show quality speckled sussex ??

[math ace]

I hatched this bird about 8 months ago from my small group of SS, she doesn't have any white wing feathers and I thought she had quite good colouring. Is she good enough to be show quality?

Below you will find the point value for how the birds are judged. Notice that 63% of the points come from Type / shape of the bird. That means even if this bird was SPOT ON (LOL-

) for color, there is no way it would place at a serious competition unless the body was right. From the above photos, I really can not judge the bird for type. See if you can get some more photos with the bird in natural stances. We need photos from the front showing the chest, from the rear, from the side, and from the top.



GENERAL SCALE OF POINTS FOR SHOWING . .. . .

Total Possible SHAPE Color
Symmetry 4 4 -

Weight or Size 4 4 -

Condition and Vigor 10 10 -

Comb 5 5 -

Beak 3 2 1

Skull and Face 4 3 1

Eyes 4 2 2

Wattles 2 2 -

Earlobes 4 2 2

Neck 6 1 5

Back 12 (WOW) 6 6

Tail 8 4 4

Wings 8 3 5

Breast 10 5 5

Body and Fluff 8 5 3

Legs and Toes 8 5 3


TOTAL 100 pts possible 63 for SHAPE 37 for COLOR

 

[math ace]

Male SS color per APA SOP:

Color on Neck (5 pts):
HACKLE, lustrous mahogany bay, each feather having a narrow black stripe in lower half of web, the black stripe decreasing in width near end of feather and and then branching off to outer edge of each side of shaft near point. POINT OF FEATHER distinctly marked with diamond shaped white spangle.

Color on Tail (4 pts) :
Color on Wings (5 pts):
Color on BACK and Saddle (6 pts) : SAME as Hackle

COLOR is consistently the SAME in each body part on the SS...
THIN BLACK LINE, V shape, Crescent shape, etc.
TIPPED with WHITE spangle, Usually SMALL white SPANGLE

 

[math ace]

The APA SOP describes the coloring of the FEMALE SS as . . ..

Color
Example1 :
Mahogany bay, each feather tipped with a white spangle, a NARROW crescentic black bar dividing the white from the balance of the feather.

Example #2 :
Mahogany bay each feather tipped with a SMALL white spangle, a NARROW crescentic black bar dividing white from balance of feather.

Example #3 : Mahogany bay, each feather tipped with a SMALL white spangle, a NARROW, crescentic black bar dividing white from the balance of feather.

NOTICE the repeating of SMALL SPANGLE and NARROW black bar.. These two aspects are the key to a great colored SS.

 

[Clucksworth]

Thankyou for your help, I don't have any pictures of her standing properly and since these pictures were taken last month she has been trodden badly by my cockerel so is not in such good condition as she was before. I do not intend to show her, but I was more interested in whether you thought she would make a good bird to breed from?

 

[math ace]

. . . .I thought she had quite good colouring. Is she good enough to be show quality? . . .

When it comes to coloring with the SS, TWO phrases are repeated over and over in the SOP -

1.) Tipped with a SMALL white spangle.

2.) Divided with a NARROW crescentic black bar.

Not having any White feathers in the wing is good, very good. White feathers are DQ's.
There are places where the coloring on your pullet could use some improving. Specifically, on the neck feathers, the black is not a NARROW black bar.
On the lower body / fluff, the color seems a little sloppy. However at her age, she could be molting and that would make those feathers look sloppy. There are a couple of wing feathers with really large black spots, not even close to barring. Again, if she is in the process of a final juvie molt... those may come in beautiful. She has really nice defined "V" crescentic black barring on the tail coverts. OVERALL, coloring looks pretty nice.

Is she show worthy... Still have to evaluate the other 63% of points for BODY Type.

Is she Show Worthy... KEEP in Mind that EVERY bird is Show Worthy if there is NO COMPETITION. I know at the shows I have attended, there have been no Large Fowl SS for years. I could of taken my ebay specials to the show and won. So when you hear folks saying they have won at a show, DO NOT ASSUME they have a better bird than you do. KNOW the SOP and judge the bird accordingly. That is why I started this thread. I wanted us to be able to judge the birds for ourselves.

I look forward to seeing some body shots of this bird.

 

[Clucksworth]

As I explained earlier, she has been trodden so I wouldn't not show her in her current condition. I hope these shots are good enough, its a bit hot so she was quite eager to get out the sun and into the shade. I kindof just went mad with the camera, I hope these shots some of what you need. Haha

 

[math ace]

CLUCKSWORTH

Show Quality Speckled Sussex Thread!

 

[Clucksworth]

CLUCKSWORTH

Show Quality Speckled Sussex Thread!

Haha, thankyou
So is she a good chicken?

 

[math ace]

GOOD TIME to bring back the outlines photos we discussed before.
Concentrating on the SS female only - We are looking for ( and I am going to borrow Don's words) . .

" The sussex has a break in the flow of the Back and tail. The delaware does not have that break. The Sussex has more of a rear section break than the delaware. Also notice that the Sussex has a slope coming out of the neck Cape area where the Delaware does not. "

Looking at the hens...
I see the differences in the top line.
The speckled sussex has a longer back than the delaware hen.
The speckled sussex hen's back slopes slightly down towards the tail, but the delaware's back slopes slightly upward towards the tail.

From the backside, it would appear that the Sussex Hen shape is closer to the body at the vent. Whereas, the delaware's line from belly underside to tip of tail is consistently angling outward. Is this due to a difference in the looseness of the butt fluff ? ?

 

[math ace]