5 Month Blue Sumatras....All Cockerels

I was positive at least two of my blue Sumatra chicks that hatched at the end of August were pullets...everything about them said pullet, from their build to their complete lack of comb/wattle....but alas, over the past month they both have developed saddles. They are far behind in development from the ones I knew were cockerels, who have had the pointy feathers since they were 8 weeks old, but one even has good sized multiple spur buds, so I fear I am out of luck.

The good part of this is that I have a great variety of cockerels to choose from. I think I have made my pick for number one, but am still undecided on the second cockerel that I will keep. Here's some photos taken last week.

This is the largest cockerel, and he's also the first I chose to cull. He has slightly too much red and growth in his comb and wattles for me. Otherwise, he's pretty nice, with multiple spur buds on both legs.

This is a runner-up.  Nice bare, black face, multiple spur buds...feathering is ok at this point but not great.

This is my favorite cockerel right now. He has excellent feather development and his tail will come down to horizontal as it fills out. His face is very black and minimal.

These are my two "former pullets". They look like they are going to turn out to be nice cockerels, with good contrasting and lacing. I will probably keep one of these two, right now I am favoring the one in the background, strictly on feather quality. They have the same posture and size, although one has bigger legs and more evidence of multiple spurs than the other.

Longtail Chick Update

I will be phasing out the chick updates on the first batch as they move to the grow out pens. I will continue to update them about every 1-2 months, however, for the first year or until a decision is made to cull, at which point I'll do a final photo and reason for cull.

At this point, it is my thought that the Blue-Silver cockerel that we've been following will likely be a cull, but I will wait to see how the other blue silver cockerels turn out. The silvers came from a lesser quality hen than the blue-reds and blue-golds but it's all I really have as far as silver longtails, so I will still keep some of them for now.

I am also starting a new batch of chicks this week to follow, I chose 4 chicks out of the next batch of 15. At this point, I can't tell with certainty about whether I have cockerels or pullets in these, but I am fairly certain the two oldest are pullets.

So this week we have an update on BBRC1 - the BBR Phoenix cockerel, BRC1 - the blue-red cockerel by Howl out of a BBR Phoenix hen, and a blue-red hen that we HAVEN'T been following to show what some of the rest of the younger part of the batch looks like.  BSC1, BRH1, and BRH2 are all doing their first week in the grow out pen outside and they will be updated in another few weeks on a 1-2 month update schedule along with the others we've been normally following.

Here's Spike, BBRC1. I've noticed that I have a sister to him that is showing very comparable tail growth.  I like the green legs for breeding towards Onagadori standards, but in his case I do wish they'd have been slate, as I think he's going to be an awesome representation of a Phoenix...except for that leg color.

BRC1 - And he's still my favorite cockerel personality-wise. He's very docile, and already does a bizarre chick-trill-crowing song in the mornings and evenings when they are fed. He seems to have extra tailfeathers coming in and has new ones that are very very slim like Howl.

This is sister to BRH2, they are very similar.  Football, BRH1, is still shaped like a football, unlike the rest which are becoming longer.

This new batch of chicks are MOSTLY all out of the two new hens from Amanda - all 4 of the ones I am following are. At least 2 of these 4 are by one of Amanda's roosters, not Howl, as they are from eggs the hens laid immediately upon arrival here. I believe this will be a blue-silver pullet. Hatched late December.

Isn't he/she ugly right now? I have no idea what this chick is, the dad was a recessive white non molter over black or silver birchen, and the hen is the blue-red hen pictured on this blog. I'm leaning towards this chick turning out a dark birchen, but we'll see. I do hope it is a pullet.

I believe this is a red blue-splash, but I do not know the gender yet. Hoping for a cockerel here. It is by Howl, out of the blue-red hen.

I think this will be a blue-silver pullet.

Chick Update

Time for the two week photo update on the four oldest chicks in the batch of 16 (hatched periodically over a month's time) that is getting ready to be moved out of a brooder and into a pen. This batch is primarily offspring of Howl, the white non molter, and the BBR Phoenix hens shown down in the "Beginning" post.  However, there are also several straight Phoenix, with BBR's, golds, and one lone silver pullet. The BBR's had a tendency towards green legs and longer feathers as you can see in BBRC1, the cockerel that I've been following in the photo updates.  This batch of chicks is running at 10 cockerels, 5 pullets, and one that I'm unsure of but leaning towards a pullet.

