Smartest Fighters

Kelsos are very smart ghters.  Unlike other gamefowl, Kelsos don't jump into
the opponents knives in the air, but shu e and weave, or side-step before
launching their own air attack.  If a Kelso is rst in the air, chances are, the
stupid opponent will be jumping into his knives if sasabay siya sa talon.  One-
two hit and then it's over.  As experienced by Robie Yu Panis, herself (farm
manager and in-house lady gamefowl gaffer) of the Firebird Gamefarm fame,
ghting with white Kelsos.

Johnny Jumper, Out & Out Kelsos have been known to be really smart ghters
on top of power, speed and multiple shu e or evasion tactics. 

Some pundits will say the pure breed ones lack cutting ability, but this is from
the old days.  Most Kelsos today have already been crossed with good cutters,
sothey are something to watch out for!  The new Kelsos still got the speed and
gameness of the purebreed Kelsos, but are now deadlier with the cutting and
plumage of your preferred cross from whatever gamefowl, from Brown Reds to
Roundheads or even the Sweater. 

Walter Kelsos' originals themselves break high, are multiple shu ers but weak
cutters when bred pure from those days when cockers were adamant about
bloodline purity.  The Kelsos did not gain these amazing gamefowl traits
themselves from pure line breeding but from crosses with winning gamefowl
that Mr. Kelso would purchase on the spot, during his days breeding ghters.

Look for really good cutting gamefowl like roundheads and brown reds or greys
which are also game to the core.  Kelsos may be both yellow and white legged
but the white legged ones are preferred by some buyers.  

Bloodline History

The late Walter Kelso ( 1964, bless his soul  ), from Galveston Island, Texas. ( a
part of the lone star state with a semi-tropical climate ),  was a champion for
crossbreeding.

To improve strains, in a time when most breeder folks xated on the tradition of
keeping their bloodlines as pure as possible, Kelso handpicked winning
gamefowl to breed with his stock, something unheard of during his time. 

Kelso entered gamefowl derbies under the name: Oleander, a ower shrub, and
his ghters were ALL a series of battlecock crossbreeds.  When his good friend
John Madigin died in 1942, Kelso and breeder colleague Bill Japhet inherited all
of Madigin's fowl, which included some of the nest Clarets, Madigin Grays, and
Texas Rangers.

Kelso improved his ghters by getting winning stocks to breed with his own. 
After watching another rooster win, Kelso would buy the winning ghter to
breed with his. While other breeders believed that the Holy Grail of gamefowl
strains lay in pure stocks, Kelso had different ideas.  He wrote,  "I immediately
began infusing new blood in the Madigin hens." 

About 1940, during the Orlando Tournament, Judge Ed Wilkins of San Antonio,
Texas, fought a beautiful light blue Typewriter cock that won his rst ght easily
and was repeated to win a second ght on the same day. Kelso asked for and
received this cock.  The Typewriters are a strain of gamefowl created from the
cross of a Marsh Butcher cock with two Irish Blue hens from James G.Oakley of
Alabama.  The Butcher family is a cross of Grove Whitehackle (Lawman and
Gilkerson) and the Marsh Gray Speeders, which are a combination of the old
Santo Domingo Grays from the West Indies island of that name and Burnell
Shelton's old Knob comb Blues.

Kelso was more focused on getting new traits to improve performance of any
breed he owned than keeping a strain as pure as possible.  He mated a new
ghter to the sister of his best ghting  gamefowl.  If the cross produced
winning ghters, Kelso would add other sisters to the pen.

Duke Hulsey offered to let Kelso have any of the Clipper cocks he liked. Kelso
with Sweater McGinnis handling had met Schlesigner in his deciding ght at
1942 Orlando Tournament. Kelso won the ght and the Tournament but had
been impressed with the quality of the Schlesinger cocks.

E.W. Law started these Yankee Clippers by crossing his Clarets with Dan
O'Connell's Albany fowl. This Albany family was made by mating some hens
that were Hatch, Foley's Ginger, Roundhead, and maybe some Pine Whitehackle
(Stryker, mostly), with a Hardy Mahogany cock (Jim Thompson Mahogany and
Kearney cross).

The Yankee Clipper cock was mated to two of the Left-Out Kelso hens to
produce the original Out-and-Out cocks that won 85 percent of their ghts in
major competition over a six-year period (1947 to 1953). These cocks were 1/2
Yankee Clipper, 1/4 Murphy, 1/8 Typewriter, 1/8 McClanahan.

In Manila, the Firebird Kelso

In Manila, the Firebird Kelso is one of the most prized breeds for infusing red
rooster traits into your breeding program.  As broodfowl, Firebird Farms owned
by Sir Biboy Enriquez has proven to be the best local provider of birds with a
winning heritage and strong track record at big time competitions.  Sir Biboy
himself is known as 'The Kelso Man of the Philippines' and that says a lot about
his farm and his consistent winning percentage at big derby competitions.
The Out and Out Kelso

Duke Hulsey offered to let Kelso have any of the Clipper cocks he liked. Kelso
with Sweater McGinnis handling had met Schlesigner in his deciding ght at
1942 Orlando Tournament. Kelso won the ght and the Tournament but had
been impressed with the quality of the Schlesinger cocks.  E.W. Law started
these Yankee Clippers by crossing his Clarets with Dan O'Connell's Albany fowl.
This Albany family was made by mating some hens that were Hatch, Foley's
Ginger, Roundhead,  The Yankee Clipper cock was mated to two of the Left-Out
Kelso hens to produce the original Out-and-Out cocks that won 85 percent of
their ghts in major competition over a six-year period (1947 to 1953). These
cocks were 1/2 Yankee Clipper, 1/4 Murphy, 1/8 Typewriter, 1/8 McClanahan.

More often than not, the matches produced worthless offspring and the cock
was discarded.  Despite the high rate of attrition, this method of infusing new
blood was the primary way of creating the Out-and-Out Kelso family which still
stands as the best core bloodline or stock for crossing into better ghters.  It
has also created many of the winners in the world's gamefowl circuit.  The Out-
and-Out Kelso family has this monicker because the cocks  were marked in the
outside web of both feet. The Out-and-Out Kelsos are black breasted reds ( a
deep mahogany to light red ) with their white or yellow legs and pea or straight
comb.

If you are looking for a good base for your own gamefowl, get a good
broodstock Kelso and make magic with other distinguished gamefowl stock for
starting your own line of smart and deadly ghting roosters.

Until our next Gamefowl feature, keep checking

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the Filipino's favorite sport.