Recap

It’s that time again, out with the old and on to the new. Summer has reached its zenith and at least here in the south, school will be starting soon. Football is the new “smack” talk, High School, College and NFL. Those of us with kids and grandkids are excited about this as we watch and wait on the blood to dry up in those feathers. The adult birds should be in full molt, and we are looking at those stags with great optimism.

We have people that will be joining us this this year and sadly people that are selling out. It’s a cycle that I see year after year. For some 2024/2025 was a great season and sadly for others it was either a reason to get better, or a reason to get out. The one thing I know about roostermen is they’ll be back, for some it takes a season or two, for others it takes years, but like the Terminator said, “I’ll be back”, so will they eventually.

We had a tough season as they used our competition as a way to collect undocumented illegals in this country, this was a shame as I saw pit after pit shut down out of fear early this season. Some states took it on the chin and lost a few venues; others took it up the ass as they lost more and more venues. They used these as a reason to gain access to our yards and an opportunity to destroy years of breeding. This is a travesty, and a damned shame.

We lost a few great cockers this year and I say a prayer for each and every one of them. They will be missed.

I always consider this time of year to be the hardest. We are full of optimism for the upcoming season while questioning our trials of the previous one. We look for answers to what some would consider stupid questions. Let me be the first to say, there are no stupid questions when you ask the right person for answers. Most questions, you already know the answer to, you just need a voice of reason to coax you to the proper conclusion.

I have a couple of things to say as you recap this past year and attempt to improve in the upcoming season:

1. Join your State UGBA Chapter as without the right to breed, we lose the rights to fight. Get involved in the occasional Poultry Show to meet legitimate breeders and learn more about your rights within your state. There are much better and more legitimate conversations within these shows than at any pit in the country.

2. Watch for scammers, they are everywhere. There are people that will walk 20 miles to cheat you out of $10.00. We make it easier for them with the internet. It is always a better situation if you pick your birds yourself. If a breeder won’t let you on their yard, there is a reason…be cautious.

3. Find a mentor, a person that you can talk truth to…it doesn’t always have to be about the birds, some of my best conversations have been with cockers about silly things that progressed into rooster talks. In my honest opinion, I have found few truths at the pits, and why would they give you, their competition good advice. Think on that for a minute.

4. It’s not all about the W’s and the L’s - it’s about sportsmanship.

5. Check out the venues and the people running these operations before you attend, if possible, look for warning signs. Fight delays, shady owners backing shows, poor referees. Know the rules of that venue, before you waste your time, money and roosters.

   Keep ‘em crowing

Pointing It Out To You! Golden Years

Everyone needs a break from time to time. We all need a chance to relax, rewind and reflect on past experiences, it is a fundamental part of the process that keeps us going from year to year.

For my family, it is an easy process as we are no longer maintaining an active flock. Our breeding days are in the past, and while bittersweet and full of both good and bad memories and there it lay.

Breeding and raising good healthy gamebirds are a series of processes in itself, every day is a new adventure into maintaining and producing good stock. Every action is calculated, and risks are associated with each effort. For years we kept a rigorous schedule on everything we tried to accomplish. It is trying to say the least. Each year ticking off, one after the other with these magnificent warriors at the center of every action.

F B McGuinness is a strict taskmaster but not near as time consuming as the health and care of these birds. After a year of schedules…when to breed, when to worm, when to delouse, when to move, when to condition, where we were going to show were all factored into every decision, and this has nothing on the sudden emergencies that often arise on every yard. Bad weather, rogue stags, predators (the ones that fly and the ones that creep in after dark), broken cords, neighbors’ dogs, and even feral cats are all constant threats to every yard and each requires constant vigilance.

At one point in our career, it seemed as if every time we left the farm some catastrophes hit all at once to threatened us. We stopped all family vacations to make up for the time we were away for shows. We quit visiting family; we cocooned ourselves into the routine of the farm. I didn’t realize how time-consuming it was until it was over. I don’t regret a moment I spent on these ole birds, but I do regret the years of family memories I missed. I miss the times I could have spent with my son, Jamie who passed in 2005. It’s all water over that dam we call life, and time keeps moving. No use regretting what you can’t change, but that doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge it.

Do I miss the crows of the roosters? Do I miss the clucking of the hens as she gathers her brood around her? Do I miss the interactions of farm life? Do I miss the routine of conditioning and feeding out a show? Do I miss the never-ending list of things to do with no chance in hell of accomplishing 70% of it? Do I miss the constant chatter of “talking roosters” with fellow enthusiast?

The answer is yes to every question. I miss it with every fiber of my being.

But…I also enjoy the added time to go to music concerts; I love the idea that I can go on an extended vacation with my family. I love the fact that I worked hard enough all year long that I can enjoy my week at the beach every year, sucking down Banana Coladas and waiting on the steaks to finish grilling, and the shrimp to stop sizzling.

I am enjoying this new facet of my life that includes more poultry shows and gamebreeder meetings. I enjoy the interactions with my customers. I enjoy meeting young cockers and giving sound advice on problems that every cocker faces every day. I plan to enjoy these “Golden Years”. Keep ‘em crowing.

Pointing It Out To You!!! Boss Hen

I’d like to think that I’m a fairly passive person and not prone to random acts of violence. Make no mistake, I have fought in my past. I’ve fought with words, and I’ve fought with actions. Some I’ve won, and some I’ve lost, in either case I’ve stood my ground and even in defeat, never bowed my head to anyone. These battles have made me strong and secure in my place. Make no mistake, I am the “Boss Hen” on this yard.

Boss Hen’s are every cocker’s best friend. A Boss Hen defends her domain but still squats for the Cock that is best suited to her nature. It’s pure instinct. It’s survival. Like most Boss Hens, I have fought for my family and our right for survival in this sport. I have battled school boards for my kids. I’ve fought city, state, and federal statutes for my business. I have battled younger and flashier hens that have dared to come on my yard and usurp my place. I have battled in the arenas where we show our birds for the rights to be there. I have battled with male cockers that thought that as a woman my voice was somehow less than theirs. I have battled crooked pit owners, bad referees and slick-ass handlers. Somehow, I have done all these things without ever throwing a punch. Gameness comes in all sizes and colors.

