show quality speckled sussex ??

[fowlman01]

Quote:
I have a few pullets with this brownish color bleeding through on the shanks and toes....
and mine have more brown bleed through - - - It is up the entire middle of the leg shank.
On Buns photo, the brown I am talking about is right above the center toe.

Is it a problem? If so, how big of a problem?

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Walt

 

[Gallusfarm]

Hi guys I have been subscribed to this thread; really enjoying it. - Don't mean to interrupt the leg discussion...

BUNS your birds are beautiful!!

The material you are discussing can be applied to other breeds as well; thanks for all of the information.

I've had a few SS from Mt. Healthy. Here's the fellow, if you want to add him to your critique.

If I had to say, he needs way more mottling, his back is too short, comb could be smoother in the front, I could go on and on. Disposition wise, he gets an A+

10 months

Here's a typical hatchery hen - she's tiny with a pinched tail. Doesn't hold a candle to the beautiful backs and tail spreads of BUNS' birds. BUT would you say that the color of her beak is horn?

And back I go to lurking!

 

[snowbird]

Will try and help with the three females.

#1 is crow headed and a straight on shot or one from above will verify.

#2 has what is called twisted comb.

#3 would not breed because of very poor comb.

The crooked toes are probably from not enough humidity in the incubator.

Legs color, here you see the variance in APA and ABA standard. The red is normal in what I had.

I believe all are a little in Ear Lobe and would not breed because of that.

All this said pick out the female that is best and breed to your best Male single mated and keep only the best young from this mating.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
This is one of the better looking hatchery SS Males I have seen. Even though he is a little light on the spangles, but this is the coloration most want in the breeder Males. Edited to say, after going back and looking again believe the legs are to close together , and need to be wider apart.

The female is your typical SS hatchery bird crow headed, real narrow back, bad comb, bantam looking and poor at the least.

 

[snowbird]

Breast and Back

Lets ad on the Breast and Back, as Walt suggested straight on , side and over head shots will work best.

Both Hens and Males should have Long, Flat, broad its entire length Backs.

Breasts, Both should have : Broad : Deep : roundly nicely into body.


The broad Back abd breast will be easy to spot once you see a narrow Back or Breast. I look for both of these starting at a young age everytime I go into a group of young fowl. When I see a narrow Head, Back or breast I take out of the breeder pen and put into a cull pen for disposal.

Will say again if you are breeding to the SOP it is only going to happen if you are willing to cull very heavy. You can work on more than one fault as you set your breeding pens up. If you only intend working on one fault at a time you will be in a loosing battle as the faults will multiply faster than you will be able to fix them. After culling for a fault for a couple of year you will find that if you culled hard enough you will have less and less fowl to cull.

 

[snowbird]

Hey All, It is great to have WALT on the thread since he is Chairman of the APA Standards Committe. He is also a well known APA Poultry Judge, so if you have questions now would be the time to post them.

 

[snowbird]

Just a little on breeding for the Wide Breast and Back. For the back you will want it to be wide entire length to tail. It back narrows at back end tends to make the tail pinched and not open. If your Males has a nice broad and long back pick one to breed that is a little open with some fluff and will help the females not be pinched. By having right kind of back should keep from having egg bound hens also.

 

[caspaintcountry]

Haven't read through all of this post yet but has anyone working with sussex checked out http://americansussexbreeders.webs.com/ ? New club trying to get its feet off the gound. Not only will you find other hobbiests but breed specific, tons of info, and we can get a club up and running. I had LF SS in 2009 &2010 but sold them and started over with bantam SS from Rev Paul Ashbrooks/Bill Foxs flock. (Bill Fox took over Pauls line). I am estatic I was able to find and purchase these youngsters. And better yet I will get to meet Paul himself in September and we are going to go through my "kid" together!

Anyway I wanted to spread the word on the American Sussex Breeders Club.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
HOW YOUNG ? ?

When can you start judging the width of head, back, or chest ? ?

 

[math ace]

Quote:

So Glad to have Walt (fowlman01) and Don (snowbird)
around to help guide us through speckled sussex 101 !

You guys ROCK !