Beautiful Long Tail Chickens: Onagadori & More (2024)

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Long-tailed chickens have an undeniable beauty that sets them apart from their more commonplace counterparts. To fully appreciate these majestic birds, it’s important to learn about the breeds and understand how to raise them successfully.

On this page we will discuss beautiful long tailed chicken breeds like Cubalaya, Onagadori, Phoenix, Sumatra and Ohiki. We will also provide tips for raising chicks and distinguishing hens from roosters in eight popular breeds.

If you are looking for information on keeping your own flock of feathery friends with exceptionally stunning tails, read on! There are fascinating long-tailed breeds like the Cubalaya, Onagadori, Phoenix, Sumatra and Ohiki to discover.

Tips are also provided for raising chicks and identifying gender differences in eight common breeds.

Long-Tailed Chicken Breeds

Have you considered adding some beautiful, long-tailed chicken breeds to your flock? Long-tailed breeds like the Cubalaya, Onagadori, Phoenix, Sumatra, Ohiki, and Yokohama offer unique ornamental qualities for exhibitions or simply admiring their elegant plumage around your farm.

Cubalaya

You’re blessed with a stunning Cubalaya whose flowing tail feathers add regal elegance as he struts about your backyard.

• Gently perch them nightly.
• Perform a daily feather-check and grooming.
• Provide high-protein treats.
• Allow outdoor space to roam freely.

Your majestic Cubalaya demands diligent care to maintain his flowing, iridescent plumage. Cherish this exotic gift as you cater to his needs. Satisfaction comes from nurturing the unique life in your care.

Onagadori

You ought to acquire some knowledge about the Japanese Onagadori, an exceptionally rare breed valued for its extraordinarily lengthy tail feathers extending over 10 meters. Originating in Japan’s Tosa Province, the Onagadori is a treasured yet endangered breed with around 250 total birds kept by specialist breeders.

Prized for their exquisite Kawari-honge feathers, Onagadori roosters carry non-molting genes enabling extravagant tail feather growth. Supporting Onagadori breeding and conservation helps preserve this singular Japanese heritage breed.

Phoenix

Seeing saddle feathers reaching 18 inches long, the German-Japanese Phoenix struts as a popular pick though it needs plenty of space for its active nature. Combining an active temperament with impressive plumage, this breed thrives when provided sufficient room to roam.

Its striking feathers and lively spirit make the Phoenix a showstopper, but potential owners should ensure they can meet its demands for space and stimulation.

Sumatra

Sumatra’s got jet black feathers that’ll make this long-tailed chicken a true show bird in your flock. Timid fellows, though. They’ll jump straight up if you startle them. But their fancy saddle hackles and long, graceful tail feathers are pure black beauty.

Keep the coop roomy with high perches so their long feathers don’t drag. And give them comfy, tight well-bedded areas since they hate drafty winds. Treat this ornamental breed right and your prize Sumatra roosters will strut their stuff.

Ohiki

How about we give a holler to the friendly, stocky Ohiki bantams with their dainty yet elegant long tail feathers next? Here are 5 tips for the care of these lovelies:

1. Provide extra roosting bars to prevent feather breakage.
2. Feed a high-protein diet for lustrous feathers.
3. Monitor for parasites frequently.
4. Give sand baths to keep feathers pristine.
5. House youngsters separately to prevent bullying.

These active bantams are a delight, though that magnificent plumage does require some extra care.

Yokohama

You’re in for a real treat with this stately beauty, whose snow-white plumage and flowing tail feathers will make your barnyard look fit for royalty. The regal Yokohama chicken hails from Japan, bearing long saddle feathers and a distinctive red comb.

Providing spacious housing and perches prevents soiling of its elaborate costume. Though originally endangered, dedicated Yokohama breeders have preserved the breed. With moderate egg production and a docile temperament, these gentle giants bring elegance to any flock.

Tips for Raising Long-Tailed Chickens

When raising long-tailed chicken breeds, you’ll need to take some special measures to accommodate their unique physical features. Provide perches to prevent the chickens’ exceptionally long tail feathers from dragging on the ground.

Allow ample indoor and outdoor space for roaming. Maintain a high-protein diet along with a clean environment to support healthy feather growth.