Gamebirds are amazing creatures, they immediately identify a boss hen in their hierarchy, and I’ve never seen an uglier fight than when a new boss hen demands her rights. Allow me to set the stage here a bit…

When I break up my brood pens, I put all the roosters on cord and allow the hens to freshen up by giving them run of the yard. I like to breed off pullets, so to me, it mattered little if I lost a few from season to season among what I considered my purer stock. The ones I picked back up in the fall were healthy and ready for the breeding season.

I had a boss hen on my yard when I bought out Jim and Trudy Wilcox’s place “Buckwheat Gamefarm”. What I considered to be a pure “Diablo Whitehackle” based purely on her breeding records. I inherited her and she ruled the entire farm while allowed to run loose on the yard. It was not unusual to see her with 20 or more chicks following her around the yard. Everything steered clear of this hen, birds on cord, dogs, everything…and yes this included me. In a nutshell, she took no crap from anyone or anything.

The Short Knife was just gaining in popularity during this time, and I wanted to introduce some new blood to my yard, some with headhunting abilities. I spoke with a very well-known Natural Heel Cocker about his birds, and we traded one of my best hens for one of his little Spanish Hens. She was a pretty little thing and weighed a little over 3 lbs., I was planning to cross her in and then breed it down to about 1/8th for battle-crosses. I kept her in a pen in quarantine for about 30 days and released her on the yard when I turned out my other hens. She looked so tiny compared to my much larger stock, but I was willing to gamble for pure health reasons.

It took about 2 days for the two hens to meet on the yard. I’m lucky I was standing by the window in my office and witnessed the fight that ensued, or I would have probably lost both of them. It was a fight to make any breeder proud. These hens were vicious and it wasn’t too very long before I saw that the little Spanish Hen had my Boss Hen on the gound and was showing the very trait that I wanted to breed into my fowl, over and over she picked up the Boss Hen’s head and beat her to a pulp. The precision of her attack on this much larger hen was awe-inspiring from a breeder’s standpoint.

I got to the hens and scooped up my Boss Hen and headed in to try to save her and the little Spanish Bird walked away with all her chicks behind her. She survived. I later moved my Boss Hen into my outside brood pen in the back of the property upon her recovery and she kept complete order in her new domain. As for the little Spanish Hen, she was my new boss of the main yard.

Size matters, weights matter, cut matters, precision matters, timing matters, we all know these things when matching a fight, but sometimes it’s not that clear. Sometimes the norm just isn’t normal. There is a world in which a 3lb Spanish Hen can beat your 5lb Boss Hen.

We went on to do quite well with this cross in the upcoming seasons. We didn’t see too much at 1/2 crosses, as the birds were coming out a bit too small, but from 1/4th on we did quite well in this particular heel.

It’s not the size of the hen in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the hen - Momologic

Pointing It Out To You!!! Call to Arms…Symbolically

I am not a rabblerouser, I am not a political activist, I’m not anything more than a person made of flesh and blood and yet I have found myself in a new world of everchanging technology and people that are just educated enough to doubt everything that anyone tells them as facts and yet gullible enough to believe utter nonsense. This world we now inhabit is moving fast and the things we were taught are constantly under scrutiny from outside forces.

The wheels of justice move slow on a good day, and they don’t move at all on a bad one. The gamefowl community hasn’t had a “W” in their column for a long time. We sure need one. It is now the time to fight for our individual liberties, and we can use this technology to our benefit. We can fight for these freedoms from the comfort of our own homes.

When I married into this life, I was completely ignorant. I knew that chickens tasted good, I knew that eggs were to be scrambled, poached, boiled or fried. I knew you needed them to bake a cake. I knew that chicken was good when stewed with dumplings, baked with dressing or my personal favorite, southern fried.

Over time I learned that there are different types of chickens and while all taste good (including the eggs), I learned of the many types and characteristics of each breed. I learned that there are differences between game chickens and domestic chickens. It is the game chickens that are being threatened by outside force. These are the ones under attack.

We have legislation against us that is threatening the core of owning and breeding these birds out of the great state of California. This law will make it illegal to possess more than 3 mature roosters per acre. We have a federal bill coming out of Washington, DC that goes further, this law will make it illegal to ship full grown birds through the U.S. Postal Service and it will empower the law under the direction of the FBI to investigate you and it allows them to seize not only your birds, but your assets as well. These are simplified explanations of these proposed new laws, but you get the gist. These are a direct assault to our freedoms and liberty.

I am opposed to these actions because this will bring about the extinction of the gamebird. Many of us love their savage nature, we love both the simplicity and the competitivity of a creature defending his area of the world (normally a 6 x 4 pen or a 6’ circle) with his life, if need be, for his right to crow and breed. We also love to test that game against others. I really love the idea of proving yourself against the other breeders that think they can do a better job in the broodpens, and that my friends, is what testing is all about.

This sport is brutal, this sport is life versus death, but it is also about respect. I have never met a cocker that didn’t admire and even love his gamefowl. These birds have fought and bled for us. Maybe it’s time we did the same for them. I know many of you out there like to stay out of the limelight and pretend that they will not take away these old birds whose bloodlines have been carefully recorded and maintained since before these United States were united. It’s time to make some calls, it once again time to fight for your rights to own these birds to do what you will on your property. It is time to “Call for Arms” in a symbolic gesture that includes making phone calls to our legislators, writing letters and emails and taking a stand on what personal liberty is to you. It is once again time to join together under a banner to declare our rights to breed and own these magnificent bloodthirsty animals.

