show quality speckled sussex ??

[Stevenson]

So....here is the video you requested. I will say, I know MUCH less about this breed than I do the Delawares...and I don't know enough about them either! So bear with me.

Feel free to say whatever you want about them. You won't hurt my feelings! When they get older, I'll post some pictures of them for critiques.

I got my SS from Itsmyobsession on BYC.

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
Some already have too much white. So far the bodies look OK and the only thing I can see that may be a problem in the shape is the tails look like they may end up pinched. Lets look at them again in a couple weeks. Other than some color problems I don't see anything too out of whack yet.

Walt

 

[Stevenson]

Thanks Walt. I need to look over the SOP on SS so that I can start looking at them with somewhat educated eyes.

I will certainly be more than happy to get some pictures and post another video in a few weeks.

 

[stormylady]

Hi everybody, I was wondering if I could get you to take look at Uno , she is A bird from a Breeder, she is 3 yrs old, she does have crooked toes but that is due to my lack of experience when I hatched her with an incubator, the pictures aren't very good and she is needs a bath badly but If you could I would really apprieate the feedback on her, I also have some 18 week old girls that are hatchery they came from Ideal hatchery that Im going to post a few pics of if ya don't mind.

the first pick is of Uno as a baby

This is Uno as of this week. 3 yrs old.

These are the 18 weekers one of them started laying at 16 weeks.

This is percy.

Emerald, Lucy in the middle and Sweetpea in the corner though you can only see her back.

Please just tell it like it is, Good (if any) and the Bad, I can take it, LOL Im trying to learn too, and the best way to do it is with my own birds too that way I can see in real life whats there, and what needs to be there, . thanks Sandy

 

[Howhardcanitbe]

Quote:
I so feel your pain. I actually lost one of my roolets day before yesterday. He jumped the fence and found himself beak to beak with a year old RIR rooster and his harem - my starter flock. They apparently took issue with his speckles and beat the snot out of him. I found him too late to save him. The rest of my 40 odd SS cockerels were getting so violent, with each other and with the pullets. I pulled all but the keepers out two days ago and the freezer bound boys will spend their last week of life far away from all females in a dimly lit coop. No outside time unfortunately. It's working. They are much calmer and much less aggressive. 18 weeks seems to be the limit for keeping large groups of SS cockerels. The upside of incarcerating the boys is the pasture is back to it's (mostly) peaceful idyllic state.

I did discover something interesting when I weighed all my boys. The ones that were the largest at 16 weeks were still the largest at 20, and most of them put on little if any weight in those 4 weeks. Many of the littler ones at 16 weeks did manage to pack on a pound or more over the last month. The biggest one I had was 5.8lbs, but most were between 4.5 and 5lbs. What I'm taking from this is I need to pick my keepers from the ones who get to 5lbs or better at 16 week and cull the moochers who don't.

I will try to put up pics of my keepers next week. They are not up to standard, but they might help me build that barn Walt keeps talking about. Or, just maybe there'll be something nicer in the two other groups I've got going. The "harvest" is scheduled for Sunday and is rapidly turning into a a full-fledged chicken social. Everyone wants to see how a chicken picker works.

Still enjoying and reading, ( and rereading this thread). Keep it coming!

Robin

 

[Howhardcanitbe]

Quote:
Hey Sandy,

Thanks for posting pictures of Uno. It's nice too see how much white she's added over time, though she was pretty white to begin with. Now I have an idea of what to expect.

This is what my unschooled eyes see: Uno has a nice even comb, but it is rather large. She has a lovely broad and deep breast and luminous white shanks set well apart. Overall body shape seems good, though the head might be a little large and her tail set seems low. (Personally, I like Uno's head size. The hen in the Sewell painting has a head that is too small for my sense of proportion.) She does have that touch of white on the tips of her tail feathers like in the Sewell painting. Her wings seem to lack any definite banding, and I'm not sure, but I thought I saw a white primary in one of her profile shots. Also, hard to tell from the pics, she seems more brown than mahogany. White ear tufts. Hard to tell on the beak color, though it appears lighter than many we have seen in these postings.

Congrats on the eggs. I've only got two irregular layers out of 45 twenty week old pullets.

Out of curiosity, what rate of lay do you get from Uno and what size egg does she put down?

Robin

 

[stormylady]

Quote:
Hey Sandy,

Thanks for posting pictures of Uno. It's nice too see how much white she's added over time, though she was pretty white to begin with. Now I have an idea of what to expect.

