Sumatra

I've raised Sumatras for several years. They are some of the most unique chickens I've raised. They are a lot of fun and very energetic birds. They can sometimes be aggressive especially toward new birds. The females were originally imported from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia for the purpose of crossing to other breeds to infuse aggressiveness for fighting birds. They are extremely adaptable and have no problems with the Michigan winters or the summers. (-20 to 100). They like free-range but if caged make sure they have room to run and roost.

Wonderful birds I got a pair for breeding and these birds are just wonderful. They look real nice if kept clean and the cocks have long sickle feathers. But hens in the breeding pen with the cocks can step on there sickle feathers and make them look ragedy. Also there feathers come out a little easier than most birds so dont try and grab them. Also when buying adult birds it will take some time for them to become tame for you because Sumatras are a little flighty.

I got a Sumatra rooster a few years ago. He was the most handsomest and bravest rooster ever. Once a hawk swooped down to get his hens and he fought off the hawk talon to talon until it flew away. He never tried to chase me and he was always gentle with the girls. He chased off the other rooster sometimes, but that's normal. They didn't get in any major bloody fights or anything. He died protecting his flock from the dogs that attacked and he did save his favorite hen.

I then purchased three Sumatra chicks. I had them in with the other chicks I bought and they didn't do as well. So I'd reccomend keeping them with bantams. I did that and the remaning chick grew until she was laying age. I don't reccomend them for cold weather climates. I live in MN and even though I had the heat lamp on in the coop she got really cold and passed away sadly. She was very sweet and ever since she was a chick she would perch on your arm. She didn't mind behing held.

I highly reccomend this breed to anyone! If I didn't live in MN I would definatley raise a flock of these!

I love a challenge and Ive loved the fact they come bantam as well if i understood right . how can i aquire some of these fantastc wonders?

I always hand raise my chicks and make sure I'm around all the time so they imprint on me so that might be the reason my sumatras were so tame, but they were nothing like the temperaments described. My rooster would even sleep on my lap! Though they did have their wild side (my hen once flew 30 feet up into a tree), but in all fairness they didn't like other people and were even a bit aggressive towards the other chickens... Sadly, they were killed in a raccoon attack a few years ago.

We raise Black Sumatra Large Fowl chickens. We raise them for Exhibition.

The American Standard of Perfection 2010 list both Black and Blue as recognized colors for the Sumatra Large Fowl. We showed against blue Sumatra at the poultry show in Oklahoma in December.

We have had both attack Sumatra roosters & hens and very sweet Sumatra roosters & hens. Our Sumatra will follow us around in the yard and let us pick them up. They love to talk to you and be around you. We have found that they do not interact well with other breeds of chickens. One of our Sumatra hens attacked a Hamburg pullet and cockerel and they both had a heart attack when she was fighting them. She has always been a very aggressive chicken.

They can and will fly. We had a pullet fly up on roof of our house but none of them have flown into any of our trees. they stay pretty close to the coop area. They free range well.

The roosters will mess up the hens feathers pretty bad if you keep them together. They do just well being separated.

Overall they are very sweet. Easy to handle. Easy to catch. Easy to bath for showing. Do not eat much. Lay well if they have a light. Some will lay more often if you let them out of their coops. Even in the summer time with daylight they still need direct sunlight or they won't lay eggs.

The roosters need to have black combs and faces for exhibition. If you leave them in a coop area that is shaded, the combs and faces will turn red. It is quite difficult to keep them black without full sunlight and a lot of it.

Overall the information listed on Sumatras was accurate except for the American Standard of Perfection does have both Black and Blue accepted.

Nice ornamental breed, very intelligent but not overly friendly to humans. My birds were poor layers but great foraging for food in the fields. Very flighty as well. As far as ornamentals go, I think there are prettier birds but the Sumatra is no slouch and they are pretty rare and that makes them interesting in it's self.

My black sumatra hen lays good and is a beautiful bird.

Sumatra are a great choice for either a breeder of ornamental fowl, or someone who wants a hardy, self-sustaining flock of free range birds. They fly extremely well at an early age and tend to be wary, which helps them survive predators when on their own, *if* they have a safe place to fly to (such as barn rafters, etc). As an ornamental fowl, they are quite beautiful and several show lines will have lengthy saddle and tail feathers, although you will not see this in hatchery quality birds. American Sumatra will tend to have longer feathers, while European-bred Sumatra will have more of a gamey appearance, with longer legs and tail and saddles not reaching the ground. Sumatra can display bird-aggression, particularly seasonally, but they are not considered gamefowl in any sense other than their historical origin.