I raised Ganoi for several years and the stags highly respected the brood cock until the stags reached their second year. Some of them even waited until spring of their third year before challenging the brood cock, but when they did it was a fight to the end of one or the other.
The brood cock...
This dark pullet in the front came out of a Cubalaya to Cubalaya breeding. I don't remember that I've ever gotten one that's quite as similar to an oriental as this one. I like her high station a lot though so we'll see how she matures.
If she ever hatches out chicks again you could put her in a pen until the chicks are big enough to keep up.
If the existing chicks with her survive, you'll know that they were of the stronger longer legged ones and might be the better ones of the bunch for the project that you've got going.
I had some Ganoi years ago that never backed down from the guineas no matter how old the Ganoi were. All my Ganoi were raised by both parents so the youngsters never had to face the guineas on their own. Even so, I noticed that if they did happen to clash with a guinea despite having the...
I agree with what you've shared here concerning the 18 month molt. There is also, at least in my fowl a 9-11 month molt that is a good expression of the fuller feathered 18 month molt. Consider when most broody hen hatched chicks happen and then count forward from then to get your 18 month molt...
I had a hen that looked like that after a fox got a hold of her. She got away from him and healed up fine, but acted traumatized for almost two weeks afterward.
I'm not surprised that the pure Sumatra didn't survive very long. In my experience the show lines have had some of their instinct bred out of them, not necessarily because someone tried to, but simply because they weren't allowed to be predator savvy due to being overly protected in pens. I also...