Sumatra Thread!

[hummerhill]

My young blue trio. Hello from michigan!

 

[artblueggwanter]

hey

Michigan from san diego, CA.

 

[SlimPickens74]

I have been reading this thread from the beginning ! Wow , what a treasure of info. I am so in love this breed. Will be ordering a flock this spring . I will be gearing towards preserving and quality over the years . So , for starters I am looking to do this the most affordable way I can . So a hatchery will be my start. I would appreciate if folks that have bought from hatcheries could help me figure out which hatchery has the best hatchery type Sumatras . I'm sure that over time I will meet those who breed and do so passionately . Then acquiring top blood . All in time . Any info , pics ETC will be appreciated ! Thank you , for all the knowledge from this thread !
Be good to each other

 

[dsfrango]

I have been reading this thread from the beginning ! Wow , what a treasure of info. I am so in love this breed. Will be ordering a flock this spring . I will be gearing towards preserving and quality over the years . So , for starters I am looking to do this the most affordable way I can . So a hatchery will be my start. I would appreciate if folks that have bought from hatcheries could help me figure out which hatchery has the best hatchery type Sumatras . I'm sure that over time I will meet those who breed and do so passionately . Then acquiring top blood . All in time . Any info , pics ETC will be appreciated ! Thank you , for all the knowledge from this thread !
Be good to each other

My first question is do you or will you have an incubator? On that note, if you do not have one or plan to get one, my advice is to get one. What you may not realize is that the worse the quality of the birds, the more you will have to hatch and the longer it will take. You state that your starting on a budget and that is why you want to start with hatchery, I have to stop you there. It is December of 2015. Save the extra few dollars and try to find something that's proven decent to start with in the Spring which is at least FOUR months away(plenty of time to save a couple extra bucks). How many are you planning to have? If you start with bad quality birds you will have to hatch many, MANY birds, and raise to 6-8 months old before being able to properly cull. You will have to be able to house 30+ birds at a time to improve quality in less than a life time. Ok maybe a few years, a lifetime was a bit exaggerated. But seriously, save yourself the time and money of feeding and hatching hundreds of chicks over the years versus starting with good quality. On top of that your giving $ to a hatchery that breeds for quantity rather than quality. In my opinion someone who has spent years perfecting their flock is more deserving of being paid for their lines. It's like buying eggs from Big Y vs. the local farmer. Id much rather pay the extra dollar for local eggs, than eggs from a corporate giant. Again, just my opinion. Starting with good quality is still hard work because you have to maintain that quality. Still have to hatch birds every year to replace your older hens. I can tell you now, the dollar difference is small versus the amount of time it will take to get where you want. Look at my birds for example, they are SQ, I sell my eggs for about 35$ for 10 eggs. Shipped eggs are a gamble but some are bound to hatch and they are bound to be good quality. There are sellers that will sell chicks of good lines for 8-10$ a piece. Again, what you will get are good quality. Thinking about the short run(the initial cost) will not save you any money in the long run. Think about that. Just my friendly advice from one chicken enthusiast to another.

 

[register]

My young blue trio. Hello from michigan!

They are so beautiful!!! I have two blue pullets but they seem to be a bit darker than yours. Your rooster is simply beautiful!!! I was thinking of getting some black sumatras, but after seeing your roo's picture I think I might get blues, so I can have a mix of blacks, blues and splashes-but will hope for a roo as pretty as your little guy!

Here is one of my pullets-she is very particular and acts like a little princess:



Here is a pic of both of them-not great lighting but quite funny as their little bantam cubalya rooster is quite curious as to why I would be bothering his hens. All three of them have learned to come to the back door and make noise to get treats.

 

[dsfrango]

My young blue trio. Hello from michigan!

Hello and welcome to the thread!

Regardless of the quality I think your blues are beautiful. Blue is such a fascinating color for chickens. Ill be showing a few of my blues at the Poultry Congress in Massachusetts next month. Here's a couple pics of what I'm bringing along.

Anyone else here showing Sumatra's at the Poultry Congress????

 

[hummerhill]

You have beautiful birds. Sumatra'S are very hard to find in our region. I raised beautiful Samatras 20 years ago and am very interested in preserving the breed. The rooster in the pics was hatched in July. He is also in the enhanced photos you saw earlier. Your birds are amazing and have matured beautifully. After taking a 20 year hiatus I am back and will work to improve the breed. It seems to have suffered it is very sad. I love my trio. I also have black. Our weather is insane 60 degrees in Michigan today and I am seeing a spring molt now. I am looking for breeders with quality like yours so I can do my part to help this breed. There is nothing more beautiful than a stunning blue. Please e mail me anytime at [email protected]. I am Not sure if your intent was to insult but please don't assume we are all in this for the same reason. What I have seen happen to this breed is sad and I hope you are selling your birds to people who care. I do!

