show quality speckled sussex ??

[Arielle]

My general understanding at this point on SS is that the SS , the well bred to the SOP t ypes, are pretty much gone. Only a couple breeders have the old stock. So it is not surprising that those folks starting up good flocks of SS go back to these few lines.

 

[math ace]

hey all just an update, my hen is doing great, tried putting her back out but my flock had forgotten her so had to make an outside pen she gets to be out during the day so they get used to her again...she is such a sweet heart I can't believe she is still with me, when I picked her out from behind that last log I though for sure no matter what I could do she would not make it......but she is tough....WOW even, I took some pictures just now of her fighting with herself in the mirrored front of my stove, when I get them sized I will post em here... thanks for the well wishes and prayers cuz they worked....Kim
Ok puictures and great news she laid her first egg since her ordeal, a soft shelled one but I didn't expect her to lay again until spring after all she's been through,,,,,,,,,,,...... WHAT A CHICKEN HUH

This is such an awe inspiring story. I am so glad you shared it with us. MIRACLEs... LOVE IT when you are blessed with one

 

[math ace]

I love the cockerel! He seems like he is right on target and is already within the appropriate weight range for a cockerel. More would be better but he is within the 20% range, awesome!!! I think he stands just a little to upright but his coloring and tail look good and I LOVE his breast! What a chest that boy has.

I am LOVING the cockerel too. I was thinking about giving up on this breed. I have ordered so much stock from so many sources over the last few years. Most was not worthy of keeping. This boy has my blood pumping. I am ready to hang in another season with this breed and see if I can't get more inspiration hatching at my property

 

[math ace]

Math Ace,
Are you talking about the missing or super tiny blade on the second girls comb?

Yes, I am referring to the blade issue. In the past, she has been skittish and I haven't been able to get a good look at it. However, recently she has started coming to me when no one is around. Maybe I will be able to get a closer look at it soon

 

[math ace]

I just recently read, and of course can't remember where, that several of our SS lines are overlapping and have been passed through/along several breeders.

It was something like Tony Albritton and somebody else both got their line from Overton or Ashbrook and they both got their lines from similar places or something like that.

It gave a 30-50 at least year history of the lines of these SS. Anyway I really wish now that I had copied it when I read it so I had that info.

I know what I posted above is not correct but it was something to that effect. If anyone knows or has read that also can you please repost it???

I could have read it here, or on the heritage thread I've been reading through (that I just spent about 3 hours trying to skim back through almost 200 pages =2000 posts), or maybe I read in a magazine or Poultry Press or something???? Tried to do some searches and came up with unrelated stuff. Thanks for your help if you have this info somewhere!

I will help out here. . . .

Gary Overton is known as Mr. Speckled Sussex here in the USA. He was a sponsor of the breed in one of the previous SOP editions.
Tony Albritton, Art Rieber, and Walt Reichert got their stock from Gary Overton. That does NOT mean that the breeder's birds look the same.
Each breeder will effect what their stock looks like by how they cull. Each breeder will have the own opinion of what is most important. I would LOVE to see the big 3 - Tony, Art, and Walt go head to head in a competition. However, it looks like their regions tend not to overlap.... Tony is on the West Coast, Art is in the North, and Walt is in Kentucky.

Not only does the individual breeder's culling decisions effect the quality of their stock, but LIFE can get in the mix too. For example, Gary had some predator issues a couple of years ago and his flock was almost wiped out. He had to outsource his stock to rebuild his flock. Walt had some rooster fertility issues and had to outsource his stock to Gary for fertile roos. Tony had some disease issues a couple of years ago. What I am saying is these well known SS breeders will be exhibiting new stock due to the outsourcing that they had to do. It will be an interesting year in 2013 to see how these guys do.. .. I still would love to see them compete with each other at a show.

 

[Arielle]

Great info on clarifying the connections between those sources of SS.

