show quality speckled sussex ??

[ericinga]

Mine is about 3 months old and is big. Then again its only with bantams at the moment so it looks big. That is the picture of it at a few weeks old as my profile picture. I have one chick I hatched from another breeder and it is a month old today and it is already fully feathered so I hope it is a hen in case my other is a rooster. I didn't notice the crooked toe until it was pretty big and didn't know I could fix it either.

 

[snowbird]

Couple more...

From what I can see your SS female looks to have real good color, also the white spangles look about right for her age. She will fill out even more as she matures.Looks to be a quality SS from the pictures.

 

[GreenRiverHen]

Hi
I'm planning to show my chickens this fall and I have a question about tails. My birds are 4 months in these pics. I know she will likely change a lot in the next couple of months.
I really like this girl--but I wonder if her tail is proper?

 

[snowbird]

The SS female is very nice and would do good in a show. Would like to see the tail a little more open but she is real nice. The Spangles are very nice and her overall color is great Let us know how you do when you show her.

 

[Naliez]

From what I can see your SS female looks to have real good color, also the white spangles look about right for her age. She will fill out even more as she matures.Looks to be a quality SS from the pictures.

Thank you! We got lucky with her; she's our best layer AND the most friendly, almost to an annoying degree. We tried to contact the original breeders to see if we could find a rooster to breed her to, but they had changed out their stock. It's okay because we are still pretty new and probably wouldn't know how to breed to the sop without a lot of trial, error and luck. One day...

 

[GreenRiverHen]

The SS female is very nice and would do good in a show. Would like to see the tail a little more open but she is real nice. The Spangles are very nice and her overall color is great Let us know how you do when you show her.

Thanks so much for your input. I will let you know how she does---although there are some really nice birds near us she will be up against. I don't expect to win but I expect to learn a lot

 

[atotton]

My 18 week old cockerel. What do you think?

 

[3riverschick]

Thank you! We got lucky with her; she's our best layer AND the most friendly, almost to an annoying degree.

We tried to contact the original breeders to see if we could find a rooster to breed her to, but they had changed out their stock. It's okay because we are still pretty new and probably wouldn't know how to breed to the sop without a lot of trial, error and luck. One day...

Real nice hen. Check out Brian's stock. Try and get a cock from him.
http://ontariopoultrybreeders.webs.com/championsatopb.htm
Last year he had a Speckled Sussex go Super Grand Champion of Show in Canada.
there is a famous top quality Speckled Sussex breeder in Canada. His name is Brian. Nuts, what's his last name? His business has the name "River " in it. Just stunning Speckleds. Let me look it up, back in a moment..... Speckled, to truly appreciate this tough-to-breed color, need to be bought from a breeder. that tri-color plumage is tough to get right. hang on a sec....ah! here it is! :
English River Poultry
Brian Woods Stephane Laliberte
Email English River Poultry http://www.erpoultry.weebly.com
Howick, Quebec, Canada Standard: Speckled Sussex

See the English River Sussex hen in this captioned picture at the website here?
http://erpoultry.weebly.com/
"2013 Ontario Poultry Breeders' Champion of Show #33"
Now That! is what a quality Speckled Sussex should look like!! Just a stunning bird both in plumage pattern and body composition. She can be your hallmark when comparing against Speckled Sussex you find elsewhere. In non-poultry terms this bird won Best In Show. A wonderful win for a top quality hen. If Brian doesn't have any birds available, ask him if he will have started birds available when he downsizes his flock for winter, as many of us do. That would save you the time of raising chicks this year and put you on track to hatch chicks with the rest of us next Spring. If he still doesn't have anything available ask him for recommendations.
In Sussex, the body type characteristics are very closely aligned with production virtues. In other words, if it doesn't look like a Sussex in body type, it literally isn't a Sussex. All those attributes you see in this splendid hen are the same things that make her a fine egg and/or meat producer. The level long back, properly shaped head, depth of body, width of breast, even length and width of legs, and angle at which she carries her tail. The Sussex breed in all its varieties is a balancing act between a superb meat breed and a quality egg producer. You find that fine balance expressed in birds of this hen's quality.
Best Regards,
Karen in western Pennsylvania, USA

