Pied Suffolk/Silver Sussex or Could it be a Black Birchen Maran cross

[Jambo88]

After reading the moonshiners leghorn thread it got me thinking about genetics a little bit which then got me thinking about the hybrids I used to have

One of my favourites was the “Pied Suffolk” (which as far as I understand is the same as a Silver Sussex) which was sold to me as a hybrid but when I googled the Sussex breed it said that Silver is a recognised colour so does that mean it’s a pure breed or is it a hybrid?

If so what breeds make up the cross (I presume the Light Sussex is in it somewhere) also all the pictures I’ve seen of a Pied Suffolk/Silver Sussex the legs aren’t feathered but mine was feathered so is there another breed that looks like a Silver Sussex but has feathered legs?

On a slight side note what about the Buff Sussex?

I think I’ve got too much time on my hands during the lockdown!

 

[Perris]

hello @Jambo88 ! greetings from South Wales

I recently discovered that the silver Sussex looks very like a Norfolk Grey; neither have feathered legs. Do you have a photo of your pied Sussex?

 

[Jambo88]

Hi @Perris

No unfortunately I had her about 4/5 years ago and any pics would be on one of my old phones

The feathering on her feet was a bit like a Brahma but not as dense if that makes sense? Maybe there was a random gene that popped up in her?

 

[Jambo88]

I just spoke to my other half to see if she remembered and she said thinks there was only 1 feather that pointed down wards from the joint on her leg? I think she’s right

 

[Perris]

don't think I can help then; assuming it was a hybrid, as originally stated, have a look through lightly feathered legs breeds to see if anything rings a bell. Egg colour can also help e.g. marans give dark eggs, ideally.

 

[Jambo88]

Thanks anyway

The poultry business that I used to get all my hens from is no longer trading because the owners retired so I can’t even ask them

The closest looking different breed is a dark Brahma

But with traditional Silver Sussex colouring and comb

The eggs were standard light brown

 

[Jambo88]

I think I might have found a closer match but I don’t think the egg colour matches but she looked just like this, if you zoom in on both you can see what looks like a single feather stretching down the leg


These are Black Birchen Marans

So if a Black Birchen Maran Rooster is crossed with a Light Sussex hen would that produce a hen this colour (from the father) but with light brown egg colour (from the mother)

 

[Perris]

that sounds very plausible (to my genetics-untrained mind!) The UK standard Marans is clean shanked but minor feathering is common apparently.