Sumatra Thread! - Page 96

I am kinda slow now but  I  will get some photos and post if I can figure out how to  put them on... connerhills

One of my Dun cockerels.

A little blurry, but you get the idea.

Today we finally went through and did a semi-cull. It looks like 2 of the cockerels had black on the bottoms of feet so they were sent to the cull pen. Lots of what look like large gross combs already but we wont cull on that for awhile. There were a couple single spurred cockerels from shipped in eggs. In total we have only 4 bantams left and they're all cockerels :( and in total of all the largefowl we had 4 pullets- 3 dun and 1 black. I think there are close to 20 cockerels. 

 Those are just the oldest batches. We have 2 batches still in the brood shed, one batch is about ready to go outside and the other batch is a couple weeks old so we might still have a chance at pullets. Then we have 3 broodies that hatched out the same clutch of eggs which looks like 6 black and a dun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyingmonkeypoop 

Today we finally went through and did a semi-cull. It looks like 2 of the cockerels had black on the bottoms of feet so they were sent to the cull pen. Lots of what look like large gross combs already but we wont cull on that for awhile. There were a couple single spurred cockerels from shipped in eggs. In total we have only 4 bantams left and they're all cockerels :( and in total of all the largefowl we had 4 pullets- 3 dun and 1 black. I think there are close to 20 cockerels. 

 Those are just the oldest batches. We have 2 batches still in the brood shed, one batch is about ready to go outside and the other batch is a couple weeks old so we might still have a chance at pullets. Then we have 3 broodies that hatched out the same clutch of eggs which looks like 6 black and a dun.

I still have no idea what mine are. LOL

Can someone explain the color  Dun  for me.. what are the high lites and undercolor... I thought Dun was like the Dun color horse.  thanks   george

Quote:

Originally Posted by connerhills 

Can someone explain the color  Dun  for me.. what are the high lites and undercolor... I thought Dun was like the Dun color horse.  thanks   george

From what I understand, the Dun color "behaves" the same way the color Blue does in chickens.

The way it's been explained to me...

Dun and Blue alter the color of a Black bird, with one "copy" of the Dun gene a Black bird turns a chocolatey brown color. The actual color can vary from a lighter shade of Dun (which some people refer to as "Fawn") or to a deeper Chocolate color that sometimes looks almost Black. Just like there are different shades of Blue chickens. This can partially depend on other genes that the birds are carrying, melanizers, etc.

With 2 copies of the Blue gene, you get Splash. Well when you have 2 copies of the Dun gene you get Khaki, a sort of champagne-blondish color with light tan to khaki colored hues.

To further complicate things the Dun gene and the Blue gene can combine to create another color altogether that is called Platinum. It's sort of a steel gray color.

Dun. (Not my bird.)

Khaki. (Not my bird.)

Platinum. (This bird was the foundation of my Dun flock, I no longer own him.)

To those of you who have worked with the Dun color longer than I have, please correct me if I misstated any information.

Thanks for the info Jeremy .  I like that khaki color ... again I appreciate the info... connerhills

Gucci, as always the more room they have the better they  will do ,, I have most of mine in pens with a top only and then some have rooms to go into .. They seem to be very winter hardy and adjust to what ever you give them .. but as always the more room the better they will be and the tails stay better with  room    . connerhills

I'm new to Sumatras.  I have 4 that are about 8 weeks old and 1 about 4 weeks old.  Mine make an odd honking noise instead of the normal peeping.  Is this the usual sound for them?

Also, I'm sure it is in here somewhere but haven't found it yet due to lack of time, what age can you sex Sumatras and what are the best indicators?

I need to start looking at hatching some more if I have all cockerels. 

Thanks in advance.