Tennessee Reds

[deadeye1]

Can Tennessee Reds breed in the wild and where did they origignate from.also can they be raised up north and released in to the wild along with the native Bob White.Maybe this is the wrong catagory for this question.deadeye

[stewaw]

There was some discussion about the origin of the Tenn Red on the old forum.  As I recall, one side said they were a very small population that was discovered in the wild and the other side said they were simply a result of selective pen breeding.  I can tell with a certainty that they will readily cross with wild Easterns and the resulting offspring will either appear as pure easterns only considerably larger (much like the jumbo variety) or as pure Tenn Reds.  

David

[EdenFarm]

I would like to find a good supplier of Tenn. Red eggs or chicks. Just wanted to try them once. Jack

[magnumhntr]

Are the Tennessee Reds bigger than a bob, or the same size?

[stewaw]

Tenn Reds is what I started with and what I still have. They are identical in size to the wild eastern strains that are common around my house.  Can't offer much in the way of winter hardy since our winters rarely stay in the teens for more than a couple of days. Most of the time we are in the low 30's am warming to 30's-40's during the day. Each spring my hens end up attracting as many as five or six wild easterns who haven't paired up.  For grins (and out of sympathy for the poor fellows roaming my yard) I turned out a couple of hens into the yard for a week or so then isolated them and incubated/hatched their eggs.  That is where my knowledge of crossing comes from. I bought a dozen several years ago at a feed store (sold as bob whites).  I knew bob whites were hatched with a racing stripe pattern and since these were solid brown I bought them for the novelty.  Only after they were sub adults did I begin researching to see what I actually had.  I have been very careful on my selective breeding and haven't developed any of the typical inbreeding signs, but since my line is all decended from that first one dozen and the risk is there I haven't offered any of my live birds/eggs for sale.  Out of respect for the breed and other breeders I want to diversify my gene pool before I do.  Jack- get ahold of Larry at Red Oak Game Birds.  He has Tenn Reds and I recommend him highly.  If you don't come up with any, holler at me next spring and we'll work up a trade or something. My birds are on natural light and my production has dropped off sharply the last few weeks.  

David

[birdinwithblue]

do they sound like bobs or do they have there oun sound ? i've thought about raising thim my self . i love to hear the whistle of the bobs

[stewaw]

Yes, same covey call and same two or three note breeding call.  They also have a variety of lower pitched calls that are more contentment calls like "I'm here, where are you" and "look, I've found something good to eat" that I can only assume bobs also make since I've never raised them and only heard them in the wild where you don't get close enough to hear those type calls.  It is impossible to confuse them with a bob white by their appearance (other than the egg which looks exactly the same) so I've always felt they would be a good alternative for those folks who want to raise a few birds to eat and don't want to hassle with all the state permitting that's required to raise " resident game birds".

David