show quality speckled sussex ??

[math ace]

Quote:
Speaking of the head. This pullet does appear to have a small head in comparison to the size of her body. (When viewed from the front in this one shot.) Do we think that the head will continue to grow as she matures, eventually coming into better balance?

I've only raised three SS to maturity and I did not pay attention to details then ....
Don will have to confirm - -- but my guess is this girl will never have the correct head size to balance the rest of body.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
CLASS is back in . . . . Here are two mature ss hens for us to try our evaluation skills on.


Hen # 1

Hen # 2

 

[mrheinz77]

I may be way off base but this is what I think.
Hen #1. Comb to big and not level. I think the beak color is correct. The beak looks curved. Wattles look the right size. It is hard to tell on the ear lobes.

Hen #2. I like her comb but is it a split comb? I think the beak is not the correct color. Wattles look to big. Again, I can't tell on the ear lobes.

Overall, I like the rest of #2 at this point than #1, which means I am probably wrong.

It is hard to tell on my Blackberry but when I look at this on my PC I have snoops getting attitude because I am looking at chickens. They think I have more important things to be doing. Ugh.

 

[lauralou]

Hen #1. I'm looking on a laptop, and the pic is kinda small, but the comb seems to have some "curly" points. Not perfectly upright. There also sems to be a lack of regularity there. To my eye, regularity and symmetry equal beauty. The beak looks nice, the wattle small. Too small? I do think that there will be some changes in comb and wattle on this girl. She's still pink rather than red.

Hen #2. Clearly younger, with less comb development. And bigger wattles. Honestly, they don't seem too big for me. I'd love to be able to watch this bird and see how she turns out. Her comb is so much less developed, I'd be withholding judgement at this point, but it does seem that she has too many points, or as mrheinz noted, possibly split comb going on. I don't have a problem with her beak. Is eye color a bit light?

In fact, I think both are nice birds, and I should be lucky if any of my babies grow up to look so good....

Hen #1 at least doesn't scream, "Look how short my back is!" That is probably related to tail angle, but it's something I notice. Saving that for a later lesson.

 

[neftaball]

Hen #1
Head looks ok, looks like 5 points on the comb, points on front closer together than at the rear. Hard to see if there are any defects. Compared to the drawing wattles and ear lobes seem small, but the standard says wattles should be small. Can’t tell how broad the head is.
Eye color looks good. Beak white with horn, short, curved.
Neck seems to be the appropriate length and curves nicely, can’t tell how well it flows into the neck from this angle, but seems good.
Back appears flat, with good length, from this angle, seems to be sloping up to the tail, rather than down., can’t tell how broad.
Tail may be carried a bit low, but also could be because she’s on the move.
Wings appear to be well tucked up, up against the body, no sign of twisted feathers.
Breast from this angle looks well rounded and deep, seems to carry down good.
Body seems to be long and deep. Can’t tell how broad. Moderate fluff.
Can’t see the legs
Color speckles are evenly distributed, mostly, a little missing on the front of the neck, and maybe at the tail area. Has a white primary feather.
Wish there was a front view and a top view. Also a view of the legs.

Hen #2

Hard to tell a lot of things from this angle.
Head looks ok, can’t tell if comb has 5 points for sure, pretty much I say the same as #1.
Neck from this angle looks like it could be short, seems to curve nicely.
Can’t tell anything about the back, except it may be wide enough.
Tail seems to be carried high, does seem to spread some.
Wings appear to be held up and well tucked up against the body.
Breast from this angle looks broad, but can’t tell how well it carries down, how deep.
Body can’t tell how long or deep. Moderate fluff.
Legs look a little yellow, and seem to be set to close together.
Color speckles well distributed for the most part, maybe missing some on the tail.

#2 looks like she’s still a pullet?

This is my take on them, using the SOP
Michele

 

[snowbird]

Hi All, From what I see #1 is a Hen and #2 is a pullet. It would be much easier if we critique the different section as we go , not the entire bird.

Comb on #1 looks ok to me. Comb on #2 as an uneven serration of comb and would be a fault. When they have a split comb it would be on the blade only. #2 has much nicer white spangling on head and neck. #1 may have a little white in the ear lobe. Both have nice small wattles and ear lobes. Both appear to have nice size heads.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Speaking of the head. This pullet does appear to have a small head in comparison to the size of her body. (When viewed from the front in this one shot.) Do we think that the head will continue to grow as she matures, eventually coming into better balance?

I've only raised three SS to maturity and I did not pay attention to details then ....
Don will have to confirm - -- but my guess is this girl will never have the correct head size to balance the rest of body.

This female does have a small head but is also young. I would be more worried with the tail angle and the high chest signalling a short back, this is the pullet I would like to see a side picture.

 

[RustyHen]

To me there seems to be different eye sets and shapes between #1 and #2, also their beaks are different shapes and colors which is more correct? I'm on west coast time so I'm behind.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
I agree with you. Everything I have read says the eye set on #2 is correct and the beak should be Horn color, #2 also has the best shape beak and the Beak color on #2 might lighten up as she get older if not would cull. The color on #1 beak is also off color.

 

[snowbird]

I should also say there are a wide range of colors that are refered to as Horn. The ABA SS and APA are even different . I don't remember if this has been corrected. I remember when they a Joint committee going over the two Standards to try and correction where they were different.