Lisa I would hate to see you give up on the SS. For several reasons. One: I love your inspiration and observations and you willingness to share insightful info. ANother is that the SS are more than skin deep as Ghost rider has demonstrated with "Tenacious" . I do feel like we all forget that pursuing the SOP is a lifetime endevor. I read an old book, and 15 years of breeding by all the local breeders in England brought the bird to a new level. THey also had volume on their side, to select just the few and the best out of hundreds on each farm times how many producers. Three: We need more breeders, not less, to make good stock more available. While the SS has lost size I think it still has the character innate to the SS. That I see as valuable. Four: this bird has great personality. A fav w/ my kids. ANd we will need to capture the hearts of children NOW to have future breeders of the SS

Off my soap box.

DId I tell you about the genetic problem I had with my flock of sheep? Sufficient inbreeding to reveal a bad recessive gene. I didn't throw the baby out with the bath water, rather as a quick fix, found a completely undrelated ram to dilute the homozygous recessive. ( In the future, Test mating will reveal who has the genes and I can cull from there.) Change and alter plans but don't give up.

 

[math ace]

Great info on clarifying the connections between those sources of SS.

Lisa I would hate to see you give up on the SS. For several reasons. One: I love your inspiration and observations and you willingness to share insightful info . .


Change and alter plans but don't give up.

Thank you!

I really did choose to work with this breed because of their unique personality.
The "Change and alter plans, but don't give up" is a very thought provoking and motivational comment. Thanks again.

I've got the time to give to the breed as long as I think I am getting somewhere with them each generation....

 

[cowchick11]

MathAce and all other SS enthusiasts just a few comments and a challenge!
Does anyone know if Gary Overton got his birds from Rev. Ashbrook or if they had different lines? Seems like Rev. Ashbrook was in there someplace. I know that he is no longer breeding SS, but he is listed as a Master Breeder for SS. I have read that it takes a min of 5 YEARS to call a line your own???

I am curious how long each of the people that are breeding now have been with their lines because as MathAce mentioned each breeder brings their own vision to the breed. Perhaps as we are all getting our stock, some will choose to show and before we "put our stamp on the breed" we will be able to meet at shows to compare the current strains. The only place that I have had any competition at a show so far with SS was at our Western WA State Fair but I never saw any of the other exhibitors to ask them what their source was for their birds. BTW mine placed over the other birds

, I suspect that at least 2 or 3 were feed store birds.

With my set back of loosing the one cockerel that I had selected to retain for breeding I too am changing and altering my plans. I feel at this point like we should put up a challenge to ourselves. I feel like I have 2 or 3 very nice pullets, I plan to weigh them again tomorrow if the weather cooperates, now that they have been laying for a few months. I have been talking with Mr. Albritton about getting chicks from him at a March show were he usually sells chicks. MathAce has an excellent cockerel and "sees" what is wrong with her pullets. I know that others are also working on SS. What if we thought of this as a fresh group of breeders that was trying to get a new breed/variety into the SOP? I propose a challenge of a 5 year trial. How far do you think we can get in 5 years? Will we individually have a group of birds that looks fairly uniform? What will we discover about ourselves and our breed and breeding as we get into our project? What do you all think of this proposal?

I have had many years of breeding experience with my cattle, over 20 now! I almost quit a few years ago when we lost 3 calves in 3 years. Our herd is small 10-15 animals at a time only. Lots of discussion with my family, vet, and some with other breeders convinced me to keep going. I did a little bit of breeding with my bantam White Plymouth Rocks when I was in 4-H and FFA. I can tell you that a solid color pattern is fairly easy in cattle to figure out, fairly easy in solid colored birds, and that the color pattern alone that we have selected to work with will be tough. I say we attack it with the build the barn first in mind and see were five years takes us.

 

[Arielle]

Cowchick-- love your challenge!! I have raised horses and sheep for 20 years, set backs occur; I convinced myself to keep going otherwise the lesson would be useless. Use the information to better the current operation.

I have an old mare now 20, and my biggest lesson with her is: focus on the strengths as well as the weaknesses. I had focused solely on fixing the little things that needed improvement that I stopped seeing her as an awesome broodmare; she just wasn't ever good enough. Only when I retired her did I see her again in her entirety. What a lovely horse.

I looked at my 6 SS hens today, and see a width to a few of them that is so unlike many of my hatchery birds. I have hope.

 

[silkieloverz123]

Your birds are all great!!
-SilkieLoverz123