breeding Heritage, and rare exotic breeds

[Farmerboy16]

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I am not getting Sumatras for egg production, just for looks, of course will like to have a bit of eggs from them for hatching.

 

[NYREDS]

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The comb, wattles , face & ear lobes should be gypsy, not red.

You are correct and I am aware of this, These birds however have no direct sunlight and are in a barn for breeding, as soon as these birds are exposed to direct sunlight their combs will be very dark gypsy to almost black, a very easy/common problem in sumatras.

This is news to me. Do you have any pictures of these same birds after they've been in the sun?

 

[Sumatra55]

Not at the moment, I am out of town, If you ask any sumatra breeder, Richard Schock is the one that taught me this, it is very common practice that birds that you are getting ready for a show you keep in direct sunlight and their combs turn extremely black. However there are some poor quality birds and some from real breeders that do in fact have red combs and will not change in the sun. These birds I have however all have really dark combs. I do not breed anything that has a true red or too light of a comb. I typically aim for an almost black comb/face. I buy all my birds from Tom kernan, Doug Akers, and Richard Schock so none of them are trash. I am sure if you are a judge you have judged birds from all of them.

THANKS

 

[Chris09]

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Are Sumatra different than other Gypsy face breeds?
I have Black American Game Fowl that are Gypsy face and the sun will fade there face color to a dark Red color and that same goes for my wife's Silkies.
I have to agree with NYREDS and I have never heard of the sun darkening a Gypsy face..


Chris

 

[Sumatra55]

I have never messed with any game chickens so I have no idea how their pigmentation works, but sumatras however do darken in the sun?? I have been raising and showing sumatras for 6+ years now and Richard has been raising and showing them for 20+ years, I can certainly tell the difference when a reddish comb turns dark gypsy/black. It is like you getting a sun tan you go from white to brown, or on a normal red comb it get much much redder when the birds are in the sun. Same principal. I will post pics when I pull them from my breeding barn.
THANKS

 

[Sumatra55]

Here is another sumatra breeder I found on here talking about the combs darkening in the sun ... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=602204

 

[redman34]

The sumatra usually do react differently than other mulberry faced fowl. The sun light produces a darkening effect. Most strains today of blacks will exhibit this in largefowl. The blues do at times but some lines who have something else in them to produce blue has not exhibited this darkening effect. This also is similar in bantams where other breeds were introduced to shrink them down. It is amazing to see the difference between birds out in the daylight as opposed to inside all winter.
TJ

 

[fifelakelooper]

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Well...I have had chickens for only 8 years also...but from what I understand...and it has been said...better to get your starts from a "reputable" breeder. Otherwise you have to do a lot of "culling" and it may take years to get the standard you want. Also...(I've been told) that it is better to start with just a few breeds to concentrate on. Sort of like in gardening...you want to start out small and grow. Not to do with space really...has to do with quality and your reputation. You sound ambitious!

I've always just had chickens for the eggs and pets but have decided to take on two breeds to work on myself. Should be interesting!

 

[Kelly's Chickens]

This is something my dh and I have been discussing of late. We would like to breed RIR's and BO's since those are the two breeds we currently have. However, they are both from the same hatchery and we only have one rooster of each breed. How difficult is it going to be to breed up with just what we have? We don't have a SOP yet but are getting one so I'm not sure how many hens/pullets we have that are close to the SOP. (BTW, can we hatch pullet eggs for breeders?) I know I have at least 3 large BO pullets that I can breed to our rooster but I was thinking of only breeding one this year and then using a cockerel from that hatch to breed the 2nd large hen next year and so on. That will give me three lines to breed with in the fourth year. I'm not sure about the RIR's yet.
If anyone knows where to get good RIR hatching eggs, feel free to let me know. That might be a better way to go.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Kelly's Chickens :

This is something my dh and I have been discussing of late. We would like to breed RIR's and BO's since those are the two breeds we currently have. However, they are both from the same hatchery and we only have one rooster of each breed. How difficult is it going to be to breed up with just what we have? We don't have a SOP yet but are getting one so I'm not sure how many hens/pullets we have that are close to the SOP. (BTW, can we hatch pullet eggs for breeders?) I know I have at least 3 large BO pullets that I can breed to our rooster but I was thinking of only breeding one this year and then using a cockerel from that hatch to breed the 2nd large hen next year and so on. That will give me three lines to breed with in the fourth year. I'm not sure about the RIR's yet.
If anyone knows where to get good RIR hatching eggs, feel free to let me know. That might be a better way to go.

I have the same thing too, just hatchery stock, however I am replacing most of them with breeder stock. I have been getting hatching eggs, chicks from the breeder's stock. I will just keep the best hens that I already have, and take it from there. Also have SOP, will try to follow it at the best of my abilities. I have been on the hatching eggs auction here on BYC, asking the breeders questions, and bidding on good quality breeder eggs.​