BDutch's bantam flock & natural breeding projects #5 🪺 🪺 and #6

[MaryJanet]

I made an appointment to pick up 6 bantam Sumtaler hatchery eggs at 17.00 h today.

Spoiler: Bantam Sumtaler

Dwarf Sulmtaler were made by the German breeder H. J. Webers from Isernhagen around 1953. He took large Sulmtalers, dwarf Paduans, Dwarf Orpington, German dwarf chickens and German dwarf salmon chickens. He wanted to form a dwarf chicken breed that was as small and vital as possible and meets the requirements and housing conditions of modern sports breeders.

Character:

Dwarf Sulmtaler chickens are quiet and peaceful animals. They are curious, trusting, lively and fearless. They can easily be made very tame and are therefore also suitable for children. In addition, they like to scrape a lot and are not in the least interested in who or what is currently behind them. They can fly well and can also be accommodated quite well in a small space. Normally, they hardly tend to chuck.

"This breed is the delightful miniature edition of the Sulmtaler chicken, ...... . Due to their coarse country chicken shape, the small head and the distinctive feather dress, the trusting, lively animals are pretty, small appearances." (Our dwarf chicken breeds,

Walter Schwarz 1995)

Appearance:

The dwarf Sulmtaler chicken is a strong, rather rough country chicken with a deep, wide box shape, fine bone structure and hardly medium-high, flesh-coloured legs. The rather long back is horizontal, the rather short tail well spread and worn half-high. A special feature of this breed is the small head, which is pleasingly not so lush that it takes away the view of the chicken. In front of the hood there is a single comb with weakly notched spikes. For hens, it is a wrap comb. The earlobes are white and the eyes are coloured orange-red.

Colour strokes:

Gold-wheat-coloured

Blue-wheat-coloured

Silver-wheat-coloured

Weight:

Rooster about 1,200 g, hen 1,000 g

Laying capacity:

Egg weight:

About 160 eggs per year

40 g
Source: http://www.huehner-tv.de/zwerg-sulmtaler-3.html

In the Netherlands they give slightly other info: the hens wil be around 800 grams and lay about 150 eggs a year.

Spoiler: Info from chicken pages in NL

The Sulmtaler Krielen are originally a breed from Germany.

Sulmtaler Krielen are quiet hens who can take a beating.

The color of the Sulmtaler Krielen is wheat.

Sulmtalers Krielen lay about 150 eggs per year and the weight of the egg is about 35 grams and the color of the egg is cream color.

As a useful breed, the Sulmtaler belongs among the legrasses and sierrasen.

The Sulmtaler Krielen have a single comb and they have a Tintin.

The weight of the rooster is about 1000 grams and of the hens 800 grams.

The ring size is 13 mm for the rooster and 11 mm for the hen.
Source: https://www.kippenpagina.nl/kippenrassen/sulmtalerkrielen.html

They look lovely.

 

[Sequel]

I really like the wheaten color in chickens. Salmon Faverolles were my first chickens, I loved their toasted muffins and cream colors!

 

[BDutch]

Last Thursday evening- Friday the hatchery eggs were resting. Everyone recommends to do so after transport.
I swapped the eggs Friday (March 8) at 17.30 h.

Kraai is very committed to sit. Every morning she takes a break to poop, eat, walk around the coop etc. After 30 minutes she goes back again.

I find one or two new eggs under her every day. Katrientje and Janice started laying in the same week as Kraai. But last Thursday and today I had a tiny egg of one of my old Dutch (smaller). So one of the oldies (I think 8+ yo Black) started laying.

Next week a gardener wil take down the crown of this curled willow tree. So the chickens and we get more sun in the garden in the afternoon.

 

[BDutch]

Today this was on all our news platforms:
Be careful when eating eggs from hobby chickens. The food watchdog NVWA gives this advice, because those eggs may contain too high a concentration of pfas. The NVWA recommends alternating between eating hobby chicken eggs and eggs from the supermarket.

The environment in my country is very much polluted with PFAS because of the factories for glider materials, Tefal and water impermeable foils.
The NVWA is an governmental organisation that works mainly for the farmers.

 

[BDutch]

Kraai was disturbed today. Katrientje wants to share the nest. Maybe just to lay sn egg , otherwise she is getting broody. One broody for 6 eggs sure is enough. And I really don’t want any chickens who are difficult to handle as broody anymore.

I didnt like Janice as broody last year snd Katrientje is not a friendly chicken either .

So I picked her up and left her in the second coop with everything she needs.
When it started to get dark I closed the small coop were Kraai sits (for an hour) and opened the gate between the 2 runs. Katrientje went back to the coop immediately and did roost with the other hens.

