by RedBud
You must understand that a gamecock can't be trained like a horse, dog, or other animals. Animals can understand a man more than fowl and can be pushed. A gamecock can't. He only can and must fight by instinct. Therefore, he has to be well bred from families of high percentage winning fowl. Assumming you have good fowl, this natural method will tell you exactly how good they really are. It will allow them to fight as they were bred. If they can't win, you will just have to go looking for better fowl.
With all in mind remember, when a well bred naturally conditioned gamecok wins a good fight, you will feel the greatest satisfaction and elation, than if you fought a cock that won after being dosed and injected with drugs, pills, etc.
The most important point in this method is extended artificial daylight or lighting. As you know, in winter, the days are short and the nights are long. The cocks are fat, just finishing their moult, and lazy. They should be a little fat in order to moult properly. Your precondition pens should be at least 4'x5'x6' high. Inside should be a swing 3 feet high and a solid roost 4 or 4 1/2 feet high, so they don't hit the tips of their wings on the tops of the coops when they flap and crow. Cocks and stags should be put in these pens three or four weeks before you put them through your keep. There should be a light socket (20 watt bulb) in each pen. Or better yet, if you have all your pens in one building or large coop, one big light is enough. Hens running around outside the pens help pep up the cocks; they work harder trying to make the hens. COcks and stags should have at least 16 daylight hours to precondition properly. They need three or four weeks, depending on how fat they are.
You should cut down on their feed until they come down in weight and start jumping on the wire to be fed. Keep plenty of straw in the pens (corn husks are prefered but not readily available in all parts of the country) so they have to work for it. The best thing to do is set up an automatic timer light switch, the same as they use in poultry houses for laying hens. Set the switch to turn on the lights at 2:00 a.m. and to go off at daylight. Just be sure they get 16 hours awake time; the same as they will get in the summer. When preconditioned this way, your cocks will be lively, active, and easy to put through your keep. Also, while preconditioning, you must pick up and check your cocks' weights. This will help tame them and make them easier to finish. Check them two or three times a week. When your cock's or stag's pelvis bones become pointed and close together, they are ready. If your stags fought well, they will now do as good or better. Some strains fight better as cocks. But, I believe a good stag should be just as good when he becomes a cock.
There are so many methods devised to work and feed a cock for battle. You couldn't try them all in a lifetime. I have tried many with negative results. Too much benchwork will make them muscle bound, and who can really tell if all those fancy feeding systems, cockbread, etc., really do much good. My Hatch and Butchers, conditioned this natural way, made me back to back Cocker of the Year awards at the Calumet Club in the short heel (1 1/2") and the Mexican short knive. This was aacomplished only because the cocks were well bred and allowed to fight naturally. In short, they have it or they don't have it.
My everyday feed consists of 1 part corn (except in winter I give extra corn), 1 part Milo, 2 parts Wheat, 2 parts oats (cleaned whole), and 1 part Turkey grower. And don't forget some granite grit and some oyster shell as well. I do use soaked oats here and there but not everyday. A simple, well balanced diet is all a healthy well bred cock needs. Extra vitamins may be given during the keep. Vitamin K would be fine as a blood cogulant.
Most beginners spar too much; they can't wait. If they spar stags too young and too often, they can ruin them. Stags have to mature properly. Sparring cocks too much will take awy their reserve strength, which they may need in a long fight. Don't spar stags until you are ready to fight them. Before you put them in the preconditioning fly pens, give them two or three short pittings. If they start off fast and hitting hard, one or two pittings are enough - and only one or two flies each. They can easily hurt each other with muffs. The first time you spar stags, pit them three feet apart. This makes them start faster and not cut their wings at each other which they may do when set further apart. At the next pitting, place them further apart. That's all the sparring until they come out of the preconditioning pens for the final pointing.
The natural way to point a cock is by sparring. He uses his feet the way he was born to. When a cock or stag is sparred, he begins to go on point. That's another reason why too much sparring is bad. He will go over his peak and go sour. One week before the fight, select the best preconditioned cocks or stags and sapr them. Spar as described above. Use your own judgement and remember, they can hurt each other badly even with muffs on. Four days before the fight, spar again. One pitting only, and no more than two flies. The last week, handle and pet ten or fiftenn minutes each day except the day before the fight. Let them rest. The morning of fight day, check all their croips. If any have not passed their feed, do not fight. It means he went over his peak and is going sour. If he doesn't pass the feed in two days, he is probably crop bound. Treat them for crop bound like you would normaly.
The cocks and stags on fight day should be nice and tame and at their peak. I am sure you will find that your feathered warriors conditioned by this natural method will win more fights coming from behind, and more fights in one or two pittings, than any other method you may try.
This is a little trick I was taught by an old friend that helps my cocks and stags who never been to the pit for a fight. I will put some cocks and stags in carrying cases, load them up, and drive them around in the country for a bit. Start out drv9ng for like 10 to 15 mintues and will gradually increase the amount of time I drive around. After the amount of time gets up to about the same time required to drive to the pit, I will put cocks and stags I am going to fight in the carrying cases and take them to the pits. I'll put them on the scale and weigh them just like I would if I was going to fight them. Instead of getting the leg band put on, I'll tell them not to for I might hack him. Then I'll put him back in the carrying case and take him home with out fighting him. This way he gets the feel of being weighed and he will be more comfortable when I bring him back for the real deal. Bringing them to the pit will also get them accustomed to the sights and noises of the pit as well. Food for thought.
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