 

[dsfrango]

You have beautiful birds. Sumatra'S are very hard to find in our region. I raised beautiful Samatras 20 years ago and am very interested in preserving the breed. The rooster in the pics was hatched in July. He is also in the enhanced photos you saw earlier. Your birds are amazing and have matured beautifully. After taking a 20 year hiatus I am back and will work to improve the breed. It seems to have suffered it is very sad. I love my trio. I also have black. Our weather is insane 60 degrees in Michigan today and I am seeing a spring molt now. I am looking for breeders with quality like yours so I can do my part to help this breed. There is nothing more beautiful than a stunning blue. Please e mail me anytime at [email protected]. I am Not sure if your intent was to insult but please don't assume we are all in this for the same reason. What I have seen happen to this breed is sad and I hope you are selling your birds to people who care. I do!

No insult at all. I like breeding to standard whether it be for showing or just keeping the bird up to par rather than mutting it down. But either way the blue is definitely a fascinating color. I like to promote buying from small time breeders and showers rather then the big hatcheries. Some hatcheries are better than others but I don't know one from another. I have acquired my lines from exactly those types of breeders in my first 2 years and I'm going into my 5th year now having almost all birds I hatched myself. I hope to continue with a closed flock. I wont have eggs until the spring but Ill email you then. I do like to share my stock with others trying to breed to perfection as much as possible. It's nice to see the competition at the shows. So I try to hatch and sell as many as possible because I know the next show season I may be up against them.

 

[artblueggwanter]

merry chrismas

 

[chickletteSarge]

I have been reading this thread from the beginning ! Wow , what a treasure of info. I am so in love this breed. Will be ordering a flock this spring . I will be gearing towards preserving and quality over the years . So , for starters I am looking to do this the most affordable way I can . So a hatchery will be my start. I would appreciate if folks that have bought from hatcheries could help me figure out which hatchery has the best hatchery type Sumatras . I'm sure that over time I will meet those who breed and do so passionately . Then acquiring top blood . All in time . Any info , pics ETC will be appreciated ! Thank you , for all the knowledge from this thread !
Be good to each other

My first question is do you or will you have an incubator? On that note, if you do not have one or plan to get one, my advice is to get one. What you may not realize is that the worse the quality of the birds, the more you will have to hatch and the longer it will take. You state that your starting on a budget and that is why you want to start with hatchery, I have to stop you there. It is December of 2015. Save the extra few dollars and try to find something that's proven decent to start with in the Spring which is at least FOUR months away(plenty of time to save a couple extra bucks). How many are you planning to have? If you start with bad quality birds you will have to hatch many, MANY birds, and raise to 6-8 months old before being able to properly cull. You will have to be able to house 30+ birds at a time to improve quality in less than a life time. Ok maybe a few years, a lifetime was a bit exaggerated. But seriously, save yourself the time and money of feeding and hatching hundreds of chicks over the years versus starting with good quality. On top of that your giving $ to a hatchery that breeds for quantity rather than quality. In my opinion someone who has spent years perfecting their flock is more deserving of being paid for their lines. It's like buying eggs from Big Y vs. the local farmer. Id much rather pay the extra dollar for local eggs, than eggs from a corporate giant. Again, just my opinion. Starting with good quality is still hard work because you have to maintain that quality. Still have to hatch birds every year to replace your older hens. I can tell you now, the dollar difference is small versus the amount of time it will take to get where you want. Look at my birds for example, they are SQ, I sell my eggs for about 35$ for 10 eggs. Shipped eggs are a gamble but some are bound to hatch and they are bound to be good quality. There are sellers that will sell chicks of good lines for 8-10$ a piece. Again, what you will get are good quality. Thinking about the short run(the initial cost) will not save you any money in the long run. Think about that. Just my friendly advice from one chicken enthusiast to another.

I agree with DS... i have had both hatchery and breeder stock in both sumatra and R/S Yokos... the breeder stock is far better than the hatchery and you dont have to get as many to start off with to get the results you want! i got 25 of each from a hatchery and had to cull the most for defects one way or another... where i only got trios of them and bred them to my liking and culled less and had a better looking flock than i ever did before! i would and am going to save up to get my flock back when i can!
good luck either way! hope we have been helpful !