Sumatra Thread!

[flyingmonkeypoop]

It now officially feels like spring around here. We've had tons of rain lately and tons of broody sumatras! So far there are only 2 lf hens and 3 bantam hens that are screaming broody monsters.

 

[Coop Scoop Boogie]

It now officially feels like spring around here. We've had tons of rain lately and tons of broody sumatras! So far there are only 2 lf hens and 3 bantam hens that are screaming broody monsters.

Do you let the hens hatch all your chicks or do you use
incubators and let the hens hatch a few or do you not
let the hens hatch any? It would seem like you would
get more chicks in a season to pick from if you use an
incubator. How many chicks does one need to pick through
for finding good show birds?

 

[ramirezframing]

It now officially feels like spring around here. We've had tons of rain lately and tons of broody sumatras! So far there are only 2 lf hens and 3 bantam hens that are screaming broody monsters.

If you're letting them set eggs, I hope you get a good hatch. I had one silkie cross hen that insisted on being broody over the winter. I finally gave her some eggs from the few eggs I was getting and half of them hatched. All the chicks made it, and she is due to be broody again.........was just sitting here thinking of what type of eggs I might give her when she goes broody again and it popped into my head, she's in the pen with the 5 gallon bucket again.

Two years ago she was in this same pen with this same bucket. This bucket sits upright and had odds and ends and feed bag strings and all in it. Well the hens decided to lay eggs in it, not a problem. She went broody in it, and I left the few eggs there with the intent to replace them with eggs I wanted her to hatch. Well, I sorta lost track of her in among all the other broodies and forgot to replace those "place holder" eggs. When I did remember, she had 29 odd ball eggs under her from the other hens in the pen with her. The son and I candled them and found that some were close to hatch and the rest were in various states of development.

Needless to say as the chicks hatched and dried, I moved them to a brooder until she hatched the last ones. I then gave the rest back to her, and swore no more buckets for her.

Maybe I'll give her a few turkey eggs, and keep a close eye on the bucket

Good luck to all who are hatching or have broodies.

 

[4Hgirl]

Look what I just found. First time I've successfully had a hen hatch her own eggs Now what do I do? Do I let her be and she will care for it (them if more hatch) or do I intervene? The nest is actually an old sand bucket and is about 10" off the ground. The hen is a BT barred rock. There are three other chickens in the coop one is a BT polish rooster. They aren't Sumatras but I really just wanted to give the hen a shot at hatching to see if she would do the job and I will start using her to hatch Sumatra eggs next time around. She is about a year old and I'm actually surprised she did it. Now gotta see if she raises it (them) well.

 

[itsjustjen]

Hi! Wanted to quickly drop in and saying hello with my Sumatra hen! Haven't picked a name but already looking forward top getting more Sumatras. We live in Middle Tennessee if anyone has a Sumatra roo they don't need anymore,we'd love to add him to our flock!

 

[ramirezframing]

Hi! Wanted to quickly drop in and saying hello with my Sumatra hen! Haven't picked a name but already looking forward top getting more Sumatras. We live in Middle Tennessee if anyone has a Sumatra roo they don't need anymore,we'd love to add him to our flock!

Welcome, good luck with your hunt for a rooster.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Hi! Wanted to quickly drop in and saying hello with my Sumatra hen! Haven't picked a name but already looking forward top getting more Sumatras. We live in Middle Tennessee if anyone has a Sumatra roo they don't need anymore,we'd love to add him to our flock!

Welcome! We just have two 2 1/2 week olds. I am hoping both girls. Time will tell!

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

[COLOR=008000]Do you let the hens hatch all your chicks or do you use[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]incubators and let the hens hatch a few or do you not[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]let the hens hatch any? It would seem like you would[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]get more chicks in a season to pick from if you use an[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]incubator. How many chicks does one need to pick through[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]for finding good show birds?[/COLOR]

We mainly use incubators but towards the end of spring/beginning of summer we sometimes let the broodies hatch and raise chicks. It is hard to give an exact number of chicks hatched to get a show bird. Sometimes you get lucky and get a great batch of showable chicks from a small batch, other times you get stuck with a whole season of bad birds. Like with my rose comb legbar project- out of all the rose combed pullets I hatched last year, I honestly wasn't stoked about any of them. I did whittle down to 2 pullets that should throw good chicks but as soon as I get a good batch from them, they'll be sold off.

 

[ramirezframing]

Quote: Hope you get lots of good chicks from them.

 

[4Hgirl]

I managed to get a pic with both our Sumatras together standing still on my back patio.