did you have sumatras?
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Nice little Cubalaya cockerel in your avatar. Perhaps if you are interested in Cubalaya you should visit this thread.https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/newestpost/352331When I first got my chickens it didnt seem that too many critters were bothering them....I had them free range during the day. Then I noticed the mexican hawks were grabbing one everyday or so. Then my friends dog stayed the night and tore through the coops and killed all of my chickens. They were about five months old and a beautiful mix of silkies, yokohamas, cubalyas, OEGs and some phoneix. The dog tore through the gates on two coops, tearing the door off the hinges. On the third coop she grabbed the little ones through the chicken wire and killed them even though she couldnt get their bodies out....I was so upset...
I went ahead and bought a second batch of chicks after the dog was gone, but by then I guess my home had become the local chicken buffet-the hawks would pick off anything left loose, the foxes knabbed three older chickens I got and then I found snakes in the coop where the month old chicks were. Every weekend I would add more layers, but then the racoons ate all the babies one night after they tore through the mesh...
We just completed what my sister likes to call chicken alcatraz. I took part of my wrap around wooden porch, added 2 by 4 galvanized wire, layered with chicken wire, then layered with metal hardware meshing. Then we took sheets of plastic roofing and put on three sides and then concreted the entire base down into the house foundation and nailed all the meshing into the roof. Ive concluded the number of chickens I may have will be small, but I WILL have at least a few, as I love to watch them putter around and the oriental breeds are so beautiful!
I've acquired my first Sumatra as of this afternoon. I am now the proud owner of one birchen Sumatra and one gold birchen mix (he as a single comb). Both are from a breeder in Bargersville, IN who raises them to standard, but she's fallen on hard times and also had almost all of her eggs hatch into boys this year. Due to economic problems and being unable to find buyers for about a hundred cockerels, she pretty much foisted them on another poultry enthusiast to grow out into meat birds... and Sumatra make less than splendid meat birds (but great lawn ornaments!).
I've long admired the breed and figured that this would be a good crash course in whether or not this breed could possibly fit at my home because they're choices are death or working out, pretty much. I had not planned to get into the breed because they fly really well and can be aggressive, but these boys were so social (and from a very social overall group of dozens of blue, black and splash Sumatra) and so gentle when I picked them up that I just couldn't abandon them. I may go back for a blue and/or black because they are such lovely, sweet-natured, scrappy little guys (well, little by comparison to my Brahmas, anyway). If they work out, I'll try to get some hens for them this spring.
So far, it does not appear the breeder was selecting for multiple spurs (or that multiple spurs take awhile to really come in) because I didn't see any with multiple nubs about their ankles while I was visiting. The oldest of the pair 9mos or less; the younger is about 12weeks. They're both as sweet and calm as I could hope for (and in a game breed, no less!).
The older one looks like he might be getting another pair further up his leg, but the younger one doesn't look to be getting any more. Do they hatch with more spurs or do those come in later?does he have multiple spurs, is he a mixed Sumatra?