Provide Perches

You’ll want to provide high perches so their long tails don’t drag on the ground. Install sturdy perches at least 12 inches off the ground. This allows longtails to roost comfortably without damaging feathers.

Consider rounded perches to prevent foot problems. Ensure adequate space between perches for longtails to spread their tail feathers. High perches in a spacious, clean coop support natural behaviors and healthy feathers in long-tailed breeds.

Make the Coop Spacious

You must build a spacious coop for longtails, at least 6x6x8 ft for some breeds. Construct your coop with wide doors and high ceilings to accommodate long, flowing tails. They roost on specially padded perches near the coop’s center to keep feathers off the ground.

Some varieties also need outdoor runs of at least 10 square feet per bird for tail care and exercise. These ornamental longtails prefer freedom over confinement more than egg production breeds do.

Let Them Roam

Allow at least 10 square feet per chicken for roaming outside the coop. You’ll see happy birds enjoying the free-ranging benefits like foraging, dust bathing, and chasing bugs outdoors. Ensure there is adequate space for long tails when roaming. Careful monitoring helps prevent tangled feathers.

Daily roaming maintains active and healthy roosters while decreasing aggressive behavior, though be mindful of territorial roosters.

High Protein Diet

Feed them bodybuilder-style protein shakes daily for freakishly long feathers. To support rapid feather growth, provide a diet with 18-20% protein. Prioritize ingredients like fish meal, meat meal, and legumes to meet their high protein requirements.

Balance the diet with grains and vitamins to avoid deficiency. With proper nutrition, their fabulous plumes will astound.

Keep Them From Molting

Keep their coop well-lit and draft-free to prevent premature molting.

• Maintain temperatures above 65°F.
• Don’t abruptly change day length.
• Keep the coop clean and disinfected.

Preventing molting ensures long, healthy feathers in your longtail chickens. Providing a consistently warm, well-lit environment and clean housing helps maintain feather growth and prevent premature molting in longtail breeds.

Roosters Vs. Hens: Behavior & Physical Differences

Have you ever wondered about the differences between roosters and hens beyond just the crowing? This quick guide will go over physical traits like combs, feathers, and wattles as well as behaviors like strutting, nesting, and brooding, so you can easily tell roosters and hens apart.

The most noticeable difference between roosters and hens are the more prominent combs and wattles that roosters have. A rooster’s comb is larger and stands upright on top of their head, while a hen’s comb is smaller and floppy.

Roosters also have larger wattles under their beak. Hens tend to have small, minimal wattles.

When it comes to feathers, roosters often have long, pointed neck feathers called hackles. These feathers can stand upright, especially when displaying. Hens have shorter hackle feathers. Also, roosters have colorful, iridescent tail feathers that they use for courting displays.

One behavior that distinguishes roosters is strutting. Roosters strut by puffing out chest feathers, slowly pacing with exaggerated leg movements, and holding their tail feathers up. Hens do not perform this ritualistic behavior. Instead, hens busy themselves with nesting activities like laying eggs in nests and brooding baby chicks.

So in summary, the prominent combs and wattles, long hackle neck feathers, colorful tail feathers, and ritual strutting behaviors help identify roosters, while smaller combs, shorter hackle feathers, less colorful tail feathers, and nesting behaviors help identify hens.

Keeping these physical and behavioral differences in mind will help you differentiate between roosters and hens.

Physical Characteristics of a Rooster

You’ll revel in those massive tail feathers that sweep the ground as your longtail rooster struts about.

Roosters have vivid plumage and long sickle feathers in the tail. Their loud crowing establishes dominance. Spurs are for fighting and wattles indicate health. Roosters exhibit machismo – strutting, crowing, fighting, and mating.

Roosters have distinct physical and behavioral differences from hens. Their flashy feathers, aggressive nature, and loud vocalizations exemplify machismo.

Behavioral Characteristics of a Rooster

What you oughta consider is that a cock has a cock-a-doodle-doo attitude and struts around like a big shot.

• Belligerent behavior, challenging rivals and predators.
• Flamboyant courtship displays to attract hens.
• Alert, vigilant to protect flock from danger.

