On August 22, 2008, the State of Louisiana banned cockfighting, ending forever the legal practice of this blood sport in the United States. In centuries past cockfighting was an obsession pursued at every rung of the social ladder. Hillbillies and presidents alike kept gamefowl and tested them in the pit. (Washington and Jefferson pitted gamefowl, and Abraham Lincoln earned the name “Honest Abe” because of his unbiased judging at cockfights.) The pedigrees of some of the bloodlines are ancient. For example, almost 500 years ago Sir Francis Drake brought fighting cocks to the New World. Today a variety known as Thompson whites directly trace their lineage to Drake’s birds. Now that Louisiana has criminalized cockfighting, American bloodlines that have been pedigreed for centuries are in danger of dying out.
Greenfire Farms has embarked on a program to preserve distinctive breeds of American gamefowl. It is our goal to preserve both the physical traits and the game disposition of the birds. Absent either future generations of American gamefowl would not truly reflect their genetic heritage. We do not pit our birds to test their gameness, but observation on the farm tells us where a rooster ranks in the natural dominance hierarchy of a flock, and from that we can draw conclusions about the disposition of the bird. Importantly, we sell gamefowl solely for the purpose of preserving this breed, and we will not sell birds to anyone who indicates that the birds will be used for cockfighting.
American gamefowl were created by combining the genes of fighting fowl from European and Oriental games over a period of centuries. There are many branches in the family tree of American gamefowl. There are several key varieties, and within each variety there are many well-established strains that usually, but not always, bear the name of the cockfighter who developed the line. Strains may be further subdivided into individual bloodlines that also often bear the name of the cockfighter who was their steward.
Cockfighters endlessly debate the merits of each line bloodline, and frequently varieties are crossed to promote hybrid vigor. It’s a daunting task to pierce the veil of secrecy that now surrounds the sport, sort through the pedigrees of these birds, separate fact from fiction, and find the best and purest representatives of the major varieties. When we do, it is often very expensive to purchase the birds. A trio of the best gamefowl frequently cost $1,000 or more.
There is no breed better suited to free-range living than American gamefowl. They are alert foragers, powerful flyers, and the hens are broody and will aggressively protect their young. When all other breeders will succumb to predators, American gamefowl will continue to flourish. They lay a large volume of usually white, smallish eggs. Fertility is typically very high. Gamefowl roosters are rarely aggressive toward humans but can be very aggressive toward other roosters. Usually adult gamefowl roosters cannot be kept in confinement with one another.
Among the varieties of American gamefowl perhaps none is as beautiful as the pumpkin Hulsey. In the 1940s, E.H. Hulsey, a Texan with decades of gamefowl breeding experience, began losing tournaments because his birds lacked the size and strength necessary to prevail in the pit. He heard that Charley Babb of Memphis had a large orange rooster of unknown pedigree that possessed all the qualities lacking in Hulsey’s bloodline. Hulsey traveled from the dusty roads of Texas to the sweltering humidity of Memphis to see and ultimately buy that mysterious bird. Hulsey bred the rooster to his existing line and produced fighting cocks as deadly as they were beautiful; large, powerful birds with red eyes and hackles that shimmered like rivers of fire. Thus the pumpkin Hulsey was born.
There is significant variation within the pumpkin Hulsey breed. Legs can be yellow, pearl, or willow green. The orange of the feathers can vary from a light cream to a dark burnt orange. The original pumpkins were straight-combed bird, although today some peacombs exist. At Greenfire Farms, we focus on breeding pumpkin Hulseys that are as close to the original as possible. We try to bring out a vibrant orange in the feather coloring, dilute the black pigment in the tail feathers, and emphasize light-colored legs. We raise only straight-combed birds. In addition, we strive to keep the birds true to type in their disposition and weight. There is no written breed standard for pumpkin Hulseys, and the chicks we produce may vary in color. We cannot guarantee the chicks you receive will look identical to their parents. But, the pictures on this page reflect the color of the brood fowl we keep.