show quality speckled sussex ??

[math ace]

Yes she still lays about 4 eggs a week so far this year but has slowed down since last year. Ive only hatched out one of her eggs on an accident but unfortunately Her daughter was fathered by a Salmon Fav. but she is beautiful but she makes her mom look like a pimple compared to her, she is built just like the SS, But Huge, but she got her dads 5 toes. So I think that if I can find the perfect male for her (very dark,large, with correct comb.) she could really makes some big girls.

I just noticed I posted the same picture twice sorry!

I think that is FANTASTIC that she is still lay and doing such a good job at it! These birds were known for the size and egg laying abilities. It is just sad that so much of that has been lost over the years!

 

[cowchick11]

Hi,
The bird in the upper photo has way too much black in the feathers. The feathers should be mahogany with a thin band of black separating the white tip from the mahogany. The band of black should be thin. The three colors should be sharp and distinct from one another. None of them bleeding into any of the othe colors. If you have a Barnes and Noble near you, there is a book in the woodworking section called "Wood". It's a pictorial album of every species of wood done in true color for woodwrkers. Look up "Mahogany" to see what we are striving for.
A Red Sussex is a Speckled Sussex without the white tipping. If you can find a fine Red Sussex cock of proper coloring, Mate him to your girls so they won't be so gay. Gay= too much white on the body. Should also help rid the extra black to an extent. Then mate the daughters from that breeding to a properly colored Large Fowl Speckled Sussex cock from Overton, Walt Reichart or AlBritton.
That should solve a lot of problems. Straighten out the color issues and do some major repairs to body type. If you use cocks from Overton, Reichart or Albritton, you are assured your boy came from a hen of proper breed type and coloring. ( because these lines have been linebred for uniformity). This is important because the cock passes on a notable number of characteristics he gets from his dam. Using Red Sussex with your Speckled Sussex will also keep you in the eWh locus. This will save a lot of winnowing out color problems due to mixing locuses. The folks mxing Silver and Light Sussex have this problem because Silver is Birchen locus and Light is eWh locus. Looks like a good cross on the outside, but sets up all kinds of heterozygous problems when they are crossesd.
Best,
Karen

Karen,
Couple of questions for you. Is there a term for too much black like gay= too much white? Thanks for the "Wood" book tip. I'm pretty good with livestock genetics, beef, sheep, and swine but don't have much down for poultry yet. Please explain further eWH locus. Light meaning light red or white and if people are using silver or Birchen would that explain the black checking? Do you get or need two copies or one of eWH like a sex linked trait and what are your color pattern results? Silver vs. Light and what that means for SS? What would the cross look like? Is this a reccessive trait?

For everyone, Tony actually lives in Idaho, and he is shipping my chicks today! So, I hope to have them at my house sometime tomorrow!!!

 

[cowchick11]

O.k. as promised some photos of the new SS chicks. First day out of the mail!

 

[cowchick11]

Day three! I was trying to show some of the markings and lines around or not around the eyes. Very different from light to very chipmunk. I will look at toe punch marks tomorrow before they go out to the larger brooder in the barn to see how many different lines I received.

 

[math ace]

Day three! I was trying to show some of the markings and lines around or not around the eyes. Very different from light to very chipmunk. I will look at toe punch marks tomorrow before they go out to the larger brooder in the barn to see how many different lines I received.

cowchic.... QUICK.... Put a zip tie on something on those lighter speckled sussex. I have never seen SS quicks look so light. It will very interesting to see how they differ from the other chicks as they feather in. However, you will need to mark them some how (I recommend zip ties) so that you can tell the two colors apart.

 

[3riverschick]

Hi Math Ace,
If you've been looking for quality Red Sussex, you have also seen the strides that need to be taken to improve breed type as well as breed color in this variety. I wonder..... When I was going to get Bantam Speckled Sussex form Rev. Ashbrooke, we got to talking about Red Sussex. He told me that Red Sussex is just Speckled Sussex without the speckles. He said Red Sussex can easily be made with Speckled Sussex. He said he would teach me how if I wanted to do that. Then we hit a deer with the car a couple of days later and the resulting money from the deductible made getting the birds impossible. So now, almost 2 years later, I am
getting Light Sussex.
All that said, I wonder... if getting some top quality Speckled Sussex from OHGandma, or Tony Albritton or? and then breeding the speckles out of them might be a shorter route to SQ Red Sussex with great breed type ? I mean one would only have to fix the color instead of working to improve both both color and breed type. And, as you know, in Sussex, breed type always trumps color. Karen

 

[3riverschick]

cowchic.... QUICK.... Put a zip tie on something on those lighter speckled sussex. I have never seen SS quicks look so light. It will very interesting to see how they differ from the other chicks as they feather in. However, you will need to mark them some how (I recommend zip ties) so that you can tell the two colors apart.