A cocky rooster crows at first light to establish dominance. He aggressively chases away threats with sharp spurs and beak. During mating season, his flashy feathers and dance woo the ladies. As head honcho, he remains on high alert, ready to sound the alarm if anything seems amiss.

Physical Characteristics of a Hen

Now look for hens with fuller, rounder bodies to get those lovely longtail eggs in your coop! Hens tend to have smaller combs and wattles compared to roosters.

Characteristic	Hens	Roosters
Comb and wattle size	Smaller	Larger
Feather coloring	Duller browns	Bright, iridescent colors
Tail feathers	Shorter	Longer, arched
Body size	Smaller, rounded	Larger, angular

Focus on selecting hens with good egg production and healthy feather growth. The behaviors of a hen when nesting are fascinating to observe as well.

Hen Feathers

Hens have shorter tail feathers than roosters for practical purposes. Hens with long, elaborate tail feathers would find it difficult to mate, brood chicks, and scratch for insects. Their relatively plain plumage allows them to blend into the landscape while nesting.

To keep your hen’s feathers healthy, provide a nutritious diet, access to clean water, and a stress-free environment. Avoid overcrowding and sudden changes to reduce molting. With a little TLC, your hen’s feathers will retain their natural beauty.

Behavioral Characteristics of a Hen

You would be as skittish as a cat near a vacuum cleaner if someone startled you while foraging peacefully.

1. Nesting communally
2. Dust-bathing together
3. Roosting side-by-side

However, their social tolerance ends when sitting on eggs. Hens become defensive, attacking any intruders.

Sexing Confusion Among Some Chicken Breeds

Sexing some long-tailed chicken breeds like the Onagadori can be quite difficult given the roosters’ exceptionally long plumage.

Breed Sexing Challenge

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Onagadori Roosters and hens both have long tail feathers

Yokohama Feathering is similar in both sexes as chicks

Sumatra Young birds lack distinguishing comb and feather characteristics

Phoenix Roosters and hens have long, flowing feathers making them hard to distinguish

Cubalaya Both genders have tails extending past their feet as adults

Determining gender in long-tailed breeds requires close examination of comb size, feather patterns and tail angles. Observing behaviors like crowing and egg laying provides the most accurate results. Your best bet’s having a veterinarian or experienced breeder handle sexing. Master chicken sexers use specialized skills to identify gender based on wing feathers and brooding patch differences.

How to Determine if Chicks Are Male or Female

It seems you are trying to sex some chicks to determine their gender. Vent sexing by examining the chick’s vent is the most reliable way for an experienced poultry enthusiast to distinguish males from females.

Factors like feather coloration, thickness, and growth rate can provide clues about sex, while DNA sexing is the most accurate method.

Auto-Sexing Through Coloration

You’ve got some colorful characters in your flock when auto-sexing reveals their gender through plumage:

1. Red and black barring signifies a female in Barred Rocks.
2. Speckled and red feathers indicate you have a Rhode Island Red rooster.
3. Solid black plumage denotes a female Australorp.
4. White feathers with a black tail reveal a male White Leghorn.
5. A Cuckoo Maran with creamy feathers is a lady.

Sex-Linked Coloration & Feather Growth

To determine the sex of your chicks, take note of their coloration and feather growth. In sex-linked breeds like Barred Rocks, males exhibit a white dot on their heads at hatch, while females remain solid in color.

Males may also develop long, pointed saddle feathers faster than females. Observe chick behavior as well – males tend to be more dominant. For ornamental breeds bred to exhibition standards, know the breed’s genetic variations.

Vent Sexing

Determining a chick’s sex through vent sexing allows a deeper understanding of your longtails’ genetics. Closely examine the vent area. Male chicks have a rounded protrusion, whereas females have a folded or indented vent.

With practice, you can correctly sex day-old chicks with 95 percent accuracy. Vent shape offers immediate gender clues. Confirm by examining feather growth around the wings at 4 weeks. Males show faster, longer flight feathers.

Sexual Dimorphism

You’ll notice a rooster’s comb and wattles developing earlier than a hen’s, as sexual dimorphism clues you in. Roosters grow pointed hackle and saddle feathers, while hens sport rounded feathers. Behavioral contrasts emerge, too. Roosters are territorial, crowing often, while hens nest and brood.

