Colorado

[maggiemo]

I love, love, love my naked necks. They do great in the winter.

 

[PrettyWhitty23]

I love, love, love my naked necks. They do great in the winter. 

I looked them up and I was surprised to see they are a child hardy bird. Do yours get sunburned? Cause I saw a picture of some with bright red necks. How funny

 

[maggiemo]

the red isn't sunburn, it is just the color some of them are. they are strong solid birds and great layers,
I could have a flock of just naked necks and easter eggers and be happy.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Do any of you have experience with sumatras? My mom surprised me with one from the animal swap she went to to buy a rabbit. She got a year old hen & I know I need to quarantine her, but I'm a little worried about trying to integrate her. She's much bigger than all 10 of my current flock. She was a little panicked about being separated from the others but Memnoch & Mercury were pretty aggressive towards her through the fencing (she returned it). I'm just wondering what I can expect from her breed. Honestly, I'm a little worried about doing this.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Wow! Hugs x2. Hummmmmm and a big sigh! I have no idea about Sumatras.....
But in general.....
Okay, first you should quarantine (30 days) and that means, like on the other side of the house, not next to each other.
You will be taking some risk with them side by side, but if that is what you have then you get to roll with it.

She is going to need some time and so will your current flock, eyeballing and viewing each other, like a couple of weeks and then you can start letting them free range together under supervision. There will be spats, you just don't want the bad fights.
If it looks like there are going to be problems, then let us know and we will try to help.

Gently suggest to your Mom that you are good for the upcoming Winter as far as enough chickens and being able to get them set in their social positions in time for the "close quarter season".

Guess we are all going to learn about Sumatras......
Have a good weekend everyone!

 

[maggiemo]

X2 what Margie said, and I would add...if it were me, I would bathe, and worm the bird and repeat in 10 days. I have small, medium, large and extra large birds all living together. In my flock size doesn't mean anything, but I don't have roosters. So, maybe that changes things.
Also, I have never tried to integrate a single bird.
Keep us posted how it goes.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Wow!  Hugs x2.  Hummmmmm and a big sigh!  I have no idea about Sumatras.....
But in general.....
Okay, first you should quarantine (30 days) and that means, like on the other side of the house, not next to each other. 
You will be taking some risk with them side by side, but if that is what you have then you get to roll with it.

She is going to need some time and so will your current flock, eyeballing and viewing each other, like a couple of weeks and then you can start letting them free range together under supervision.  There will be spats, you just don't want the bad fights. 
If it looks like there are going to be problems, then let us know and we will try to help.

Gently suggest to your Mom that you are good for the upcoming Winter as far as enough chickens and being able to get them set in their social positions in time for the "close quarter season". 

Guess we are all going to learn about Sumatras......      
Have a good weekend everyone!

X2 what Margie said, and I would add...if it were me, I would bathe, and worm the bird and repeat in 10 days. I have small, medium, large and extra large birds all living together. In my flock size doesn't mean anything, but I don't have roosters. So, maybe that changes things.
Also, I have never tried to integrate a single bird. 
Keep us posted how it goes.

Thanks very much, both of you. I think I was more worried yesterday than I needed to be because I hadn't seen the females establish a pecking order before. My Polish came with one & they never really bothered with the babies. This was my first time seeing a pecking order being established. And I guess Odysseus & Memnoch are doing what roosters do & they've essentially stopped the bickering between the Sumatra (named after the X-Men character Ava'Dara/Warbird) & Mercury. Now that things have calmed down back to normal, I think we're going to be okay, Plus, my flock is on their second week of a Lime Sulfur dip & about ready to get wormed again so she was going to get both no matter what. Good timing for that, at least.

She is very flightly about being caught I think my mom picked her up not just because she's really pretty but because she was the only bird her owners were selling. I think she felt bad for the bird & wanted her to have a flock. That & my mom is all about whatever helps me not go into a funk during my recovery/rehab. Having Ava'Dara definitely illustrates the difference between regular sized chickens & bantams for me! I thought the Polish hens were big, she's about twice their size! I did have to tell my mom that we better not pick up anymore right now (she found an add for the type of Polish I had wanted to get earlier this year) because if we did we were gonna need a bigger boat. Not sure we could talk my dad into building another coop this year since he's working on extending/securing their free range area so there isn't another dog incident.

 

[PrettyWhitty23]

the red isn't sunburn, it is just the color some of them are. they are strong solid birds and great layers,
I could have a flock of just naked necks and easter eggers and be happy.

Oh well than I was mislead by an article on the internet. Shocker! Thank you for clarifying. All of my chicks are still surviving and seem to be really thriving. Ideal is even sending me a couple replacement birds for the ones that didn't make it. I have been pretty impressed with their customer service and their birds thus far. I am excited for them to get older enough to tell how many roosters and hens we have. My son has named them orange, white, purple, and six ha ha. One of the chicks will go wherever he goes, and run along the cage to make sure he sees him. I am hoping that one ends up being a hen, but I am sure it'll be a rooster just because it's our favorite so far. Never fails ha ha. I also have my 30 shipped eggs in the incubator. We are only on day 3, so 4 more days I will candle and see how many are still going. Fingers crossed most of them are. This is my first time ordering fertile eggs.

 

[Latestarter]

Glad to hear the littles are doing well. Hope the fave is a pullet for you. Good luck with your hatch too!

 

[uzisuzuki]

Oh well than I was mislead by an article on the internet. Shocker! Thank you for clarifying. All of my chicks are still surviving and seem to be really thriving. Ideal is even sending me a couple replacement birds for the ones that didn't make it. I have been pretty impressed with their customer service and their birds thus far. I am excited for them to get older enough to tell how many roosters and hens we have. My son has named them orange, white, purple, and six ha ha. One of the chicks will go wherever he goes, and run along the cage to make sure he sees him. I am hoping that one ends up being a hen, but I am sure it'll be a rooster just because it's our favorite so far. Never fails ha ha. I also have my 30 shipped eggs in the incubator. We are only on day 3, so 4 more days I will candle and see how many are still going. Fingers crossed most of them are. This is my first time ordering fertile eggs.

Best of luck with your hatch!