the sultan thread

[BantyChooks]

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.

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That's great! I have been gettin fertile EE eggs from my sultan and silkie roo, so i'm hopin I can hatch an EE/Sultan cross.

 

[yellowherb]

EE/sultan would be interesting lol. At least you have the beards and muffs, right? I'd love to get a Crevecour hen and attempt a black sultan. I think the Crevecour would be the way to go with it being so similar to the Sultan already (minus 5th toe and feathered legs)

I'm checking the fertility of my sultans and once I establish they are laying fertile eggs I really, really want to find other sultan lovers who want to trade pure sultan eggs to try and dilute the bloodlines a bit. I keep debating on getting some hatchery chicks but I'd much rather get a varied bloodline from several people rather than 10+ from a hatchery.

 

[BantyChooks]

EE/sultan would be interesting lol.  At least you have the beards and muffs, right?  I'd love to get a Crevecour hen and attempt a black sultan.  I think the Crevecour would be the way to go with it being so similar to the Sultan already (minus 5th toe and feathered legs)

I'm checking the fertility of my sultans and once I establish they are laying fertile eggs I really, really want to find other sultan lovers who want to trade pure sultan eggs to try and dilute the bloodlines a bit.  I keep debating on getting some hatchery chicks but I'd much rather get a varied bloodline from several people rather than 10+ from a hatchery.

Yep, 2 have muffs & beards, and I'd hatch those hen's eggs.



Question: where can I find a Sultan SOP?
The reason I ask is that Bubbles, despite being a hatchery sult, looks remarkably like a show bird. Not planning on showing, i'm just curious.

 

[yellowherb]

I honestly don't know. The polish club are the ones who also have a section on sultans, but I haven't looked for the SOP of sultans. I am just going right now by what I find pleasing to my eye and what looks most like the drawn pictures on certain hatchery sites. For me personally I'd look for really neat but full head poof, vulture hocks and wings set in a way pleasing to my eye, very full long feathered toes.

Just to my eye, this is my best (favorite) hen.


Obviously not show chickens, they are kept on the ground and get to forage and free range and are locked up only at night. But one of my girls I've named paddle foot just because she has some very exaggerated feet feathering. The hen above has what I'd call normal feet, but I love her head poof fullness and it's shape. I don't think I have a perfect hen, each look different than the others, some have too much flesh showing on their faces, some have good feet, some not as good. But I love them all


Paddlefoot is in the back against the wall, you can just make out her exaggerated feet feathers. Forgive my Klingon looking roo. He fought the pheasant male and lost but his feathers are coming back. But maybe it's just me, but if I seen a hen like the one above I'd definitely do a double take and be wanting to know what it was

From what I've been able to tell sultans are put in the "All other standard Breeds" at shows. Which could be why local 4h groups tend not to show them?

 

[MavisMama]

That's where our Sultans were classed at the County Fair - all other standard - and we took res champion! Waaaayyyyy fun!!

 

[kiaa]

Azerbaijan sultan

 

[fishnet1971]

I soooooooo drool every time I see them!!!

 

[yellowherb]

My Sultan chicks from Ideal just arrived. I've been anxious to get them to the point I slept lightly all night in hopes of a early morning phone call from the post office.

I ordered 12 Sultan straight run and 8 pullets of other breeds. The chicks look pretty good. Ideal did delay my order a few days due to not having enough hatch out of something or other (I suspect sultans).
One sultan chick is worrying me. It's very, very tiny compared to the others and I suspect it's a bantam they tossed in to make 12. But it's been injured in shipping. Looks like a slipped hip. I really, really do not want to cull a sultan!!

The sultan chicks all have 5 toes on each foot. some of them look sort of fused, but I wanted to get them in the brooder quickly so did not double check if they were or not. The head bumps are not quite as big as sultan chicks I hatched from eggs but it could be my faulty memory. One chick for sure is missing a toenail, but there may be more than one since it was just a quick health check.

I know they are hatchery chicks and not show quality, so my expectations are sort of low but I am surprised by them all having 5 toes on each foot. I'm hoping I have at least a few keepers from them for my flock.

Ideal's prices and shipping is very reasonable. Of all the hatcheries I looked at they were the most affordable and where I decided to start. As time goes on and I need to add fresh blood I may order from other hatcheries looking for my idea of what a good sultan should look like. The only problem with Ideal is that it's straight run only on Sultans. Everywhere else I looked was out of pullets for the "year" already

Good news is that I've decided to take my Flossy Mae(and some English budgies and cockatiels) to the high school for a genetics lesson on Tuesday. I am hoping she gets some people interested in sultans when they see how beautiful they can be.

Flossy thinks she's well hidden

 

[fishnet1971]

I just ordered a brinsea Eco 20..........

 

[yellowherb]

I found a sultan egg laid under my steps after a long dry spell of no eggs. I could see on day 3 it was fertile and growing and on day 5 it was dead Talk about bummed.

Today I found another in their nest box and I was leaving it to see if I could encourage them to keep laying. When I went out to lock up the chickens I found my mille fleur hen in the nest box and she had rolled the egg out so she could sleep there..urgh. The Millies have their own yard and coop but they insist on staying with the sultans. I hate keeping them locked up in their own yard while the sultans get to free range.

I'm over run with Mille eggs and chicks. they are beyond fruitful while the sultans continue to explain to me why they are so rare and hard to find by their lack of eggs.