In support of California - Must be done by the end of day Monday June 30, 2025

Contact Senator Melissa Hurtado - Capitol Office - 1021 O St, Suite 6510 Sacramento, CA 95814-4900 (916)651-4016

Contact Senator Marie Alvarado - Capitol Office - 1021 O St, Suite 7240 Sacramento, CA 95814-4900 (916)651-4004

Contact Senator Dave Cortese - Capitol Office - 1021 O St, Suite 7520 Sacramento, CA 95814-4900 (916)651-4015

Contact Senator Jerry McNerney - Capitol Office - 1021 O St, Suite 6640 Sacramento, CA 95814-4900 (916)651-4005

Contact Senator Steve Padilla - Capitol Office - 1021 O St, Suite 7630 Sacramento, CA 95814-4900 (916)651-4018

Remember to be polite and tell your truth - be kind to the staffers - honesty in this case is the best quality. Things you may want to include in your letter or phone call.

• I am not a cockfighter and I don’t support illegal cockfighting activities. We need to strengthen and enforce current federal and state laws.

• There should NOT be a limit to the number of birds I can own if they they are kept safe and are well taken care of.

• Legal and illegal rooster owners house their birds in EXACTLY the same way. You cannot tell who is legal or illegal simply based on how their birds are housed.

• The exemptions proposed do not protect me and other innocent people I know, regardless of what the author of this bill has told you. Examples would be your birds are enclosed, tethered, or religious reasons.

• The author and his sponsor have refused to make edits to this bill that would protectt everyone. Make sure they know the author was provided with edit suggestions to protect every legal owner back in April and Humane World for Animals would not allow them to be made.

• The author has repeatedly publicly stated he uses “Google” as means of finding proof of activities meant to undermine our legitimate position. These are not valid facts, they are assumptions and innuendos.

pointing it out to you!!! the waiting game

It’s that time of year again. The mad rush is just about over. We have fought and won or fought and lost (not just in the pit, on the yard as well), we have bred our birds, and we are watching them grow. We have culled a few and raised a few. We have suffered the long cold winter, we have battled our birds’ natural enemies for them, we have fed and watered for a year to get back to this point of the game where we wait.

We wait to see what survives, we wait to see what glorious new enemies will emerge from congress and the legislature, because we all know that’s the real enemy. We wait to see who’s getting out, and who’s getting back in. We wait.

We really don’t have a lot of control over this time of the year. we sweat as we drag the water hose from pen to pen and barrel to barrel. We watch to see these birds as they get more and more ragged as the weeks drag on. We stand guard as the varmints look to use our stock as an all-night buffet to their young. It’s a lonely business but it is all part of the process.

I was rarely alone at my farm, we had too much going on, but I remember one Labor Day Weekend. I found myself alone at the farm, the girl that worked for me took the boys to the beach, F B was at a convention, and Jerry had gone to visit his momma. I went about my chores, walking the line of pens that surrounded my property to make sure that all was secure and that nothing was out of the ordinary, before I left for the day. I was invited to a neighbor’s house for a barbeque to celebrate the holiday and I was rushing to make sure that all was secure. All the hens were running loose, followed by their broods. I looked them over carefully to make sure that there were no signs of wet pox, as this was my biggest concern during these “Dog Days” of summer.

The grass had just been cut so there was a sweet smell in the air. I passed by a pen and out of the corner of my eye, I see a hen had gone to brood in one of the abandoned pens. It was my habit to break up any pens this late in the season and I stepped into the pen. About this same time, I see the largest rat snake in the history of rat snakes crawling through the wire. I froze. I’m not particularly afraid of snakes, but I was startled. I backed out of the pen to go get my shotgun. I had to protect my hen, and what’s a girl to do when she’s all alone but what she needs to do.

Now I can assure you that I am not a good shot and could probably count the times on one hand that I have ever fired a gun, but it was my responsibility, so I grabbed the gun and walked outside to the pen. I took careful aim and fired at this mother of all snakes and shot the offending creature, unfortunately I also killed the hen and blew a hole in the pen the size of Dallas. When I say this thing exploded, I can assure you i was covered in hen and snake guts. I was cursing pretty loudly as I went to get a shovel to remove any trace of my giant SNAFU in the pen. I got the shovel and went to scrape up the remains of my hen and the snake. I went to throw the remains over the pen into the woods on the other side and right about that time, I realized I’d hit a banana spiders web. For those of you that are not familiar with the banana spiders that inhabit South Louisiana, I can tell you these suckers are huge and quite aggressive. While I’m not afraid of an identifiable snake, I am terrified of the tiniest spider. I mean really terrified. I look down at the handle as this spider the size of my hand comes down the handle towards me. I go one way the blood and guts go another and the spider goes another. I must have screamed because all of a sudden, I hear laughter, and I don’t mean a gentle ha-ha. I look behind me and there stands C. J. Breaux (Cajun Kid) and he is about to piss himself laughing. He had pulled up while I was occupied and didn’t see him arrive.

I had made arrangements to have him come by so I could follow him to the barbeque, and I was obviously quite embarrassed and quite disheveled in my appearance. He had witnessed my entire humiliation, and this guy could hardly catch his breath as he wheezed with laughter. I stomped up to the house to change clothes and get cleaned up. I come out and C. J. had cleaned up my mess and every time he looked over at me he snickered. He asked where everyone was, and I gave him a brief answer. I knew he would tell everyone of my hijinks while alone at the farm while at the barbeque so I was second-guessing whether to attend or not. He never told a soul to my knowledge. I respected him for that.

As for me, I made sure that I was never in that situation again, either one of my boys or Jerry was there to ensure that I did the part of my job that I’m secure in and left the protection of my stock to the ones that didn’t more damage trying to protect them in the first place.

The wait is difficult, but it is also a time to reflect, it is a gentle reprieve before the madness descends on us again. It is a time for family and friends, It is a time for mini-vacations. It is a time for barbeques. The waiting game isn’t so hard, it’s just another opportunity to improve and learn where you stand in the grand scheme of things. Keep em Crowing

Pointing it out to You!!! Becoming a millionaire Cocker

I was in a group discussion with other cockers about the approximate costs for each bird to get from the “Egg to the Pit”, there was several figures thrown out and I wrote a semblance of this and thought I would share it with everyone.