For the non molters, I'm less worried about leg color at this point since there will be no way to avoid having white legs if I breed back to Howl. But I'm keeping the best stock of slate legged and green legged birds for possible use later in getting the legs back to type.

First we have Spike (BBRC1) who looks like a skinny man wearing a fancy jacket way too big for him.

 Next is the Blue Red Cockerel (BRC1) At this stage, all of these related birds seem to have a roundish look to them, while the straight Phoenix are all slimmer and smaller. I expect they will grow out of it, the hens were long and slim, and the rooster as well.

The Blue Silver Cockerel (BSC1) is getting lots of juvenile red splotches. He's also the dominant rooster and will probably not be a keeper. But we'll see.

I'm starting to call this hen Football, because she is shaped like one. Just kind of a blob of a chicken at this point, not looking at all like either parent. She's very difficult to get a picture of, she just plops down and rests, looking alert is not on her agenda.

Slightly younger blue red hen (BRH2). Her tailfeathers are going through an odd stage where the tips are curling upright a small amount. A couple of the birds in this batch are like that, all are the same cross.

Sumatra!

I had wanted to wait until I was able to get new photos, but with winter rearing its ugly head, there probably won't be any more photo opportunities until spring for the adult and older juveniles. In spring, I hope to be hatching from two breeding groups of Sumatra. I will have some extra blue cockerels for sale in spring as well, once I select the one I intend to use. These birds have nice dark heads and multiple spurs, and are quite people friendly.

Spring Hatch 2011 Black Sumatra Rooster

He is not quite as short legged as the grass makes him appear.

Spring hatch Black Sumatra Pullet

Late Summer/early Fall hatch Blue Sumatra pullet

Late summer/early fall hatch Blue Sumatra pullets

Black Sumatra spurs at less than a year old.

Chick Growth Photo Update

Just a clarification on the chick photos - the ones I will follow and update are not individuals I have selected for any purpose other than they are the oldest of this batch. I will continue to follow the same two cockerels and two hens that are by the white rooster (three of which are out of the BBR Phoenix hen, one by a silver Phoenix hen), and the straight Phoenix BBR cockerel which is out of the Phoenix BBR stock I had previously - they are directly related to the hens which produced the chicks by the white rooster. I'm still perplexed on leg color. I think I have some greens, maybe some yellows, and some look like a pale whitish blue, all from the same cross.

Silver-Blue Cockerel (SBC1)

Blue-Red Cockerel (BRC1)

Straight Phoenix BBR Cockerel. This line has about 25% green legs and it looks like he'll have them. He has the fastest feather growth of all the chicks in this batch, so much so that he looks like a spikey skeleton chicken with feathers too big for his little body. (BBRC1)

Blue-Red pullet same as one shown in previous chick photo update. She's a hefty chick, doesn't yet look anything like either parent. (BRH1)

A slightly younger blue-red pullet.  All the pullets from the BBR x White Rooster cross have this coloring. The ones from the white rooster x silver Phoenix look silver. This is probably a darker gold, then, not really red? (BRH2)

Washing Your Cock

His feathers are looking decent considering he's been in a breeding pen for the last two months and has been in a molt as a result. Today was wash & oil day - he prefers the sink over the tub as he can keep an eye on himself in the mirror. In this photo he is still wet, having not yet been blow dried.

I try to gently soak and wash the feathers every other week if needed. I only blow dry the ones that get wet close to his body if it is cooler outside, then give a light oil to the tailfeathers and end of saddles - not enough to goop things up but enough to protect.

First Chicks

Blue-silver cockerel, hatched Nov 7th

Blue-silver cockerel, same as above.

Blue-red cockerel, hatched November 10th

Blue Red cockerel same as above.

Blue-red pullet hatched November 10th

Blue Red pullet same as above

Blue-red pullet hatched November 17th

Blue red pullet same as above

BBR cockerel hatched November 17th

Since I put these eggs in the incubator in staggered groups of 2-4, the ages on all my current chicks are up to one month apart. Above are pictures of several of the oldest chicks. The blue-silver cockerel is the oldest, and he is the only blue-silver as I did not feel the quality of my silver Phoenix were as good as the reds. That said, the chick is so far quite pretty and leggy. It's hard to tell what leg color I'm getting - the straight BBR's are slate with about 25% green legs, and the rooster has white legs, but the mixed chicks are looking yellowish green.