Even chick behavior differs – males are more active, and females more reserved. Plumage and actions make gender identification straightforward.

How to Tell Hens From Rooster in 8 Popular Chicken Breeds

Raising chickens can be fun and rewarding, but telling the difference between hens and roosters for some breeds takes a keen eye. Let’s explore how to identify hens versus roosters in Silkies, Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers so you can have a well-balanced flock.

Distinguishing between hens and roosters in backyard chicken flocks requires close observation of physical traits and behaviors. For some breeds like Plymouth Rocks, the differences are quite obvious, while other breeds like Silkies have more subtle differences.

Paying attention to factors like comb and wattle development, feathering, and crowing can help chicken owners determine which birds are hens and which are roosters.

Silkie Hen Vs Rooster

You’d recognize a Silkie rooster by his larger wattles, pointier comb, and tendency to crow. Compare the Silkie hen’s rounded comb to the rooster’s pointed one. Noticing behavioral differences helps too.

Roosters are more vocal, aggressive and territorial. Hens vocalize far less. Focus on the feathers too. Roosters have pointed hackle and saddle feathers. Hens sport rounded feathers. For bantam breeds like Silkies, roosters weigh about 30% more than hens.

Handling gentle roosters and observing plumage shapes separates the hens from roosters.

Barred Rock Rooster Vs Hen

I’d say a Barred Rock rooster has larger, more pointed hackle and saddle feathers than the hen.

Roosters develop longer, pointed hackle and saddle feathers starting at 10-12 weeks.

Mature rooster tail feathers are longer, more pointed, and arch upwards.

Rooster combs and wattles are larger than the hen’s.

Rooster plumage has bold, dramatic barring while the hen’s is more muted.

Rooster behavior is dominant – crowing, patrolling, mating hens.

A Barred Rock’s gender can be determined by observing feather and comb development, as well as behavior, from a young age. Focus on hackle, saddle, and tail feathers in particular to identify the emerging rooster.

Rhode Island Red Rooster Vs Hen

Seeing the Rhode Island Red rooster’s larger comb and wattles helps distinguish him from the hens.

Rooster	Hen
Larger comb and wattles	Smaller comb and wattles
Pointed hackle and saddle feathers	Rounded hackle and saddle feathers
Long, pointed main tail feathers	Short, rounded main tail feathers
Bright red feathering	Duller brownish red feathering
Aggressive temperament	Docile temperament

Keeping a close eye on these differences makes identifying your Rhode Island Reds easier.

Ameraucana Rooster Vs Hen

Having trouble figuring out which of your Ameraucanas are roosters and which are hens? Don’t fret, I’ll help you sort the cocks from the hens quicker than a rooster crows at dawn.

The hens are the ones with pea combs and no pointy saddle feathers, while the roosters strut around with larger combs and long hackle feathers – easy as pie once you know what to look for.

Easter Egger Rooster Vs Hen

You’re facing differences telling Easter Egger roosters from hens by looking at comb shape, tail feathers, and behavior.

• Comb shape and size. Roosters have larger, more pronounced combs while hens have smaller, paler combs.
• Tail feathers. A rooster’s tail feathers are long, arched, and pointed while a hen’s are short, rounded, and neat.
• Behavior. Roosters tend to be more assertive, aggressive, and vocal, crowing frequently.
• Size. Roosters are noticeably larger than hens in body size.
• Hackle and saddle feathers. A rooster’s hackle and saddle feathers are long, pointed, and narrow while a hen’s hackle feathers are rounded and saddle feathers are shorter.

Knowing what differences to look for takes practice, so be sure to study up on how to accurately sex Easter Eggers. With time and experience, you’ll become adept at distinguishing key rooster versus hen differences.

Raising Long Tail Chickens

If you want a decorative bird, consider raising some elegant longtail chickens! Provide high perches and make their coop extra roomy, at least 10 feet per bird, so long tails don’t drag and break. Feed a diet with 20% protein to support quick feather regrowth. Prevent premature molting by keeping their environment clean, warm and brightly lit.

Gently tie up extra long tails with silk when needed. For rare breeds like Onagadori, partner with conservation groups and breeders to preserve these treasures. Although more work than typical chickens, a flock of Japanese longtails makes a striking living ornament sure to draw admiration.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)