Sumatra Thread!

[troyer]

Hi how are all of you?

i don't know if i said about me getting some new birds, any way my new birds arrived i got 3 large Sumatra hens and 2 pekin cockerels and a pair of carlisle's. I'm pleased with all of the birds i got but i am very disappointed because the carlisle hen died on the way and she was a nice hen. But none the less the carlisle cockerel is a beautiful bird.

How are all of you getting on with predators?
My gran only has 1 hen and 1 chick left because the fox has been giving her grief. My dad went lamping on Sunday night and he shot 4 foxes, and then he went out on Tuesday and he got 3 more foxes and my gran still has one who is trying to get her birds. I've been lucky so far and i haven't had any problem with and predators!

Heres some pics of the carlsile, he is my pride and joy!

Very pretty!

 

[Coop Scoop Boogie]

He is quite beautiful raph.......hope you find another hen for him.

 

[ramirezframing]

Very nice, Raph. Sorry about your hen and your gran's birds.

 

[ralibi]

@ Ramirez: thank you for the quick reply! I got stuck at the day job counting down the hours until chicken time! Any chance you recognize the color on the phoenix cockerel?

As for the bachelor pad...now you got me rethinking everything. Like I could probably keep more roosters if they were bantams in smaller runs! I've probably drawn out 20 different designs and change it with every tidbit of advice extracted off this site.

Oops....ps, the Sumatras are just under 9 weeks old.

@ Raph: What a beautiful Roo and wonderful photography to boot! Congrats!

 

[ramirezframing]

Quote:
At 9 weeks old, I could be wrong on the sumatra's genders. The reason I asked for age is I think I see a hackle coming in on the khaki ones neck ( the colored feather) but can't really tell on my screen. BoggyBottoms would be the one to ask about the phoenix color, as he does those. If it came from him, he has all kinds of colors going in them.

 

[ralibi]

Thanks Ramirez. My photography leaves much to be desired. I did try to send the picks to. Boggy bottom but iPad to his email account wasn't working very well and I didn't want to keep bugging him. I can't even imagine how busy he is this time of year. It's been kind of fun guessing though.... I asked for and received mixed hatching eggs from his LF fly tie, LF Phoenix, Dun Sumatra and a couple of d'anver. I've still got 4-5 birds I'm still guessing on breed. lol! What a total newbie! My daughter and I are having a blast with it though.

 

[ramirezframing]

Glad to hear you two are having fun. In my book, a lot of things should be fun or why do them. Chickens have always been in this category for me, kind of like sports was during my school years.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Hi ya'all!

I'm hoping all you chicken experts can give a hand to a chickie newbie! Attached are photos of my two new Sumatra kids (THANK YOU AUBREY). Can you tell me gender and what exactly their colors are called? I've also attached a phoenix photo (sorry wrong thread) but I have no idea on what color it is other than gorgeous.

Also, I read some previous posts of people working on different colors in Sumatras. Anyone have any pics I could see? I'm really contemplating working on some and if there is stock out there to start from please let me know.

One last thing, living in the far frozen north...I'm designing a new coop to include breeding pens. My issue is with extra roosters. My plan would be to have a bachelor pad, 8 x10 indoors, and then allow them all to free range during the day. My hens are all kept behind a 2 acre fence. The roosters would be able to see them but not get to them. Would new roosters integrate with old? Staking them really isn't an option up here in the winter. Thanks for any advice you can depart. And thank you Aubrey (for the dun and Toni-Marie for the black) Kids!

Looks like a dun and a khaki
The phoenix looks like a black breasted red/light brown

 

[raph]

Thanks, we have a pretty decent camera, if the bird is standing correctly it is very hard to take a bad photo with this camera.
At the minute the game bird is in with two sumatra hens so i might incubate about 5 of their eggs and see what they turn out like.

 

[ramirezframing]

Nice to see you pop in.