Sumatra Thread!

[SilverKelpie]

If that was sarcasm, Silverkelpie, it is NOT appreciated. I spent months lurking BYC here for folks in the Pennsylvania area who raise Black Sumatras and had no bites- not even from other New England states. After years of saying I would never order from a hatchery, I had to swallow my pride and do what I thought I would never do.
I will be spending a lot of time and effort to breed to SOP in hopes that buyers in PA will be able to find me and not have to order from a hatchery when they want Sumatras. I was forewarned that this could be years of work and culling, but it was what I had to do. I am very enthusiastic and passionate about this breed, new to the breed, and willing to learn all I can about it. I found the breed when I decided to choose a rare/exotic breed to preserve.

It wasn't sarcasm, and I'm not sure where I messed up in communicating my intent. I was trying to express sympathy for the plight of the breeders while agreeing with your experience that while our turning to hatcheries causes us to be frowned on by breeders, we may have carefully thought-out reasons for doing so.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Feel free to post pictures as they develop the show folks can explain the good and bad of your flock so if you choose to improve For type you can... they can also usually help explain genetics. This is one of the breeds I drool over as just stunning... Hatchery birds are what they are but can akways be used to get ones feet wet with breeds and chickens in general... besides you never know my daughter won in showing with Hatchery birds, everyone said it was impossible but she did well. She got lucky with her chicks maybe or maybe the feed store in question just had really good supplier. They did get some very rare birds in from time to time for very special orders and poultry was their speciality.

All my current birds are Hatchery... though I plan to hopefully get an incubator for some hatching eggs next spring for Cornish maybe.

As for predators be pro active, nothing is worse than a yard full of bloody feathers. I know I have come home to it. Here is what I have done and I live in suburbia based on previous suburban experiences of carnage... in my area are creeks which the wildlife including coyotes and mountain lions use to travel unseen through neighborhoods hunting deer and turkey that also use the creeks, so I got it all skunks, raccoons, dogs, cats, weasels, coyotes, possum, fixes, snakes, owls, vultures and hawks... I am very aware of these critters as I have seen them.

I have my backyard fence, then in second fenced in area I have my coop soon to be coops inside of... which sit on floors I made burrow proof, I used loose laid bricks so I can scrub them down and still have some drainage. The coops I have are not the best as they are kits... but they do include a covered with wood roof runs. This means when the birds are locked up nothing can swoop in and get them, my birds free range my back yard making them hawk targets though during the day, but they have lots of coverage, and I open all doors to coop run so the hens have 3 exits in case a hawk or cat tried to attack durring the day.

In a perfect world my coops would be built out of super sturdy wood (which I suggest over kit coop wood if coyotes are threat) with super strong but small opening wire framed/sandwhiched between wood panels to prevent it from being easily pushed in. I would keep the run completely covered with a solid roof and have multiple exits/enterances like I have now for day time free ranging and escape in case a gutsy hawk or other critter gets in during the day... if I could I would hot wire my coops at night, along with camera, door motion sensor and audio monitoring for the night... Maybe even a light that turns on from motion around the coop.

My current system (less sturdy secure) is working but something is trying to gain Night entry... gnawed wood on outside of the coop I just moved is proof along with obvious but failed attempts to dig under coop due to me bricking in the whole 10 x 10 space the little coop with run is in except for the raised beds which now have dug down wire in them. The critters stalking my birds at night though can squeeze through the black fence around this garden chicken coop area... I may need to wire additional fencing to it... I just moved the little coop to build a second, after finding the damage to the wood on it caused by critter teeth I must make sure I burrow proof it's floor as it is going to be placed in an old flower bed and I should add wood to it's base to repair damage so nothing can breach the coops at night.

But in a perfect world my birds would be secured like some dinosaur from Jurasic Park to keep them safe.. not there yet in building skills or budget...

Consider digging wire down and out around your coop and putting bricks, rocks, that sort of stuff on top to discourages coyotes digging under ar night... also real solid latches and locks, critters are smart... hit YouTube to see various critters attack coops caught on film... keep wire openings small as raccoons will pull chickens heads through at nigh and kill them that way. Some folks make sure coop or run roosts are placed in such a way that no animal can pull a sleeping birds head through.

Happy keeping.

Thanks, I have an old dog run with a staked down wire mesh fence the run is 50x100' and the doghouse is 10x10 and will be easy to secure. Step 1 build a hardware mesh door, add mesh to flooring and secure, then apply mesh to the entire perimeter, I'm going to take the chance that the roofing doesn't require wire mesh but we will see. I know we have raccoons because my pineapple was bunny proofed and it disappeared last night-(

 

[AllenK RGV]

Hatchery is what I have to work with and I plan to cull aggressive birds first and foremost, after that I would love input from the community on how to breed better stock. As I want them for ornamentation and pest control. Fortunately, I have neighbors who would love a free meal as we are vegetarians and won't eat meat and feeding chicken to my dogs just sounds like a recipe for trouble=)

I did extensive research(that didn't bring me here-( I thought prior to ordering and even displayed restraint and had all my supplies set up prior to their arrival. That stupid lamp system is way overpowered at 250w for my region of the country and was annoyed Tractor Supply had the same wattage ones too.

