the sultan thread

[fishnet1971]

 

[fishnet1971]

 

[BantyChooks]

Oh, how cute!!!!!! I really want to get 2 sultan hens next spring, but they only come straight run.

 

[yellowherb]

MyPetchicken.com has the hen option to choose from, but you might have to order more than 2.

I hope come spring time a lot of us Sultan owners can get together and do egg swaps from our pure Sultans. It would be great to get different bloodlines going and sort of dilute the genes a bit without having to dilute using a polish. My adult flock rooster has a genetic anomaly of a missing toenail and my young roo is only 4 toed and a cross beak to boot. Young roo is a pet, he won't be breeding. But seeing all that, lovers of sultans really need to work on diluting the bloodlines a bit to keep these things from showing up. Now just waiting on the hens to get over a bad case of mites and round worms and heavy molt to check their egg laying and fertility. The adult flock is new to me but my two original young sultans turned out to be the crossbeak roo who is a awesome pet, and a nice looking hen. I will never have a "normal" chicken. I adore the sultan breed so much I've become quite passionate about it

 

[yellowherb]

Yah! I found a trio of young sultans to add to my little flock. I had hoped to get ones with better toes, but it was hard to see their toes in the hay and it was at a animal auction...I think I have two hens and a young roo, but it's possible one of the hen's is a 2nd roo. With any luck this roo or two will be smarter than my adult Sultan roo who took on the pheasant through the pheasants cage mesh, and lost.


Looks more horrendous than it actually is. It's being treated with antibiotic cream and also internal antibiotics. He's now kept locked in a small chicken yard at his coop while the other roosters get to free range around the yard. He's the only one stupid enough to think he could best the pheasant cock not 1 time but 3. I give up pulling him away and he's now limited on his free range space. He was injured the 1st time, 2nd time I seen him challenge the pheasant and put him away, 3rd time hubby forgot and released the chickens from the coop...


The others in their coop. There's 5 hens, 1 adult roo, 1 young adult cross beak 4 toed roo (not pictured, he's a pet) and 3 youngsters. We are still fighting a bad eye infection in one hen and waiting on the girls and big boy to get over their major molt. Hope to get eggs soon.

Question though for other sultan rooster owners. Do your roosters have missing toenails? My hens all seem fine and my 4toed CB is good, but my adult roo and at least 1 of the youngsters have missing toe nails. I was told this is common in sultans but I'd like some opinions from other owners. Seems weird that so far on mine it's the roosters and not hens.

*they are not confined to their coop, only at night. During the day the door is open and they can free range other than the suicidal rooster.

 

[BantyChooks]

My sultan roo has no missing toenails, despite being a hatchery bird.....

 

[yellowherb]

That's odd. I wonder why mine do have missing toenails. It would seem its either genetic or a accident while young chicks. I guess I'll find out if it's genetic if my girls lay.

 

[fishnet1971]

All 3 of my hatchery Sultans are missing the toenail as well. I was told it was genetic. Meyer Hatchery sells females only if you want. They are not show quality, but i love mine and dont show anyway

 

[yellowherb]

I was thinking about it and it could be caused by poopy foot. If the brooder isn't cleaned enough or the bird gets poo on it's foot and it's not cleaned off, it sets up like cement and as the toes grow it would cut off circulation causing them to loose toes or toenails. Since I did not raise my ones missing toes I can't say if that's what happened or if it's genetic. I know the ones I did raise have all their toenails though.

 

[yellowherb]

Finally it's happening! I started getting Sultan eggs 4 days ago. 1 egg, then the next day the other 3 hens each laid an egg. They skipped a day and today I had 3 eggs, so one did not lay for me today. I think I have one who is trying to go broody on me, she keeps going into the box looking for eggs but I'm running out and getting them each time I hear a hen cackle. Can't wait until I check for fertility.