulvey]

Okay I Googled it and ya know what? I found Red Pile Chicken! They live!

Red Pile OLD ENGLISH GAME are of ancient English origin and were developed as a fighting bird. Julius Caesar noted that the Britons kept fowls 'for pleasure, but not for the table' and cock fighting was not made illegal in Britain until 1849. Today they are kept by enthusiasts for show and Red Pile is just one of some thirty colour varieties found in the breed.

http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/bounty/170/poultry.html

 

[Chris Steele]

Thank you Karen! I really appreciate that. I am not really sure of how you go about giving rep. points, good you inform me?

 

[Karen Hulvey]

Here's a thread on red points.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69497

 

[Chris Steele]

Just out of curiosity, what made you take such interest in finding out about red piles? What all types of animals do you keep if you don't mind my asking?

 

[Karen Hulvey]

I really thought you were joking. When I realized that you weren't joking, I had to Google it and it popped up several pages into threads that had "piles of chicken" (LOL) in them.

I have Kenyan sand boas, Amazon tree boas, Columbian boas, Haitian rainbow boas, viper boas, cape gopher, sonoran gopher, trinket snake, California kings, greyband kings, ball pythons, jungle carpet pythons, tokay geckos, timneh African greys, peachfaced lovebirds, button quail, a couple canaries, a European goldfinch and cats!

 

[Chris Steele]

Awesome collection, purebred cats or normal? Are you a hobbiest, breeder or some of both?

So if it came up with "piles of chickens" how did you eventually get to the red pile. I gave up when I searched and got that result. Haha, I guess this will teach me to be more persistant.

You don't mind me getting so off topic do you? If so, you can email me if you want to continue a discussion. I am looking for a nice group of well experienced herpers to get involved in talking with often and learning to tell you the truth.

Haha, my collection right now consists of four mice that I will be breeding when I get my cornsnakes. Oh yeah, I have 1.2 red piles too, getting more... next week I believe.

 

[Wilomn]

What type of corns are you looking to get Chris? Any thing in particular?

 

[Chris Steele]

Nothing really in particular except that I would like to find a person with 5 sub-adults for sale. Preferably a morph male and four females het for that morph, but if it was in my price range i'd love to have some morph females. I am about to start a job at UPS and once that gets going, basically anything will be in the pricerange. Well except herps like BP morphs and such, plus I wouldn't be willing to spend that much if I could at this point in my life.

 

[PaulSage]

Chris, Strombergs' calls them red pyle modern game chickens. You might get different search results if you use the other spelling.

 

[Chris Steele]

I tried that one, guess I wasn't looking closely or my mind wasn't open to the fact that it wasn't the name of the breed.

 

[Chris Steele]

My county is notorious for its chicken breeding, but that would be tyson chickens. I've been working in chicken houses all summer and I know basically all I'd need to know. I am interested in what some internet caresheets on them might have to say that I may not know.

 

[Cat_72]

The correct spelling IS Red Pyle. And yes, they are considered game birds. They are neat little birds, I raised them for a few years awhile back, til the market totally fell out of them, lol. I'd be glad to help if you have any specific questions on them.

I'll have to look back in some old photos and see if I have any pics left of the chicks right after hatching....I set them next to a DIME for size comparison.

 

[Chris Steele]

Thanks. Will it increase the egg production and health if I get them some oyster shells? If there is anything crititcal that you think I might not know, then please feel free to point it out.

I appreciate the help everyone.

 

[Cat_72]

I don't know if giving them the oyster grit necessarily will INCREASE egg production....they are pretty prolific layers anyway....but it will keep it from decreasing from a lack of calcium, and it will ensure that the eggs have a solid shell. They aren't "year round" layers like production chickens are, but they seem to lay quite steadily through the normal laying season, from spring into mid-summer, at least.

I have all of my chickens eating a diet of cracked corn, supplemented with either the granular layer's mash or the wild game (pheasant) feed during the laying season to keep them in good shape....even the roosters need it since they spend most of their time chasing the hens around they yard and can actually get pretty thin themselves. I also keep a fine cherrystone grit available at all times, and also give them the oystershell free-choice during the laying season.

Contrary to what people think looking at these tiny birds, they are a very hardy breed, and don't really need a lot of "special" care as opposed to a plain old chicken. The roosters do tend to be a bit more ornery towards each other than "regular" chickens.....I always kept mine caged in breeding groups to keep the roosters from fighting, as opposed to my other chickens who have the run of the whole farm, lol....but toward humans, they tend to be very mellow and less flighty than other chickens.....my kids had several "pet Pyles" they would pick up and carry around all the time.


One thing you may notice is, depending on the breeder's preference, some will still "dub" the roosters.....meaning they remove almost all of the comb and the "wattles"when they are young, the original purpose of that being one less thing for other roosters to latch on to in the cockfighting ring, and the tradition kind of stuck even now when most people no longer raise them for such an awful purpose (kind of like ear cropping on pit bulls, for example....eeesch). I kept all of mine natural, and think they looked beautiful with the big combs, however they did tend to freeze the tips in a particularly cold winter here in Iowa if they didn't have heat lamps.

If you like the Red Pyles, you would also really enjoy the Silver Duckwing old english game birds. They are very similar, but the colors on the roosters are quite striking.

 

[Chris Steele]

I got a hen with some chicks a few days ago, how long does the hen need to be kept with the chicks? I would like to go ahead and move her in with my rooster.

 

[Karen Hulvey]

Chickens can eat on their own from the day they hatch. I mail oreder eggs and hatch them in my incubator all the time, no mama chicken here.

You will have to keep the babies caged and give them a warming light to keep warm for about a week or two depending on how warm it is outside. Hey post some pictures of your pyles.