Black Sumatras are a long lived breed, I have had 10 or 11 year old hens still laying and hatching, they are great parents. My best rooster lived to be 14 or 15 years old.
My black Sumatras live longer than any other breed I have raised. My oldest rooster was 17, and I have had 9 or 10 year old hens laying, hatching and raising young.
My roo's are still missing the centres of their tails so no photo's from me yet. I had been thinking of doing some illustrations as we discuss the features to help work out the "perfect" bird but I haven't had any time whatsoever lately.
-Stephen
Hello everyone! It took me a while to find this new thread but I did and now finally have a moment to post. I think it may be helpful to discuss how the sumatra came to be as we discuss standard bred sumatras because a better understanding of where the genetics came from can help explain why we...
You should be able to find a 6 month old pair come Fall for around $150. a mature pair may cost up to $250. it all depends on who's selling them. Some years there are a lot around, others you just can't find them.
-Stephen
He is a large fowl game of some kind, I don't see any Sumatra features eg. black or olive legs, multiple spurs, black or mulberry facial skin, horizontal tail carriage etc.
Take a gander through this thread, some of these guys could help you figure out exactly what you've got...
Hey dsfrango, good to see you! It looks like a different hen sneaked an egg into your hatch. Not only will this little roo not lose the colour in those saddle hackle but his neck will likely grow similar looking hackle. I haven't seen mixes in my sumatras like this, but I have seen mixes like...
I suspect that because those sites often say sumatras lay an average of 100 eggs per year someone decided that since there are 100 weeks in a year it would make sense that one egg is laid per week.
-Stephen
I have 5 or 6 black sumatra hens that I am hatching eggs from that are more than 10 years old, no problem there. They just lay fewer eggs each season. My oldest black sumatra rooster died at age 12 and he was fertile up until he began going downhill at the end there. He never had a problem with...
You will see rooster saddle hackle long before you will see his comb growing. You should be able to tell in the next two weeks with certainty.
-Stephen
Here's a few photos of the family. Every year I collect and hatch the first eggs for birds to sell, and I leave the last eggs for the hen to hatch to keep for future breeder stock. The parent reared birds have consistently been larger, stronger, and better looking than the artificially incubated...
I have had silver pheasants hatch and raise their own young and the male would tidbit the chicks but didn't brood them, he was fine with them. I have heard some people remove the male until the chicks are a week old and then reintroducing him. I would say you know your bird, if you think he'll...
Hi Chicky Crazy!
I've got 3 photos for your consideration but I couldn't find a paint program on my computer and "Aperture" my photo program would only watermark with an image so I used my avatar as a water mark. If that doesn't work for you and you would like to use the image I'll post it...
Hey cluckcluckluke,
You missed the "g" in longtailed in your link title, perhaps it's not getting more traffic because it might not be coming up in the search. Hope this helps,
-Stephen
The sun was out when I got home from work so I snapped a few pictures and this one turned out. This guy is really feeling the testosterone and almost attacked my legs a few times today but fortunately couldn't decide if he wanted to follow through and didn't. He is tame and has never kicked me...
I have never lost trees, shrubs, bamboo, roses, grape vines etc from having birds walking over the root systems (fertilizing). It sounds like your new flight is large enough, you shouldn't have a problem. If you have lots of birds in there and the birds kill the grass and trample the ground into...
Hi BBQNuggets,
Sumatras usually become broody after laying for a while and it's not likely she's been laying much this early in the season. If she was with other sumatras before you bought her she is likely missing them and is just taking a while to get used to her new surroundings. Try...
Here's a pullet from MMcM and it looks to me like she's somewhat frizzled. Does anyone know of frizzled sumatras (I think I've seen a photo of one somewhere) I'm not a fan of frizzles and know nothing of how the gene works but with this girl only the very tips of the feathers curl somewhat and...