NEW Sussex Color (Cuckoo)

[3riverschick]

Hi Tad,
Does the chick down bear out your thoughts on the adult's genotype?
Thanks, Karen in western PA

 

[Hennypen]

I don't think she's offering these any more.

 

[riverrockfamilyfarm]

Tim,
The original chick that started this whole thing was a day old chick from Greenfire farm. I guess Greenfire could have allowed an intruder, but I think they run a pretty tight ship.

I am standing by my belief that these birds are of pure sussex origin. They are the proper size and shape of a sussex. They do not look anything like a barred rock nor a maran in body type or feather organization.

We will be offering these birds in the spring of 2012.

I will post pictures of the chicks today or tomorrow. They are feathering out beautifully. And I just hatched a second batch yesterday. They will be the last batch for 2011. They are strong and healthy, I will post pictures of them as well.

Cheers
Suzie

 

[tadkerson]

Quote:
The only other possibility is that a female lite sussex with very little black in the hackles was carrying the barring gene. It did not show in the tail. Some where in the past someone used delaware to improve the sussex.

Tim

 

[tadkerson]

Quote:
Karen,

The white heads on the two chicks is very unusual. I have seen that on some of my birds but it has always been a brown color. The brown heads on my chicks was always associated with a restrictor called dark brown.

Suzie,

Would you post pictures of the white headed chick's flight feathers when they grow in. My guess is that they will come in white and black. The rest of the chicks will come in black.

Tim

 

[Hennypen]

Quote:
ohhhhh. So they're not pure after all.

 

[tadkerson]

Quote:
ohhhhh. So they're not pure after all.

They are purebred. As long as they have the proper genes they are purebred. Most chickens are pretty much genetically the same- it is in a few genes that they are different.

I think breeders should think of birds as purebred for the genes and not a breed. A Light Sussex and a Delaware are pretty close to being the same bird genetically. There are differences in skin color, barring, hackle color and body confirmation- but the rest they are basically the same.

A chicken is a chicken. All chickens share certain genes that make them chickens- some people are all high falutin and have there nose in the air because their birds are from certain line or blah, blah, blah. I approach this according to the standard of perfection- if one bird meets the standard of perfection and another bird gets the same score- they are both the same in my eyes and according to the judge.

Tim

 

[jeremy]

They used Delawares to improve the Sussex? For some reason I find that very hard to believe... Delawares as a breed have so many faults themselves and such a small gene pool I can't imagine someone introducing them to a different breed to try improve another bird.

 

[Hennypen]

So a chihuahua with a great dane 3 gens back in the pedigree is a purebred chichuahua because it has no resemblace to a great dane?

Why are the rules different for chickens?


I would say a "sport' (genetic mutation) from a purebred line is a purebred. But this doesn't sound like a sport.

 

[tadkerson]

Quote:
If the barring did not come from a delaware and it did not come from a black/barred bird, where did it come from? If the Silver Sussex carried barring that would easily be seen by the breeders- the Light Sussex hen is the only possible bird that could carry the gene and it be hypostatic (hidden). If you have a better explanation I will be glad to read the explanation.


Tim