Back in the mid-1920's a Speckled Sussex breeder named John Miller out of Sedalia, Missouri wrote some
great articles on breeding Speckled Sussex in The American Poultry Journal.
He stated in his article on color of plumage and choosing chicks that the light ones rarely turned out to be
quality color and not to bother raising them. A few did, but so few that keeping them to grow them out was
not worth while. He said the really dark chicks usually grew up too dark. But the reddish brown chicks turned
out to be the best color when they grew up.
Best,
Karen

 

[3riverschick]

edited the sentence about hackle feather color in 4th paragraph so it reads much more clearly. Karen

Karen,
Couple of questions for you. Is there a term for too much black like gay= too much white?
I have seen Speckled Sussex called "too dark" that had too much black in them.

Thanks for the "Wood" book tip. More than welcome.

I'm pretty good with livestock genetics, beef, sheep, and swine but don't have much down for poultry yet.
Yes, I bred collies for 15 years and love studying breeding strategies. I agree, poultry is a whole different
world and so much doesn't translate because of the large number of sex linked genes in birds and the
fact the male bird is xy and the female xx, whew!
Please explain further eWH locus. What do you need to know?

The Light Sussex is properly made with pure eWh locus. When combined with the Co gene, pure eWh locus keeps the black in the proper places on the bird. If the Light Sussex is bred on the eb (Brown) Locus, then there is grey or darker in the undercolor and the bird isn't white in plumage all the way to the skin. If the Light Sussex is bred on eWh/eb combo, then the bird has black pepper scatterered thru the white parts of its plumage (especially on the back). This scattered black on the back can also result when two pure eWh parents have too much black between them for a proper color balance. For instance, breeding two birds with "superhackles", ( hackles which are almost solid black without the required ratio of white. I think some have been misinformed, not you, that the Light Sussex hackle is a black feather laced with white. In fact, the Light Sussex hackle feather is a white feather with a black stripe down the middle. This conception makes a huge difference when color mating strategies are being developed.
Light meaning light red or white and if people are using silver or Birchen would that explain the black checking?
Are we still talking about Light Sussex? In Red Sussex, I think the term "light" in chicks refers to any chick not reddish brown or darker brown. See the chicks in the pics above which look kinda yellow? They're too "light". In Light Sussex, folk shouldn't be needing to cross Locuses to breed Speckled Sussex. There are plenty of eWh varieties out there to do the job. Crossing Silver (Birchen) and Light (eWh) is just asking for years of culling issues. Cross the Reds and the Speckleds (both eWh) to improve both varieties. I haven't seen the "black checking" you're referring to, but suspect you mean black peppering showing up in the white parts of chicks from Silver/Light union? I can't answer that because I have never studied it. Perhaps ask the British Sussex Poultry Club. However, it seems to me a reasonable educated guess since the Silver Sussex is basically a Black bird with silver markings and we know that breeding two Light Sussex together with too much black in them can result in black peppering on the white parts of the birds. Undercolor also has a noted effect on top color. Further study might reveal that the undercolor on the Silver Sussex might be effecting the top color of chicks from a Silver/Light union.

Do you get or need two copies or one of eWH like a sex linked trait and what are your color pattern results? See above. eWh isn't a trait, it's a Locus. The canvas upon which one paints with plumage color. One doesn't obtain it, one starts with it. One can also corrupt eWh by mixing eWh with another Locus which makes it harder to get the correct colors when one starts to paint on ithe resulting canvas.
Silver vs. Light and what that means for SS? What would the cross look like? See above.
Is this a reccessive trait? Is eWh a recessive trait? No, it is a Locus, not a trait. . We should be starting out with pure eWh in Light Sussex. If not, then one needs to judiciously cull for it because the colors will never been painted on the canvas correctly until it is pure eWh.
Best,
Karen

 

[stormylady]

Yes it is too bad that they have lost alot over the years, I might point out that Uno the 3 yr. old came from Nancy Garry and is really the only bird that I have that actually came from a breeder (SS anyway) . The other girls came from Cackle and the new Roo babies came from Ideal so will see what comes from it.
I'm going to take new pictures of the girls and the new boys tomarrow and post even though the Roos are only 3 weeks old. Sandy

I think that is FANTASTIC that she is still lay and doing such a good job at it! These birds were known for the size and egg laying abilities. It is just sad that so much of that has been lost over the years!

 

[stormylady]

Wow those chicks are really different, I also can't wait to see what they look like later on!

O.k. as promised some photos of the new SS chicks. First day out of the mail!