From the time we procure the land needed to raise these birds and install the fencing needed to protect them...and we purchase that first trio. This is just the beginning of the cost. Let’s face it, wood is expensive, wire is expensive, tin is expensive; barrels, pvc, tiecords, waterers, hitches, stakes, and feed are all expensive. Everything cost good hard-earned cash with these ole birds of ours and that’s before we factor in the cost of what is needed for conditioning. Raising gamebirds is an expensive hobby, and yes some are able to offset some of this expense by selling birds or eggs, some are able to win a derby or two. Those that turn a profit year after year, I salute you.

People think we are cruel to be so rigorous in our culling practices but to be quite honest its not cruel to be kind. Most of us in the sport realize that we are not raising chickens, we are raising athletes, we are raising warriors and like the Spartans that knew a thing or two about being a warrior, know that to be kind is the cruelest thing of all. This is a seriously expensive hobby that if done right will fill your soul and drain your pockets. The weather, and the many sleepless nights that have to be factored into your expenses, after all “Time Is Money” too.

F B McGuinness is a research facility, we are constantly looking towards the future, with one foot anchored firmly in the past and consistently looking for the best way to produce winning Gamebirds. Ever on the lookout for the finest feed combinations, and the best medications. We also look to how to protect these birds from all predators (the ones that fly and the ones that prowl the night, including the 2-legged variety). It can be frustrating at times and yet when any breakthrough is made, it is so rewarding and uplifting. I consider the time I have spent raising these ole birds as “Organized Chaos on a Grand Scale”.

On a personal level, I learned my craft and general knowledge first from a school that only catered to large egg/meat farming. What a sorry business that was. I then took that basic knowledge and utilized it into gamebird farming. This was an education that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years. It can be best described as the equivalent to getting a Gamefowl Raising Degree from Harvard University. Yes it was expensive, but I would not trade that experience for all the money to be returned to me in one lump sum.

If you make a living doing what you love, you can’t put a price on that. There are many definitions of being successful in this sport and regardless of whether you raise a few birds or hundreds, you treat it like the hobby it is and follow your passion, because if you do it just for the money, you won’t be in this sport for long.

So you want to know how to become a Millionaire Cocker in this sport, it’s really pretty easy, just start out as a Billionaire Cocker.

Keep em crowing.

Pointing It Out To You!!! Cocker of the Year

Once upon a time, it was legal to show our roosters in 6 states across the USA. There were many great pits, Mid-America, Texoma, Copperstate, and Springbrook come to mind immediately. The toughest of those pits was Sunset Recreation Club. It was every roosterman’s dream to one day visit or perhaps have their birds shown at this highly competitive Club that was dedicated to excellence and the ones that went on to become Cocker of The Year of this pit were made into the legends of today.

At one time the rules to qualify for “Cocker of the Year” weren’t for the faint of heart. As Sunset only operated once a month, you had to participate in the main derby every month and all heels counted towards your percentage which meant you had to out-perform your competition in whatever heel that was scheduled.

As the derbies at this pit were 2-day affairs, on the first day all birds were matched and fought. Second day was a bit harder, and if you lost your first fight, it could be a very long day…and a longer month trying to get back in the rankings.

It takes a lot of birds to fight in that kind of competition; it takes a great breeder and a remarkable judge of good birds to go after that title. It takes a team at that level of professionalism. You have to have the right roosters first and foremost, the right conditioner, and the right handler.

Imagine if you will, being told that each month you will have to show anywhere from 8-10 birds, over a 2-day period birds, once a month during the season and you must participate in the heel that is dictated for that month, just to qualify for this coveted title and the grand prize trophy of a boxed set of scales engraved with that shiny plaque that tells the world of your accomplishments. (In the later years, they changed that to 2 Cockers of the year trophies; Gaff Cocker of the Year and Long Knife Cocker of the Year, still nothing to sneeze at.)

The men that bred these birds and orchestrated this accomplishment, should be revered for rising above the rest of the field. I know many men (and women) that chased that dream for years, and although all were great breeders and roostermen, they never had what it took to make it all the way.

I see people bragging all the time about their accomplishments at whatever pit they may attend on a regular basis, and I salute you. It is no small feat to get ahead of the competition at any level, but in order to be truly ranked among the greatest of the great breeders, tell me about your Cocker of the Year Trophy, because that is the true accomplishment. That tells me you are a documented professional that mastered the organization that it takes to fulfill a season long winning percentage.

This is what the laws against us have done and that is the biggest travesty of all, they took away our rights to show what great breeders really look like, they took away our heroes. They took away our fight reports. They took away our rights to know what was going on in all the states rather than just our local facilities. I know who wins a derby or two by reading Facebook or talking to my customers across the country, but I hear little about who won “Cocker of the Year”.

It’s easy to be a big fish if you are swimming in a really small pond, but to win on the “World’s Stage”, well that my friends is the mark of a great breeder. Great pits, and the people that ran them, they too deserve the accolades that come from operating on the “Grand Scale” and giving credibility and honor to our sport.

Pointing It Out To You!! Bull Stags - To Be or Not To Be

Here we are in the start of the summer, and we have about a month or two before the harshness of the molt comes along to take our birds from the beautiful cocks they are to the equivalent of a mangy looking dog. Right now, is a great time to fight bull stags, you know the ones that were late hatches last summer or early hatches during the fall and will not be going through the molt this year.

Before I get into all this, let me say that I have always based the maturity of a cock by his month of age as an indicator of maturity. I make this indication based on the maturity of a man at a relative age, so my math works like this…a month of age in a rooster is equal to a year of life in a man. For example, a 10-month-old stag has the maturity of a 10-year-old boy, he knows he wants to, but not really sure how to... An 18-month-old stag has the maturity of an 18-year-old boy/man. You get the picture. I determine the maturity of a rooster based on one factor when introduced to a pullet or hen is his first response to fight her or mate with her. If his first response is to fight, he isn’t ready. He doesn’t really know what he’s fighting for. As he matures, he will surely figure that out, so leave him for another day. Some breeds reach sexual maturity earlier than others; you have to go through them to make this determination. Do not assume that just because you have 5 of these bad boys, they are all at the same maturity level, even if they are full brothers.