Let’s see what tomorrow will bring.

 

[ManueB]

That's great news !
The sumtaler seem to have a very different look from your actual deutsch bantams from what I can see ; they look more sturdy / not so lean ? Even though they don't weigh more. Not mentioning that funky hairdo.

I'm also excited to see how it goes and hoping all will be well. I was so sorry you lost Chef and Abby last year ! As for Katrientje, a bit of chicken drama is unavoidable... and always fun to read, if not always fun when you actually have to deal with it .

 

[BDutch]

Yes these Sulmtaler have a very different appearance from the Dutch or the bantam RIR. Sulmtaler are bigger than the Dutch and about the same size as Katrientje (RIR).

Fyi, Dutch doesn't mean Deutch. We say Hollandse kriel, meaning bantam from the Pays Bas. I think the English got the languages German (Deutch) and Dutch (Netherlands) mixed up somewhere in history.

Tonight I candled 5 of the 6 eggs. I think 3 were not alive and 2 were alive. I have numbered them:
1 not
2 yes
3 not
4 couldnt get hold of it easily and I didn’t want to disturb Kraai any longer.
5 yes
6 not/doubt

Katrientje is definitely broody and wants to sit on the eggs too. I her locked up in the second run again. If she is as persistent as last year, it is going to take me weeks to ‘unbroody’ her. One of the reasons why I bought hatchery eggs of these RIR a couple of years ago was because this breed isn't the broody kind of chicken. .

Katrientje is looking for an opportunity to ‘dive’ into the Kraai’s nest.

Black: “Do you have some yummie treats?”

 

[BDutch]

Yesterday, I prepared the large nestbox/super mini coop in the second run to have the possibility to move Kraai with her eggs to it or if that is not necessary to move mother and chicks there after they hatched.

Advantage of keeping them in the second run is that its easy to let the others free range and keep the little ones locked up.

In the mean time Katrientje made her own plan. She is determined to hatch together with Kraai. They sit in one nest together. And Katrientje is really unhappy if I take her away from the nest. It seems Kraai doesn’t mind at all if Katrientje helps to keep the eggs warm.

I decided not to interfere any longer. But now I have a different situation as planned.

The second run is about 6 m2 and has an opening to the main run I can block easily. Perfect for the first month/6 weeks. If the chicks grow up its a bit small to keep two broodies with maybe 2 or 3 chicks, in it almost full time.

You hopefully understand that free ranging the little ones unsupervised is scary knowing what happened last year. But there are a few differences with last year. :

• I have two broodies and expect just 2 or 3 chicks to hatch.
• These chicks are much bigger than the 2 tiny Dutch I kept last year.

With two mothers its probably easy to integrate with the flock. And its also easier for 2 mothers to protect just a few chicks if I let them free range.

I appreciate it if you like to share any thoughts about things Im in doubt of.
Like when to move the two broodies to the larger nestbox in the second run.

I already moved them from left to the right in a prepared carton to move the whole nest without the need to disturb the nest or take the eggs out to move it. I think the risk is very small if I move the carton with nest and eggs and broodies after dark. And if one broody gives up, there is a second broody who probably won’t .

A few pics from last year:
This is the large nestbox/ mini coop I moved to the second run. I put it on 4 bricks and not high up as you see it here.

The nestbox on the right is their current nestbox.

.

 

[BDutch]

My husband just told me Kraai en Kattientje were quarrelling outside just after my husband let them free range. Black got in the nest with the eggs.
What does that supposed to mean?

When I went to look, Black was laying an egg in the nest with the hatchery eggs. I caught her in the act.
Kraai and Katrientje were already waiting in the other nestbox to go back to brood.

 

[ManueB]

I can't really help since I don't have a lot of experience.
One thing I remember is that integration back in the main coop was difficult for your chicks last year. For this reason, I would say better not to let them too long in the second run.
I don't know about co-brooding, but I know that broodies can fight each other very hard as they feel they are competitors. Maybe Kraai and Katrientje haven't really decided to co-brood and both are hoping to take over as the sole broody ?

As to when to move them, I see two options. If you want to do it before the hatch, I would say as soon as possible so they are not bothered by other hens laying and they can get used to the new location. But, given you've seen them fight, I would still wait at least one or two days to see if they really co-brood.
Or, you can move them just after the hatch. This is how I've done it with my two broodies and it worked well. Since you have two adult chickens to move, it could be a bit stressful. As they are bantams maybe you can find a box to fit in all the chicks and adults and move them all at the same time.

One thing that could really have an impact is Kraai and Katrientje's status in the flock. If they are dominant it's likely the other hens would not even bother the chicks. In that case, it could maybe be even better just to let them in the main coop ?