Shamo Chickens are from Japan which is designed with strength in mind for striking and endurance. They have a very athletic build with powerful muscles throughout their bodies, which makes them excellent fighters. The breed was primarily used for cockfighting but there are other types of Shamo used simply for exhibition purposes or meat fowl.
In Japan, the Shamos ware developed to be fighting birds of unmatched courage and ferocity. Probably some Asil chicken bloodlines were added at a point of time, which gave the bird is strong and fighting appearance. There are many different kinds of Japanese Game chickens, but currently, the Shamos is best known.
Shamos chickens are the second tallest chicken breed after the Malay chicken. Shamos can reach up to 30 inches height. The Shamo is also bred for its showy traits, unique upright posture, and for providing a good meat quality too.
Types of Shamo chicken
There are four different varieties of Shamo chicken
- O-Shamo
- Chu-Shamo
- Nankin-Shamo
- Ko Shamo
The ‘O-Shamo’ and the ‘Chu-Shamo’ are designations of the large fowl for different weight categories. The O-Shamo is a large bird with males weighing 4 kg and females 3 kg. The Chu-Shamo is a medium bird with males weighing 3 – 4 kg and females weighing 2.25 – 3 kg.
The ‘Nankin-Shamo’ is a bantam chicken, while the ‘Ko Shamo’ is an ornamental bantam, which is temperamental and shows the spirit of a fighter. The Ko Shamo is a smaller bird with males weighing 1.25 kg and females 1 kg. The Nankin Shamo is a smaller bird with males weighing 937 g and females 750 g.
Shamo Chicken Characteristics
Shamo chicken can reach up to 2½ feet in height.
Its face and throat are featherless, and a pea-combed head sits atop a muscular, upright body.
Its close feathers often do not cover the entire body. Due to the sparse, hard feathering, it may require one to provide extra heating during the winter.
Shamo chiken comes in four color varieties: Black, Dark, Black-breasted Red and Wheaten (female only); all having standard plumage.
Wattles are quite small, sometimes missing entirely and, along with the comb and earlobes, are bright red.
Its strong, tall shanks are yellow.
Standard Shamo male chicken weighs 11 pounds and hens weigh 7 pounds.
Shamo bantam male chicken weighs 2.75 pounds and bantam hens weigh 2.5 pounds.
Shamos meat has been described as tough and is not favorable by everyone.
Chicks will begin fighting almost immediately, so males should be separated from the flock as soon as possible.
Although the Shamo chicken breed is known to be quite aggressive toward other fowl, it exhibits a calm friendliness toward people.
Shamo chicken’s calm temperament towards people makes them easy to tame.
Shamo hens lay around 80 eggs a year considered to be poor layers.
Shamo Eggs are light brown in color.
Shamo chickens are excellent mothers, they tend to go broody. Just like silkie, Iowa blue chicken, Ancona chickens, sumatra chicken
How to raise Shamo chicken
Shamo chicken is slow-growing fowl, taking up to two years or more to be completely mature. As a result of that, one needs to not feed them too high of a protein content while growing. They can be fed regular chick starter up until about 8 weeks, but after that, they need to have a feed with about 16% protein or less to stop them from going down on their legs because they grew too quickly for their bodies to handle it due to a high protein feed.
The hens can be very broody, but they make poor brooders due to being so large and clumsy with eggs. It is much easier to incubate Shamo than rely on hens hatching, especially hens with spurs as they tend to break eggs turning them more so than others.
Shamo chickens also will need large roosts (preferably rounded) as adults to accommodate long legs and bodies and make sure the roost is not too high off the ground due to their heavyweight possibly damaging their legs (three-foot is a good height).
It is suggested not to provide young birds with roosts due to being slow growers and their keel being flexible for some time, if you provide a small roost it will cause their keel to become indented but with a large roost, it should be fine.
Shamo chicken temperament
Shamos ware developed to be fighting birds of unmatched courage and ferocity. Probably some Asil chicken bloodlines were added at a point of time, which gave the bird its strong and fighting appearance.
The Shamo chicken breed is known to be quite aggressive toward other fowl, it exhibits a calm friendliness toward people. They can be tamed easily with proper care from a young age
Chicks will begin fighting almost immediately, so males should be separated from the flock as soon as possible. Even the hens can be aggressive towards other chickens.
History of Shamo Chicken
Ancestors of the Shamo chicken are believed to have reached Japan sometime during the 17th century by way of Siam(Thailand). Breeders looked to the strength and endurance of these original breeds when creating the Shamo breed. In 1941, the Japanese government placed the Shamo under the protection of the law in hopes of avoiding its extinction.
It was around this time that the breed arrived in America, possibly as eggs in the pockets of soldiers. The breed quickly gained popularity in South America, particularly as a crossbreed for fighting stock, and are found primarily in the South today. The Shamo was admitted into the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection in 1981.
Brief characteristics of Shamo Chicken
| Breed Name | Shamo chicken |
| Other Name | O-Shamo, Chu-Shamo, Nankin-Shamo, Ko Shamo |
| Country/Place of Origin | Japan |
| Breed Purpose | meat, fighting and ornamental |
| Breed Size | Large Fowl |
| Weight | O-Shamo male: above 4 kg female: above 3 kg Chu-Shamo male: 3 – 4 kg female: 2.25 – 3 kg Ko Shamo male: 1.25 kg female: 1 kg Nankin-Shamo male: 937 g female: 750 g |
| Eggs | 80 per year |
| Egg color | Light Brown |
| Disposition | Friendly, tame, roosters likely to be very aggressive towards each other |
| Climate Tolerance | All Climates |
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