As the birds get ready for the molt their body goes through many changes, and the process is slower and more time consuming than you may think. Bull stags can whip a full cock this time of year. They are stronger and their body isn’t going through the same changes that a full cock is starting to go through.

The conditioning of a bull stag is determined to be much the same as a full cock, but we need to remember that stags are full of natural hormones, and most are as nasty as your worst nightmare of a teenage boy. Not necessarily mean, just do the stupidest stuff you could ever imagine in a serious competition match. These are not things you can prepare for because the list is varied and as difficult to predict as most young men out on the town with a pocket full of money, fire in their eyes, and an aching in their groins. The ones that have reached sexual maturity seem to be less crazy, but I’ve still seen them do some downright insane things in competition. Showing these birds is not for the faint of heart.

I do not use nor recommend any stimulation for stags in the keep, because like I said before these birds are not mentally ready for all that. You can condition them, but they don’t need a lot of hormones as their bodies are producing those by the score. They need to be matured, I do this by throwing a hen in with them, just long enough for him to top her and then pull her out of the stall immediately. This builds natural hormones. I spar frequently but do not allow them to wallow, release from the long line once, and then more to the short line and bump them there. I use vitamins and point as normal, with one exception…I use nothing on competition day. That is when I see what I’ve raised in all his natural glory. Thank me later. Use them for the tool they are. They are a way to determine if your matings over the past year were successful and how to plan for next season, and don’t rush to judgement if your 12-month-old stag acts out and does some weird-assed stuff. Imagine your 12-year-old son meeting into a 24 or 36-year-old man and see how it goes. I hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The raw power is at its peak in these stags, but its nerve-wracking at best.

Keep em Crowing…

pointing it out to you!!! Battle Royale

We preach game to the core. We teach our friends and fellow cockers that there is no more important quality to these creatures than gameness. Forget cut, forget aggression, forget speed; it’s all about the game. Every so often back in the day at Little Sunset Game Club, we would host a Battle Royale if the regular derby ended early enough in the evening. The first time we had one... and since I had personally never witnessed such an event, I was very curious.

As a child I never had much interaction with the avian species outside of my grandmothers parakeet. I married Richard in 1982 and thus began my formal education. As we dated, my husband often remarked on his experiences in the Philippines and his father, an Orinthologist that had worked at Salisbury Labs, that was in fact larger than life. I guess I overlooked or ignored with my newfound love interest the role this would play in our lives. He was just a young man, a biologist, fresh out of the navy, very intelligent and we fell in love.

Richard’s father was “Dr. Blues” and while in the Philippines my husband found his love of the Filipino Style of fighting. His father and he wrote back and forth many long letters about the sport, the rules, the conditioning, and the birds being used. This was a new style of fighting that had not yet been introduced to the USA. My husband was also a former Golden Gloves Champion Boxer, and he knew that proper training was paramount in any physical competition. He actually attended the first derby in which an American entered and won the International Derby in Manilla, not as a participant but as an observer.

In the end, because they recognized that better nutrition and solid conditioning could be a determining factor in this sport, he had his daddy send care packages of vitamins, and supplements. Warehouse Vet Supply was formed to offset the costs of these shipments and provide a bit of a living after Richard got out of the Navy. Richard worked in the oilfield as a way to further support the early days of this business. We moved to Cook Springs to his part of the partnership in 1986. Warehouse Vet Supply is now a name lost in time, only kept alive by a small number of products that Bobby and Richard formulated together in the early days.

I held my first gamecock after our move to Alabama. I listened to Bobby and Richard as they discussed derbies and conditioning. I took on the role of breeding and found out I was pretty decent at keeping the little buggers alive and healthy to reach the age they could compete. I watched these birds; I learned their habits…everything about these birds fascinated me. Warehouse Vet Supply grew into a mega-market over the years. As I was raising our kids and it was a time when few women were in the pits, this was my role. I worked the phones, picked up mail and fed the roosters while they were away.

Bobby was a gruff taskmaster; Richard was a brilliant scientist. It was a match made in heaven until it wasn’t. Over time we found a divide in our ideas over how to proceed, we split the business equally, thus forming F B McGuinness and Breco. During the time I worked at Warehouse Vet Supply, I was able to get my degree in Poultry Science, I am forever grateful to Bobby for encouraging me in that journey.

As we branched out on our own and moved first to Augusta, Ga and later to Slidell, La, we found that we still needed to supplement our finances as our new business grew, so Richard returned to the oilfields while I worked F B McGuinness. Since he was gone so much of the time, I found that I took on the lion’s share of what F B McGuinness was trying to achieve. We bought a small farm on the Louisianna/Mississippi border and set up camp.

I would go to “Birds of a Feather” and watch the derbies on Saturdays. I learned more and more as time went on about this sport and we started our gamefarm. We realized rather quickly that the breeds we had were never going to be world class roosters and sold that enterprise to finance our newest venture, the purchase of the Buckwheat Farms, a 20-acre farm in the heart of Cajun Country. Located in Sunset, La this was already a mecca for roostermen as we were 1 1/2 miles from the World Famous Sunset Recreation Club. We also purchased the Little Sunset Gameclub.

Now to return to where I started with this post. I learned rather quickly that “The Battle Royale” is not about the rooster that has the most speed, it’s not about the one that is most aggressive. It has little to actually do with gameness. It is about being patient. It is about staying out of the way while the other birds kill each other off, it about preserving your strength. Its about cutting your opponents as they come at you one after the other. It factors in the agility to get out of the way and requires having eyes in the back of your head, it’s about playing it smart, and over all that, it’s about having a little bit of luck…well maybe a whole lot of luck. I am not a big fan of a Battle Royale, but I am smart enough to realize that I actually won such an event in this “Battle Royale” called life.

