Sumatra Thread!

[birdboy15]

Is there anyone in Michigan with good quality sumatra?
Thanks

 

[fowlsessed]

I'm going to get some black sumatra bantams from a local breeder as soon as he has some hens available and just wanted to know a little more about them. I've had a pair before, but didn't really know to much about them. Are they really seasonal breeder like I read? Do they mature quite quickly? Are they fairly smart as a breed? And does anyone have any experiance with the roos consistantly coming out as manfighters? Go ahead and post anything else you think would be good/interesting to know. Sorry for all the questions, and thanks in advance.

 

[chickletteSarge]

Ok I got a Q for the experienced sumatra breeders out there. I ordered a pair of sumatras from a hatchery.(I know hatchery quality birds are sub-par)
Any way, my Q is; can you sex chicks like any other breed of chicken, by the primary flight feathers? If so would anyone be selling a pair of pullets in a year or so? Cuz I think they sent me 2 males!

 

[farmdude]

Has anyone ever had a blue Sumatra chick that feathered out black!? I'm dumb founded with mine.

 

[stonykill]

Has anyone ever had a blue Sumatra chick that feathered out black!? I'm dumb founded with mine.

no but I had an all white chick that I was SURE was going to be a splash feather out to a blue rooster! You just don't know what you have until the feathers come in. I don't care what anyone says!

 

[ChickenPotPie]

Ok I got a Q for the experienced sumatra breeders out there. I ordered a pair of sumatras from a hatchery.(I know hatchery quality birds are sub-par)
Any way, my Q is; can you sex chicks like any other breed of chicken, by the primary flight feathers? If so would anyone be selling a pair of pullets in a year or so? Cuz I think they sent me 2 males!

I'm no Sumatra expert but I do know that you can only feather sex some breeds of chickens, not just any breed. Many (maybe even most ?) have to be vent sexed which is difficult to do accurately, according to Mike Rowe, anyway. Lol

I just wait for feathers to develop. If you start to see shiny, thin, pointy too feathers on the saddle and hackles, it's a too.

 

[ReikiStar]

I got my first Sumatras finally. I decided to order some bantam eggs on ebay and only 3 of 10 hatched unfortunately but today I got a 1 month old STD size. I have no idea if it is a hen or roo. If you guys could help. He will lose all the white right? Thanks

My first thought was its a cockerel. Going off the size of his comb at this age. But it looks larger in the first pic and smaller in the second probably because of the light fluff. Just going off my gut here, but I hope I'm correct because you do want a roo. The other thing I'd look for is tail feathers -- I would need other chicks its age to compare too. But slower tail growth = roo.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Just thought I'd update everyone on my birds. We have tons of started birds and most of our flocks have gone broody, I think we're getting an egg every other day from the LF and none from the bantams. We are hatching out chicks to ship out right now. We had some folks on facebook interested in day old chicks so we saved eggs and have 4 dozen eggs hatching now and they only wanted 10 dun chicks which means we have lots of extras for sale. We'll be shipping tomorrow and wednesday, message me if you're interested. These will be the last birds we sell until the fall when we'll be selling the birds that didn't make the cut for breeding pens this fall

 

[chickletteSarge]

Ok I'm new to sumatras, what is dun? Is that a color or bloodline?either way I am interrested!

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

dun has nothing to do with sumatra as a breed. It's a gene that acts like blues does, you get blue, black and splash from blues.
Dun is the same way, just you get dun ( chocolate but not genetically that's different too) black and khaki

Dun can vary from slate irony looking black, to a nice chocolate, to smokey grey

The gene doesnt breed true , that's true chocolate, which is a different set of genes

One copy of dun makes dun, 2 copies make khaki, the splash version, and no copies end up as blacks

It is relatively new in many breeds including sumatras. That's why those with them like to talk about them....they are pretty darn rare.

I really like the look it gives birds and have worked it into all my breeds, in solids and many in the various patterns.

Any bird that has black areas, can be bred into a dun phase just like it can in blues

For example
a bb red
when bred to blues the end product is a blue red, has ablue breast instead of a black

same can be done with dun, would be called a dun red then