How to raise Backyard Chickens: [CHICKENS-101] Re: Sumatra's attn Dean

Hi Marla, The last Sumatras I had were Black large fowl. I kept 2 males and 5 hens in the same breeder pen and placed the nests about waist high on the wall of their house.

Sumatras can fly a lot higher than most domestic chickens but they are also like other chickens in the fact that they will usually lay in whatever nests you provide for them. A nest set on the wall between knee high and waist high on a person of average height should be comfortable for your Sumatras to lay in.

If your Sumatras are allowed to free range most of the day there will be a time when a hen will go missing and you won't see her again until she shows up with her band of semi-wild chicks. Accounts from other Sumatra breeders was that they had Sumatra hens nest in everything from a half buried old barrel, under sheds, between hay bales in a barn, burrowed under a log, and even in the large hollow of a tree.

I think most of us have experienced the ole Sumatra chicken wild streak at least once in our career of working with the breed. About the time you dismiss the stories you have been told about their little quirks that is when it will happen and there won't even be a clue it is going to happen.

A lot of people believe that light weight chickens need higher roosts and this isn't absolutely true. Light weight birds will often roost in the rafters of a shed if you let them but they will also roost on a ladder type roost in a building that isn't more than 2 feet tall at the bottom rung and maybe 5 foot at the very top rung.

Even hugely heavy chickens like large exhibition Brahmas, Cochins, Cornish, and Jersey Giants need a roost. They do best with a roost that they can just step up on and then sleep on that instead of trying to jump up and down to get to a roost that is a bit too high which is the major cause of bumble foot. Dean

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"Marla" <marlajulich@...> wrote:
I'm building a new coop and run for my Sumatra's. Up until now they've been housed in one of the stalls/runs of my show bantam coop (not cages).
My question (after your recent comment about hiding nests) Do Sumatra's typically like to nest high or low? I'm building the nests into part of the coop and it will be a pain if not impossible to move the nest boxes.
They will have more flying space and higher and more places to roost or perch in their new area. Thank you for any advice you can give me,
Marla