This is what my unschooled eyes see: Uno has a nice even comb, but it is rather large. She has a lovely broad and deep breast and luminous white shanks set well apart. Overall body shape seems good, though the head might be a little large and her tail set seems low. (Personally, I like Uno's head size. The hen in the Sewell painting has a head that is too small for my sense of proportion.) She does have that touch of white on the tips of her tail feathers like in the Sewell painting. Her wings seem to lack any definite banding, and I'm not sure, but I thought I saw a white primary in one of her profile shots. Also, hard to tell from the pics, she seems more brown than mahogany. White ear tufts. Hard to tell on the beak color, though it appears lighter than many we have seen in these postings.

Congrats on the eggs. I've only got two irregular layers out of 45 twenty week old pullets.

Out of curiosity, what rate of lay do you get from Uno and what size egg does she put down?

Robin

Thank you for responding! Uno is 3 yrs old and she was super white when A young chick (first picture of her) She has lost alot of it though, but still has alot of white left, LOL , I think the comb is large because she is an older girl, but I don't know because she is the only other girl I have that is SS besides the youngin's in the bottom pictures, Her wings are clipped because she likes to let herself out to forage! shes a bad old girl!! but you might be right, I can't really remember her having a totally white wing feather but she may have had, I will have to take more picks of her wings when they grow back out again. Im going to try and find a better picture of her color that might help you I know she has a super lot of green sheen in her.

As far as egg laying goes Uno lays between 5/6 weekly, usually but I have noticed that she slowed down a little I think maybe because of the heat. I hope so anyway .but it has just been like the last month for the eggs dropping off some.

Here is another picture of uno and hope it helps with the color. Like I said she needs a bath something aweful! LOL

Does this help any??

I was wondering about the younger chicks too, last two pictures, there only 18 weeks old and going to post them again in a couple of weeks when they are around 20 weeks as suggest by Math ace, but none of them have all the white like Uno did as a young Chickie so hoping they will have less white as adults. Thanks again Sandy
PS her eggs are light brown and Med/large Size. And her beak is horn colored.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
FASCINATING! I have always read that they get MORE white as they get older, but clearly this girl has lost white...

My SS ( 20 - 22 weeks old now) are GREAT foragers. We call the whole group of SS "the NAUGHTY GIRLS".
The desire to forage seems to be more instinctive with this breed. They are not skittish at all. They come running from the four corners of the yard when they hear or see me.... but they do love to spread out and forage more than any other breed I have ever had.

I would be totally delighted with a hen that lays 5 eggs a week at three years of age. Somebody made a comment a few pages back about how they had been told that the closer you get the birds to SOP the less productive they are. This I just don't understand. . . . SOME of the SOP requirements are just for looks - -the size of the diamond or speckles , the shade of mahogany, perfect combs, etc.... BUT some things are structual and ensure the production of a heathly bird.
For example, a wide, not pinched, tail. Wide, not knocked kneed legs are another example. A wide back and chest... Personally, I think the issues with production are issues that are genetic and have to be culled for too.

If the hen lays a smaller egg or lays infrequently, then you don't hatch eggs from her. There are folks out there who are concentrating on egg size and egg production. Those folks don't care what the bird looks like. Then there are those folks who want to show. They don't care about the eggs. HOWEVER, I think if you want to do the breed justice, you will have to watch for BOTH -- - SOP and egg size / production. Originally, these were a dual purpose bird - - -MEAT and EGGS. Right now, more are neither. The breeders have selected poorly and the breed has lost size and my guess is egg laying ability was lost when size of the bird was reduced.

 

[lauralou]

Wow. The width between Uno's legs is amazing to me. She must be a really hefty girl.


Also, thanks for posting pictures of this year's birds from Ideal. I'm sure lots of folks are interested in that. I'm contemplating a hatchery order myself, just to offset the ridiculously rooster-rich hatches of 2011.

 

[stormylady]

Quote:
Thankyou Lauralou, Yeah Uno is built very stockily! I wouldn't say she is huge, but she is very well built for her size, Uno NEVER EVER misses a treat! OH heck Uno never misses anything . She is what I would call a "IN YOUR FACE CHICK" all the time. always has been always wil be, but I suppose thats one of the things that make me really like the breed. But I guess this is not what this thread is all about. LOL I just had to tell it! I got Uno and her sister from Bargain I got them as eggs and only got 2 babies out of the 12 eggs, but it was my first home hatch ever and think I really screwed up some kinda way, hence the bent toes.

Math Ace I believed asked us to tell where we got the chicks from thats why I posted the hatchery name. I think the chicks are beautiful
Though, but can't wait for them to turn 20 weeks or so so I can here the feed back on them too. They are also very friendly chicks and love to talk and get the special treatment! Sandy