the sultan thread

[BantyChooks]

i thought sultans were supposed to have 4 toes?? where is the SOP listed

I can PM it to you. They are supposed to have 5.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

I can PM it to you. They are supposed to have 5.

so strange, that would make me think that somewhere Sultans and silkies share a gene
ETA: I guess i never look very close at my birds feet

 

[BantyChooks]

Question for sultan owners.... I've noticed all my sultans, which were from various sources, had pretty poor disease resistance. Has this been the case for others, or did I get a bad run?

 

[yellowherb]

@BantyChooks I've heard they are pretty poor on disease resistance. The breed was nearly lost once and there has been a lot of inbreeding to get numbers back. So I think it's taken it's toll on their resistance and things like my pet peeve of missing toenails (recessive).

Saying that, I have a yard full of sultan chicks and sultan mixes which are very hearty. I did a outcross with a D'uccle and have a half D'uccle hen and was using a half rooster. The chicks are crazy healthy. I'm now back to a pure rooster and pure hens, but I have kept the 1/2 hen too since she's broody. I plan on keeping one of the second generation 1/2's as my replacement rooster in about 4-5 months when one matures and I deem him worthy. The first generation 1/2 rooster did throw nice chicks from sultan mothers. They are more to type.

I think the best thing sultan breeders can do is to out cross them, then work with a large flock of pure and out crossed to get back to the sultan "look". A lot of people, and I do not mean to say it's wrong, this is my opinion, A lot of people are using polish to out cross. For me I chose to go with a different type all together. Polish have been inbreed a lot too so in my opinion they would not be a good out cross since you are looking for "fresh blood" to add in Sultans to make them more vigorous, healthy, better layers or whatever end goals you have.

I have a future interest in standard cochins to increase the size of sultan types and add colors by out crossing and then breeding back to type. The hardest work of outcross to a brown egg layer is getting back to white eggs.

 

[BantyChooks]

Thanks.

I also have noticed my sultan crosses have been exceptionally hardy. I've crossed them with EE and love the two pullets I got from that cross.

 

[yellowherb]

There are several interesting breeds that I think would be great using as a out cross, but then again you have to consider end goals. I'd hate to end up with sultans who were skittish or not friendly.

EE's are great just due to their wide range of colors and they already may have ear muffs and beards
Cochins due to feet and friendliness.
D'uccles due to feet, beards and ear muffs, and temperament. This would probably have been better using a bantam sultan x, my hen is tiny and very light and no where near a standard sultan size.
Silkies, well just due to the fact they are almost a fuzzy sultan as is. (probably as inbred as sultans though)

But WhooHoo..Ugly's got a chick and more piped eggs under her. She was threatening to rip me to pieces when I lifted her up to see what was happening.

 

[yellowherb]

Here's Ugly and 7 of her 8 babies. One was stuck in the shell, so I helped it out and it's in the hatcher drying off before going back to mom.
*not all of these are Ugly's. She just incubated them, but several are her chicks!






Ugly is a D'uccle mixed Sultan. Her mom was sultan and father was Mille Fleur.

 

[yellowherb]

Introducing Nellie. Sultan pullet who's about 5-6 months old. She's my first "keeper" who I think is pretty darned perfect. My picture taking skills are terrible.


One of my favorite Mixed chicks from Ugly x Charlie. It's a pity this chick has 4 toes. This is 3/4 sultan.


More Mixed from Ugly x Milton. I LOVE the black and white speckled rooster. 4 toes Ugly only has 4 toes, so roughly 50% of her chicks are 4 toes and odds have been it's the colored chicks. I call these guys the rooster squad. These are my last chicks from the Ugly x Milton cross (both parents 1/2 d'uccle) since I no longer have Milton. Ugly is now crossing with a pure bred sultan rooster named Charlie.


White chick, we shall call OOPs and a OEGB chick.
OOPs must be a x with a short legged OEGB red rooster I had with a sultan hen. I did not think he could top the larger hens..
OOPs is short shanked and very tiny. She's always game to hang with the bigger chicks though but stays well hidden in the flock so it's nearly impossible to get a clean picture of her. In fact I only JUST figured out why she looks so different.

 

[Hen2Hand]

Hello- I'm a newbee to BYC. I've been breeding my white silkie roo with my standard Sultan hens. The outcome has presented F1 beautiful Sulkies which look much like a sultan, are pure white, sweet, small, and good layers...unlike their Sultan mothers. I'm extremely pleased with this combination for my roo is true white which so far has created "no" leakage in the first off spring. My question to my new human flock is...Will this hybrid bird have a place in the market ? I hope to post pics once I figure out how, lol. Thank you for your time and support.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Hello- I'm a newbee to BYC. I've been breeding my white silkie roo with my standard Sultan hens. The outcome has presented F1 beautiful Sulkies which look much like a sultan, are pure white, sweet, small, and good layers...unlike their Sultan mothers. I'm extremely pleased with this combination for my roo is true white which so far has created "no" leakage in the first off spring. My question to my new human flock is...Will this hybrid bird have a place in the market ? I hope to post pics once I figure out how, lol. Thank you for your time and support.

it all depends on who is around you and what they are looking for, unfortunately they are 'mutts', and most people are looking for purebreds, heritage or meat crosses

BUT that isnt to say that your cross couldnt take off and sell like crazy

GOOD LUCK!!!