show quality speckled sussex ??

[snowbird]

Quote:
Lisa, just remember the SOP says for the female to be fairly open and the male to be well-spread. Will say also if the fowl ss do not have nice wide Backs all the way to the tail you will find it very hard to have a nice open tail SS. The width of the back at the end section has something to do with the open tail that is wanted in the SOP. Now this is just what I believe from keeping records of breeding all kinds of poultry.

Catch up the Marans pullet and see how wide her end of back area really is for comparison to the SS pullet. I measure the back with a mechanical instrument to be clear on with.

 

[Howhardcanitbe]

Quote:
This is from one of my marans that has a very nice open tail

http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g420/cliff1801/IMG_2290800x600.jpg



This is one of my speckled sussex pullets with a pinched tail. I've got some more pullets with even tighter closed / pinched tails. I'll see if I can't grab a picture of them. These two birds - the bcm above and the ss below are the same age.

http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g420/cliff1801/speckled sussex/IMG_2190800x600.jpg

Thanks bunches, Math Ace. The pictures make it much clearer on what I should be looking for. I too have a lot of pinched tailed pullets, but I do have a few that a more open. Learning so much from you all.

I do have a question. There have been a few references to white undercoats, but without really saying whether white undercoats are good or bad. Should we be looking for white or slate gray or something else?

Robin

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Hey Robin....

Thanks and I am glad this thread is helping / teaching...

If you check out the very first page on this thread, I posted the sop for the males...and it says . . .

UNDERCOLOR of all sections: SLATE, shading to salmon, the salmon shading to light gray at base.

White is not the appropriate color.

 

[Orange Ribbon]

I have a question. Not naming the breeder, and I am not even suspecting this problem is their fault at all. But I checked with this private breeder that raised SS. They replied that they no longer raise SS due to many leg problems. What I am wondering is, are Speckled Sussex noted for having leg problems, or is this just a problem the breeder might have had with the flock they had?

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Of all the SS people I have spoke to, I have never heard of any problems with legs...

Coloring - Yes
Size - Yes
Feritility of the roosters - YES
Egg Size - YES

Leg issues - NO

Hope that helps

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Of all the SS people I have spoke to, I have never heard of any problems with legs...

Coloring - Yes
Size - Yes
Feritility of the roosters - YES
Egg Size - YES

Leg issues - NO

Hope that helps

Wondering if maybe they were talking about leg color issues ?

 

[Orange Ribbon]

Quote:
Of all the SS people I have spoke to, I have never heard of any problems with legs...

Coloring - Yes
Size - Yes
Feritility of the roosters - YES
Egg Size - YES

Leg issues - NO

Hope that helps

Wondering if maybe they were talking about leg color issues ?

Thanks math ace. Snowbird, the email I got didn't have any specifics, but they do advertise having several breeds that are SOP. So maybe they just couldn't get the color right with the ones they had and decided to scrap that program.

Daggone, I've sent out so many emails to breeders I can't even keep up with who all I sent them to. HA! Sometimes it will be a week or two before I hear back and by then I done forgot who they were. But nobody I checked with that raises Speckled Sussex has any SOP birds. I found one place that said they did, and boy the first picture of one of their hens looked pretty impressive although the tail was a little high. But then I saw the rooster and his wings had several solid white feathers and his chest was scrawny.

I am going to keep my eyes open as time rolls on incase I do happen to find some, but I'm not very optimistic at this point. I may have to find a different breed to try my hand at being picky with raising. I hate it because Speckle Sussex, to me, are the most beautiful chicken I have ever seen. Russian Orloff's are similar, but I don't care for how the head looks. Maybe they would grow on me if I had some though. I bought a pair of Spangled Old English Bantams at a chicken swap a few weeks ago. They are not up to standard, but they sure are pretty. I'm a sucker for speckled/spangled birds that have a dark background color.

Sorry, Math Ace. I got off a little bit from your topic here at the end of this post, but I'm just naturally a long winded sucker.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
No, these folks were talking about getting the right white and black with the mahogany.

 

[math ace]

Quote:

Still on topic . .. . Trying to find the elusive SOP speckled sussex breeders is surely a daunting task!

It is such a shame that the breed has fallen so far from the standard. Thanks to Don ( snowbird) I think we all have a much better idea of what we should be looking for when someone says they
have "show Quality" SS.

 

[RustyHen]

Math Ace,
Is the SOP for the SS hens the same as for the Roos or did I miss an additional page for them besides page one?