Keep ‘em crowing…

Pointing It Out To You!!! Kentucky Poultry Show

We have been lied to all our lives, some were good lies like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, but others like where daddy spends his nights, and why mommy feels so bad in the mornings started us down the road to where it’s hard to trust anyone, but these things are personal and in every family. Seems like the information highway that we are on doesn’t take into account personal growth or life experiences to make us into the men and women that we become later in life. Pretty sure we’ve all sown some wild oats in our youth. Speaking for myself, I’m just happy there’s no video evidence of my wilder days.

Yes, some go down a dark path into drugs and alcohol, but most rural Americans just accept these things as a way of life. We all knew what was going on with our neighbors, but we kept in our own lanes and may have heard whispers here and there, but it was taboo to speak of it unless it directly affected us in some way. I remember my momma’s way of addressing other folks’ hardships was with a simple “Bless their heart”.

I look at it a bit different, I say, “Everybody is entitled to eat, but not everyone is welcome at my table”. I still say “Bless their heart” on occasion too. This world is just too different. I question everyone and their motives nowadays. I stay friendly, but I am looking and accessing constantly.

On a personal level, I don’t want you on my yard or in my house, if I have to worry about every time I leave or turn my back something goes missing. I have already accessed you and your intentions way before I allowed you access to that part of my life. I hear rumors too, but I try to make sure that the people I allow in are safe to me and my family before I ever allow you in the door. I’ve lived and I’ve learned most of it the hard way.

Most of us know to avoid to the wrong crowd, we are polite but wary when going into a new environment. This was never more obvious to me than at the recent Poultry Show I attended in Science Hill, Ky. I knew some of the people there but had never met any of them in person. I had 2 of my distributors in attendance and had spoken with several of my customers about my attendance and they made the trip to meet up in person. I also spoke with the breeders showing their birds, hell I’m pretty sure I met or spoke with the majority of the good people there.

Were all of them good people? I don’t know, nor do I care what they do or how they live their lives, because it is none of my business. I know that every one of the people I met was friendly, and they met my eyes upon initial contact. I’m sure the good folks of Kentucky were accessing me as well. I’d like to think I made some friends.

I had the best sandwich I have ever eaten with Mark Black off of the food truck that showed up and helped out at the booth belonging to Science Hill Feed and Next Level Poultry Supply owner Justin Hastings. I met the Editor of “Gamefowl Times” Chickenguy Greg and his wife and the President of the of the KYGBA Darcy Blevins and her husband.

I was able to shake the hands of the winners of the Poultry Show and take some photos of the event. All of the pictures from the event were posted on our FaceBook Site. It was a good day, with the good people of Kentucky. Thanks for inviting me. I can’t believe it took me this long to finally make it to Kentucky.

It’s weird that I had written the majority of this blog before storms, but we’ll leave that as one of life’s mysteries.

**Note: My prayers go out to the people of Kentucky that have had such terrible storm activity over the past few days. I understand that the death toll in London, KY is up to 40 at this time and they don’t have a death count yet in Somerset, Ky (where I stayed while visiting) as these areas were hit particularly hard by these storms.

Darcy contacted me to ask if she could use my donations to the KYGBA to help with food for the emergency workers as the KYGBA was there to help out where they could with the first responders, the arial video of London, Ky is simply heartbreaking. I immediately agreed. She also asked it I would include to this blog where to send any funds that people wished to donate.

All donations to aid the Kentucky efforts can be sent to: PayPal raoaunited@gmail.com Cash App $raounited, Vemo @Darcy-Blevins or Money Orders made out to RAOA and mailed to P O Box 1521 Grayson, KY 41143

or sent to the KYGBA at: Paypal kygba@gmail.com or Cash App $Kentuckygba

POinting It out to You!!! Calling all Gentlemen

Cockfighting is the Sport of Kings. It is the one true defining test of the ultimate gladiator that reigns supreme in almost every circumstance. Good Roosters win rooster fights, don’t ever let anyone tell you different. This is from a person that has spent their life looking for the ultimate 100% win in every fight we’ve ever fought. Best year we ever had was 74% wins for the year, and we won 7 out of 9 derbies.

Can supplements help? Damn right they can, in the right circumstance at the right time. Every bird has deficiencies; it is our job to identify those deficiencies and apply the right supplement at the right time to counter that. Turn that negative into a positive, but first you have to identify where the problem originates.

Now to identify what your specific bird needs…well…that can be a slippery slope. When you fight all brothers or even birds of the same breed, it’s usually the same across the board. We have to assume they are “Game” or you wouldn’t be showing them, but do they have “bottom”, to me that is different than game, “Bottom” is the ability to fight off shock. Blood loss and injury cause most shock, but stress can also play a factor in this wicked game we play, and yes, they can pick up that stress from you. You can’t make a rooster have “Game”, but there are things that can help with “Bottom”.

When fighting a mixed up show you just made things 100 times more difficult as all birds are different, they only thing most have in common is they all crow the same and their shit all stinks the same, but internally, they have different physical traits, different fighting styles, different digestive systems, and different metabolisms. This is a lot to keep up with. For instance, I can’t count the times I’ve seen a bird that could have easily won in the wrong heels or over/under gaffed.

Some of these young men coming into the sport find mentors, an old-timer that acts as a coach and teaches the basics of how to raise healthy fowl, some of their advice is spot on, and some can be a bit antiquated. There are many differences in the way our birds compete over the past 20-30 years. I talk to people of all ages, from the young men just starting out to the ones returning to the sport after retirement. The fights are faster, the birds cut more, the weapons are better crafted, the feeds we buy are more nutritious. The standards of medications are more exact. Some information has stood the test of time, but some of it needs to be retired or updated to stay competitive.