 

[Then I Will]

It wasn't sarcasm, and I'm not sure where I messed up in communicating my intent. I was trying to express sympathy for the plight of the breeders while agreeing with your experience that while our turning to hatcheries causes us to be frowned on by breeders, we may have carefully thought-out reasons for doing so.

Ah, my apologies for misunderstanding. I would feel a little hurt if someone chose hatchery Sumatras over those I worked hard to breed, I can agree there. I'm still on the lookout for anyone local who raises these birds because I will likely want to introduce new bloodlines sooner or later, and would always appreciate a well bred bird.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Ah, my apologies for misunderstanding. I would feel a little hurt if someone chose hatchery Sumatras over those I worked hard to breed, I can agree there. I'm still on the lookout for anyone local who raises these birds because I will likely want to introduce new bloodlines sooner or later, and would always appreciate a well bred bird.

Are you breeding Bantams or standard sizes Silver? and do you ship them as eggs or as hatchlings? I needed to go the hatchling route from equipment standpoint. Ok I'm crossed on channels now too, disregard my posting............

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Thanks, I have an old dog run with a staked down wire mesh fence the run is 50x100' and the doghouse is 10x10 and will be easy to secure. Step 1 build a hardware mesh door, add mesh to flooring and secure, then apply mesh to the entire perimeter, I'm going to take the chance that the roofing doesn't require wire mesh but we will see. I know we have raccoons because my pineapple was bunny proofed and it disappeared last night-(

Bummer on the pineapple. As long as you can secure them up for the night that is tha main thing.

As to aggression one thing I really believe is sometimes well meaning people can create that. I don't as a rule train mine to sit on my shoulder, I do not want to confuse them about who is on top of the pecking order...I have two hens right now as a rule neither is aggressive, however today I moved their coop and hubby and I started construction on the new coop, the most dominate chicken is in full melt down mode including showing aggressive behavior... landing on my shoulder multiple times, on my husband too, jumping on lap, squeaking non stop, she even pecked my foot.. for which she got pecked by me right back... this is abnormal behavior for her and clearly related to her ideas of territory. I put her in the old coop where she has proceeded to have a full on temper tantrum of trying to tear up her coop. She is now out sulking under a shrub and volcalizing her displeasure. She is very stressed, panting non stop too... the other hen simply seems not to care. We are triggering the aggression and if she was used to being on my shoulder versus forearm or lap I suspect the aggression would be worse. If she was a rooster, she might have tried dusting up our shins... but the behavior is territory driven.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Yes it is the roosters I am thinking of when those spurs come in. I have read stories of keepers needing jeans to avoid getting hurt. If it gets to that point where I require personal protective equipment to even open the door to let one out its soup time for someone.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Roosters should not normally be human aggressive... but I have read the horror stories here too. I decided to try and figure out why so many have issues... so I decided to research a bit... my findings.

1 do not teach them to roost on your shoulder... this can trigger bad behavior in parrots and many people on BYC have stories about their favorite sweetest boy chick that used to roost on shoulder becoming aggressive.

2 human aggression can Be inherited, always pay attention to your birds temperaments aka behaviors if breeding them to avoid breeding unwanted behaviors in your flock... it is absolutely amazing how many behaviors are breedable for... gamefowl breeders know this.

3 humans can trigger aggression by not understanding chickens or treating them in ways we would a dog but to a chicken you might be the aggressive one... study big bird behaviors as to what they like or dislike... oddly again parrots may help you learn to understand chickens better, especially videos on body language and gentle training.

4 learn to know warning signs of aggressive rooster aka man killers, see YouTube a gamefowl guy put a very informative video up on just that.

5 learn to trim nails and spurs for your safety and the hens safety.

6 don't let aggression slide, let them know who is boss. I peck back, put birds in time out, use the word No when dealing with attitude... there are some threads on correcting bad dog roosters so they need not end up as chicken dinner... some aggression is correctable.

7 know if you are dealing with a broody rooster... defending hen and offspring. Sometimes Roos not just hens get aggressive to protect eggs or babies too.

I hope this helps, most roosters are usually not a problem.

 

[TattooedChicks]

My 'ugly' chick getting is rather pretty. And I'm hoping beyond hope that it's a girl, as out of the 20 chicks I got only this one and a Japanese haven't gone cockerel on me.

One bird has me falling in love. Her gentle personality is flawless and her calm, regal demeanor is a delight to watch.

Any breeders here from the Midwest? I'd love to give this one a chance at some hatching eggs next year if she is of the mind, or I'll let one of the oegbs or Cochins do the honors.

 

[Then I Will]

View attachment 1088959 View attachment 1088960 View attachment 1088961
My 'ugly' chick getting is rather pretty. And I'm hoping beyond hope that it's a girl, as out of the 20 chicks I got only this one and a Japanese haven't gone cockerel on me

Judging by the tail, she looks like a girly birdie to me!! So I'm hoping with you.
Has any green shine started to shine through her black feathers yet? I'm getting a mix of purple and green with mine and they are between 8-9 weeks right now. It doesn't show well in photographs which is why I ask.