show quality speckled sussex ??

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Indy Edge said:
Your wings look good on the rooster. We had some almost solid white feathers show up in some of our roosters. If you have one of these feathers in a male or female pull it out and 8-10 weeks later a new feather will grown in it's place and sometimes change color to what you want. I like the body  type of the rooster in the photo and just the way he carries himself. I just can't see how big he is but he looks good and I'm sure a lot of people would like to own him :)
Click to expand...


Thanks, Indy :)
I've heard that before about pulling the feathers but never tried it. I have noticed with some of my older birds that sometimes they moult into decent colour--but sometimes they grow a white feather out of the blue. I guess I don't really have a reason to pull it unless I wanted to show them.
 
They were hatched out in May by Walt . I'm not sure of the weight I'll have to get them out soon and check, Walt has got a monster rooster that is his primary breeder.
 
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Do you know the weight of the monster?
I was aiming for the SOP weight of 9lbs --but I've been told by quite a few people they feel that the larger birds beat out the smaller ones consistently --even if the larger bird is overweight. Not fat--but big. My largest breeder is 9lbs.
When I see SS at shows they always look so big to me. Which leads me to believe that mine must be too small.
I find my largest hens are often poor layers so I can't (or rather won't) put them in the breeding pens. I started down this path because I wanted great dual purpose birds so they have to be decent layers.
Do you think it's possible to have it all? Was your last flock pretty--and productive?
Someone on another board was comparing show chickens to race cars --good looking but not practical. It got me a bit worried! The whole reason I wanted to work on the breed was to restore their productivity when I realized how lacking it was in the birds I acquired.
But I wonder if many of us have different priorities?
 
These are two of mine also hatched in May--near the end. The cockerel is 8 1/2lbs and the pullet 6. I don't plan to breed him with all that white but I will show him.
1000

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GreenRiverHen said:
Do you know the weight of the monster?
I was aiming for the SOP weight of 9lbs --but I've been told by quite a few people they feel that the larger birds beat out the smaller ones consistently --even if the larger bird is overweight. Not fat--but big. My largest breeder is 9lbs.
When I see SS at shows they always look so big to me. Which leads me to believe that mine must be too small.
I find my largest hens are often poor layers so I can't (or rather won't) put them in the breeding pens. I started down this path because I wanted great dual purpose birds so they have to be decent layers.
Do you think it's possible to have it all? Was your last flock pretty--and productive?
Someone on another board was comparing show chickens to race cars --good looking but not practical. It got me a bit worried! The whole reason I wanted to work on the breed was to restore their productivity when I realized how lacking it was in the birds I acquired.
But I wonder if many of us have different priorities?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure how big Walt's main rooster is but's he's quite impressive. If you would like to try and get his input on things I can PM his e-mail address to you. I think he has taken the Overton bloodline to the next level. Orpingtons are a little bigger then the Sussex and that will be one of your main birds to beat in the English Class. My flocks are usually productive. One thing I will start to do when I put my birds in breeding pens is mix some oats in their feed and some sunflower seeds in the scratch grains I give them. I think the oats and sunflower seeds help the males stamina. I like to start hatching in Jan and if they aren't laying I will leave a light on in the coop to try and fool them into laying . I know some people don't like doing this but I do it when needed. If you had a darker female with not a lot of speckles I would breed the light rooster to see what happens. Sometime your experiments work and sometimes they don't. I think you have some great looking birds and curious to see how you do with them in shows.
 
Indy Edge said:
I'm not sure how big Walt's main rooster is but's he's quite impressive. If you would like to try  and get his input on things I can PM his e-mail address to you. I think he has taken the Overton bloodline to the next level. Orpingtons are a little bigger then the Sussex and that will be one of your main birds to beat in the English Class. My flocks are usually productive. One thing I will start to do when I put my birds in breeding pens is mix some oats in their feed and some sunflower seeds in the scratch grains I give them. I think the oats and sunflower seeds help the males stamina. I like to start hatching in Jan and if they aren't laying I will leave a light on in the coop to try and fool them into laying . I know some people don't like doing this but I do it when needed. If you had a darker female with not a lot of speckles I would breed the light rooster to see what happens. Sometime your experiments work and sometimes they don't. I think you have some great looking birds and curious to see how you do with them in shows. 
Click to expand...

That would be great! Thanks!
The show I'm attending had a SS win champion of show in 2013 and another SS reserve champion in 2014 --by different breeders! I expect the SS are my real competition.
I don't expect to win anything. I just hope my birds are worthy of showing beside those others!
And I do appreciate all of your advice :)
Thank you!
 
GreenRiverHen said:
That would be great! Thanks!
The show I'm attending had a SS win champion of show in 2013 and another SS reserve champion in 2014 --by different breeders! I expect the SS are my real competition.
I don't expect to win anything. I just hope my birds are worthy of showing beside those others!
And I do appreciate all of your advice
smile.png

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Hi,
That 'll be Brian of English River Poultry. I think he is in Ontario? Oh wow, his Speckled Sussex are just...wow. Let me see if I can find a pic of that 2013 SS hen : here ya go, 2nd pic down.
http://ontariopoultrybreeders.webs.com/championsatopb.htm
The symmetry and grace on this pullet just fills the eye and you just want to keep looking at her. It is as the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright said, " Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union." I believe that greatness is the measure of the perfection of that union.
Now look at that pullet. She is a study in style and grace. The meat attributes and the egg attributes are harmony in her body type. She does not fight against herself in any area of body type, causing that area to disrupt the unity of the whole picture and distract your eye from the whole. Instead, she is in harmony with herself and her breed type "fills the eye" . You just want to keep looking at her.

Now there's a breeder to try and get stock from in Canada!
Best,
Karen
 
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I got a few eggs from my Speckled Sussex breeding pen. I put three of them in a incubator to check fertility . Can't wait to start hatching .

 

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