Advice to the ones answering the same tired old questions…It cost nothing to be kind. I am on quite a few sites on FaceBook and I see lots of novices asking questions about this and that. Some of us answer, some of us ignore, some of us offer a bit of guidance, but what I don’t get is the smartassed responses that can only be intended to make the asker of the question appear stupid. It’s not a good look for someone just trying to learn. These novices are the future of our great sport, and they are our future competitors, or potential customers.

I spend hours of my day talking to people about different issues, we talk about everything under the sun, from the “Egg to the Pit”, nothing is off limits. If I don’t know the answer to a question, I’m not afraid to say just that, but I do try to point them in the right direction, not every conversation is about a sale.

Let’s be the gentlemen (in my case gentlewomen) that the people before us were, as we look to the future. There are many great people in this sport of ours; past, present and future.

pOINTING IT OUT TO YOU!!! HOW TO CONDITION WHEN CONDITIONS CHANGE

As the weather turns warmer, there are changes that occur in our flocks and some things need to change to make this transition from cold to hot weather a better experience for conditioning.

There are only a few things that can cause overheating in these birds during competition, the main culprits are Ferrous Iron and Nux Vomica. Both can be quite problematic if used incorrectly.

First let’s talk about the multivitamins, we all use them in conditioning and on the yard and when the warmer weather comes in, we still need them, because the birds are physically getting ready for the molt, these changes start long before the first feathers start to drop. Frankly, I discontinue any products that contain Ferrous Iron as that particular type of iron can cause problems as the days get hotter. There are better options for your vitamins than the ones containing Ferrous Iron (Red Iron). There are vitamins that contain Peptonized Iron (Black Iron) and ones that contain Ferric Ammonium Citrate (Green Iron) and these do not cause overheating in the warmer weather.

So, in summary it is advantageous to discontinue your vitamins containing the Ferrous Iron during the warmer months. We recommend switching to a product like Black Mamba, which is a dropper style vitamin that contains the black iron or Vitalyte Capsules, these capsules contain the milder green iron, as there are not many options for injectable multivitamins that do not contain Ferrous Iron. For the yard you can use Vitamin/Electrolytes with no problems in regards to overheating.

On to the strychnine-based products. Few products cause more problems than Nux Vomica when it comes to overheating. That distinctive chirp is a dead giveaway during competition. There are summertime formulas that can be used in the heat, the best of those available is Stroud’s IQS Formula, this strychnine-based formula also contains, Quinine for cooling and the Ferric Ammonium Citrate. This old-time formula is in a dropper bottle and also contains Orange, Oil, this aids in drying the birds out when the humidity reaches over 80%. There is no such thing as a strychnine-based injectable for summertime use. The cooling-agent that is Quinine must be ingested and can never be injected. Quinine is a serious poison as an injectable.

There are other stimulants that can be used in the warmer weather, products like Red Viper, Pure Aggression, Stimlamine, Caffeine Sodium Benzoate, The Juice, ACTH and my personal favorite Dymine-2000. Some are injectable, some dropper, and some in capsules.

Feeding in the summer doesn’t have to be difficult, feed softer feeds and stay away from feeds that have a lot of popcorn in them, this popcorn takes a lot of energy to digest, energy that you may want to save for the show.

If you have further questions on summertime feeding, drop me an email or gimme a call, always here to help.

Pointing It out to You!!! Rumor This

Sometimes the boys are worse than the old ladies at church, you all know the ones that sit up front looking holier than thou, with a permanent scowl etched into their faces with overdrawn eyebrows and a look than says, we don’t approve of you or your lifestyle. I always give these ladies my best smile as they look me up and down, just knowing they are convinced that they have the one-way pass to heaven, while they are thoroughly convinced that I’m going straight to hell. I’d like to think that God has a bit more wisdom, than that.

Back in 2020, we had a bit of trouble with the EPA, they took offense with one of our products and tried to shut us down. We went to court, we paid the fines, we served our time on probation. During this time, we still operated at full capacity shipping out our products to the cocking community. In actually, we lost about 14 days while my lawyer got us reopened.

Some of our loyal customers, called our still active 800 number and continued to get our excellent products and service with no hesitation, others just heard the rumor that we were out of business and for whatever reason, just kept the rumor spreading without pause or concern.

Earlier this year, I received a call from a good friend and customer that a competitor had a post that was not flattering to us or our products on his Facebook page. I signed in and called him out on it. I’m sure this competitor was embarrassed that I called him out because first he questioned who I was. After many responses from my loyal customer base telling him that I was who I claimed to be, he took his post down. That was when I decided to separate the fiction from the facts. I realized that there is an entire generation of cockers that grew up in the age of the internet, that thought we were a myth rather than an active source of advice and good gamebird products. I hired a guy to help me develop this site and decided to jump back in with both feet and “voila”, here we are a few months later loud and proud of our contributions to the gamefowl community, both past and present.

It is easy to listen to the loudmouths, hell, it’s hard to hear anything over them, but I learned long ago that there is often a story within a story about everyone and everything, and sometimes you have to dig a bit deeper to find that bit. You listen to one side and then listen to the other and somewhere in the middle is the truth. As for me, I want the truth, it’s not always pretty, it’s not always flattering, but it is the truth.

When I was a much younger, much prettier woman I would go to Sunset Recreation Club and sit with the old-timers and listen to the stories, advice, and oh yeah even the rumors. I’m sure there was some truth spoken in these sittings, but I also know there was a whole lot of tall-tale tellings going on. I have a good memory and some of these stories would show you just how civilized we have become in the past few decades. Our past was a lot more brutal than what they claim our birds are.

Now, I’m not much to carry tales, and I try real hard not to become the old woman cliche that i described above. It’s way above my pay grade to know whether I’m gonna one day find myself outside the pearly gates, I just keep doing what I can for myself, and my family, my business and my community and we will just have to see where it goes from there. So in the end Heavenbound or Hellbound, either way, I’m sure I’ll be in good company.

Keep em crowing boys.