 

[Naliez]

Contemplating taking my passion for chickens to another level is pretty exciting, but I gotta say, the idea of breeding to a point is slightly intimidating for someone like myself with no experience. I kind of fell into chickens by accident and it quickly became a passion, but everything I know has been self-taught, or learned through the friendly folks here on BYC. I've never been to a poultry show, in fact, I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and had not even SEEN a real, live chicken until my late 20's. We now live in Fayetteville, NC but as my husband approaches retirement from the Army, we would like to move away from the city where there are less restrictions on keeping poultry. I told my husband about our SS ladies being a good start to a possible breeding program and he looked at our SS, Peck who was sitting on a chair next to him eating a plate of meal worms and yogurt. He said "Well, then.... Only the finest cock for our ladies will do." Lol We have the two SS pullets, both from the same breeder. We tried to look for people who had bought other SS from the same hatch, but couldn't find any other than one gentleman who was trying to rehome his SS rooster. Since we still live within city limits, where roosters are not allowed, we couldn't help him atm. About having her serviced, I would be willing to do that, but again have no idea where to start. We practice basic common sense when it comes to biosecurity, but again, being a beginner, I would hate to make a mistake and endanger our mini flock of pet chickens as they mean a lot to us. What would you recommend I do to get a little more exposure to showing birds? Maybe meet like minded people who would be willing to answer my questions and possibly mentor myself and/or my young sons (one of whom is showing interest in a 4-H type of club in the future)? Are there clubs or something to that effect in the East coast area (NC area) that we could join to further our knowledge? I think I'm slightly nervous even about that. I don't want to show up, looking like a total noob and annoy everyone with my dumb questions. Lol I definitely would like to learn as much as I can first, so that I can be somewhat of an asset to the breed, rather than a careless "breeder" who makes false claims, and/or dilutes the quality due to my ignorance. One huge hurdle, and the thing that causes me the most hesitation, is culling. It seems like if you're dedicated to improving a breed, selling those culls would dilute the quality in the area and defeat the purpose. It seems like if you're going to commit to quality breeding, processing culls comes with the territory and I don't know if I could do it. Anyway, those are a few of my questions and concerns. Thank you for taking the time to read this! I appreciate any and all input. In the mean time, I'll post a few more pictures of my pretty SS ladies, Peck and Turk. They love showing off.

 

[GreenRiverHen]

...

Real nice hen. Check out Brian's stock. Try and get a cock from him.
http://ontariopoultrybreeders.webs.com/championsatopb.htm
Last year he had a Speckled Sussex go Super Grand Champion of Show in Canada.
  there is a famous top quality Speckled Sussex breeder in Canada. His name is Brian. Nuts, what's his last name? His business has the name "River " in it. Just stunning Speckleds. Let me look it up, back in a moment..... Speckled, to truly appreciate this tough-to-breed color, need to be bought from a breeder. that tri-color plumage is tough to get right. hang on a sec....ah! here it is! :
[COLOR=0000CD] English River Poultry[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]Brian Woods Stephane Laliberte[/COLOR]
Email English River Poultry [COLOR=0066CC]http://www.erpoultry.weebly.com[/COLOR]
Howick, Quebec, [COLOR=2D4038]Canada[/COLOR] Standard: [COLOR=2D4038]Speckled[/COLOR] [COLOR=2D4038]Sussex[/COLOR]

[COLOR=2D4038]See the English River Sussex hen in this captioned picture at the website here?[/COLOR]
http://erpoultry.weebly.com/
[COLOR=800080][COLOR=2D4038]"[/COLOR]2013 Ontario Poultry Breeders' Champion of Show #33"[/COLOR]
 

Brian sold his whole flock last fall--and not to me--although I tried. And I don't know where they went.
I think he only ever had those birds for a couple of years--but I could be wrong.

The Ontario Poultry Breeders Show--the one that Brian won in 2013-- had a gorgeous SS place as reserve champion of show in 2014. She was beat by a duck! She was bred by Sandra Ross here in Ontario. I don't have a good picture of her.