POINTING IT OUT TO YOU!!! wORMS, WORMS, wORMS

Gamefowl are scavengers, scavengers eat what they can find and since they are ground dwelling creatures they mainly eat off the ground, scratching and pecking for nourishment. It is inevitable that they are going to get worms, now what they pick up out of the ground in your particular area will determine what type of infestation you can get. The worms that you may pick up in California may differ from the worms that you can get in a place like Georgia, it depends on the insect host.

Let’s break it down:

Most worms come from insects, the insect is a host to the parasite, the bird eats the insect, the parasite is then transferred to your Gamefowl, the parasite sets up shop in whatever part of the body that is most suitable for their development and growth. Within different timeframes (each parasite is a bit different) they set up house and start to lay eggs and feed upon your gamebird. Since most worms are bloodsuckers, this will severely weaken the bird as their numbers increase. This is pretty basic stuff here. It gets a bit more complicated. There are 96 different types of parasite and worms that can infect your birds, some are microscopic, and some can grow quite large, some will actually outgrow the host and pass through their droppings to begin the cycle all over again. All worms have a different growth cycle and a different egg laying cycle, so this makes it a necessity to constantly treat for worms.

Like I said above, most parasites are blood suckers, but some are actually tissue feeders, and some (tapeworms in particular) feed from the nutrients that your birds are getting from that expensive feed you are throwing down. This can be very problematic as the infestation gets more and more progressed.

I have never found one wormer that is effective against all worms - for the bloodsucking variety the most effective wormers contain Ivermectin which is effective against about 90% of all worm infestations. This doesn’t mean go run out and buy a big bottle of cattle Ivomec and not expect ramifications from dosing this to your gamebirds as it is really too strong for your birds. You are trying to dose an average 5lb bird with a product that is made for a much larger animal. Ivermectin filters through the liver, and overdosages over a period of time will damage that liver. We are raising athletes, and good liver function is very important health wise. If you have ever been on someone’s yard (or your own) and notice an increase in pale or green-eyed birds this is a clear indication of Ivermectin overdose. Weakness is a clear sign in competition.

Ivermectin products are systemic type wormers, they only have to come in contact with the skin to be effective - this means they do not have to be ingested or injected, you can actually drop in on the bare skin and it travels throughout the bird’s body and remains effective for about 90 days. We have a product called NEOBICIDE that is made for the weight of an average gamebird.

Now for the worms that are not bloodsuckers things can get a bit trickier. Let’s take the Tapeworm as an example, to eradicate this type of worm, you must get the bird to pass it out of their body as it can’t stay inside your bird and your bird recover their health, in some cases if the worms do not pass it will result in death. Worming can be a deadly business, but very necessary. Severe infestations are a do or die choice in some cases of adult worm infestation, the younger worms tend to cause less problems and pass much easier with fewer problems, so when first starting a worming program, it gets easier as time goes on providing you have a set schedule.

In order to pass these worms they must first be paralyzed by your medication of choice because they are hooked into the flesh of your bird in whatever place they have made their home. When they pass, the worms normally die very quickly when forced out. The residual worms that remain in the gamebirds body will be weakened and over time die and pass out of your gamebirds body. This type of worming is normally done on a 45 day cycle.

You must break the cycle of the worm and since we don’t really know what type of infestation you may have, it is imperative to work over a period of time and kill the worms at that stage in their growth when they have not started to lay eggs. Not many wormers kill the parasites eggs, and it normally takes 3-4 worming on a 45 day cycle to break that worms growth cycle to completely eradicate the worm from your gamebirds completely.

We have several different types of wormers that can be used in on a 45 day cycle and all are effective, some are natural solutions like ALL NATURAL WORMER, which is available in a dropper or in pellet form. If you prefer capsules we offer ALL AMERICAN WORMER CAPSULES. For the chicks we offer - BLACKNUT TINCTURE or FLOCK WORMER, either of which can be used in the water to get them started right. If you are looking for a product to use before you pick up your birds for conditioning to make sure that you are as wormfree as you can insure, we offer ENDZUM WORMER.

So to recap, in order to eradicate all worms, you will need 2 products - one with an Ivermectin base like NEOBICIDE to be given on a 90 day cycle. You will also need a good parasitic paralyzing type wormer like ALL AMERICAN WORMER CAPSULES or ALL NATURAL WORMER PELLETS or DROPPER to be given on a 45-day cycle.

We are here to help you with whatever your healthcare needs may be and you are welcome to call anytime 800-903-6387 or drop me an email. I dont speak Spanish but I have a good translation program, we are here to help you.

Pointing it out to you!!! Welcome TO THE 21st century

I never intended to ever put a website up as I am convinced that we are under enough scrutiny under normal circumstances and since most people are too intolerant to even try to understand what makes this sport great and rather focus on the brutality, I was hesitant. It took a bunch of malicious gossip to bring me out of my comfort zone and into the 21st Century. More on that in a future post.

However, I also feel that we must be as game as the roosters we show, so here we are…

As some of you all know, F B McGuinness has been a leader in gamefowl research for over 35 years. I am proud of our accomplishments in this field and feel we are a positive influence within our community.

With the demise of the leading Gamefowl Journals, The Gamecock, Grit and Steel, and The Feathered Warrior, we all lost a platform where buyers and sellers were as good as their word. We lost a way of calling out scammers and bullshit artists. Now these scammers move from site to site as their nefarious actions get reported, often changing their Facebook names and profiles. Some are actually living overseas and pretending to live in the US. They use payment methods like PayPal and Venmo to get our hard-earned dollars and send us nothing in return. Now don’t get me wrong, I too have used this same platform for hard-to-find goods, and I’ve been fairly lucky in this, but I’d be lying if I said I haven’t also been cheated. I immediately put out a post on the forum that I was cheated on to inform the community of the nature of my loss. Some might be embarrassed to admit this, but for the greater good of our community and if I can prevent just one person from being scammed, I can eat the loss to my wallet and the blow to my pride.

As we go through this new technology together, lets agree to focus on the positive aspects of our actions. It is in all of our interests to further this sport into the next generations and use the Golden Rule in all our endeavors.