No it doesn’t
Speckled Sussex - Breeding to the SOP
- Thread starter gwells1980
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #22
gwells1980
Songster
Is it possible to guess what the age of my hen would be based on the amount of white on her? Unfortunately I don't know what she looked like when she was younger. I was told she is 1 year old.
Thanks!
No, she gets more white as she gets older, but some start with more white than others.
- Thread starter
- #25
gwells1980
Songster
I thought that would be the answer. I just re-read the entire conversation with the guy I got them off of, The rooster is supposed to be 2 and the hen is just over 1 year old. Maybe she just had A LOT of white on her from the get go.
- Thread starter
- #26
gwells1980
Songster
Just a quick update: Not much changed - still waiting on the stored sperm from her previous flock to run out and her to breed true to my Speckled Sussex Rooster. We did however settle on names for our small flock. (My 11 year old daughter helped name them... You will be able to tell.) 
The Rooster (The Earl Grey) has taken control of his small flock of 3 hens and is doing all the typical things a rooster does, crowing when necessary, watching the skies and grounds for predators, hunting food for the hens, and attempting to mate with them. His 3 hens are My Speckled Sussex (The Lady Grey) and I gave him a Buff Orpington (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and a Sapphire Gem (Saphron) to keep him company until I can get another 3 good quality Speckled Sussex hens. (Their names are already picked out, The Dutchess, The Dame, and The Countess - I know, we are strange.) He hasn't quite warmed up to me yet. I can get within about 5 feet of him before he starts to scoot himself away from me. He will come around eventually but as long as he does what he is supposed to do as far as the hens go, he doesn't have to be a lap chicken.
The Hen (The Lady Grey) gave me another egg today even though my Sapphire Gem (Saphron) tried to run her out of the laying box. Her eggs are not quiet as large as the Sapphire Gem's, I would say around 55 to 60 grams, so Large size and a light brown color, honestly, if they got any lighter in color I would have to call them a light tan to cream color, but I looked online and they seem to conform to the breeds standard for Sussex eggs. Even though I didn't raise her and she has zero reason to trust me, she walks right up to me and stays near me when I am in the yard. I have only had her a couple days so I thought it would take longer for her to acclimate herself to my presence. She really is a great hen. I am glad to have her as one of my flock and to be using her as a primary in the breeding program. I am ultimately breeding to the SOP for Speckled Sussex's, but I say attitude counts too and hers is great! Even though it is months away, I am eagerly waiting for her chicks hatch and reach maturity!
I am always looking for inspiration so drop those Sussex Photos!
Bonus : HAS NOTHING TO DO THE THE BREEDING TO THE SOP OF MY SUSSEX'S, JUST THOUGHT IT MAY BE INTERESTING.
Anyone with information please chime in.
If I incubate the eggs from The Earl and my Buff Orpington (Buffy) then breed back the best daughter to The Earl again, some of the offspring, in theory, would be a Sussex Orpington cross that would look Speckled but instead of having that beautiful deep mahogany color, they would have a buff primary color almost like a Mille Fleur. Has anyone seen that or attempted it. If they have, do the feather patterns hold? Do they still have the black stripe separating the white from the base color? Do both colors bleed through? Does the body type resemble the size and roundness of an Orpington or would they be more medium size like a Sussex? Like I said, nothing to do with my SOP breeding program I am starting, I just thought it could be an interesting side project.
P.S. - There are no side projects with Sapphon, she just provides us with extra large to jumbo eggs for food on a daily basis. Another good hen!
The Rooster (The Earl Grey) has taken control of his small flock of 3 hens and is doing all the typical things a rooster does, crowing when necessary, watching the skies and grounds for predators, hunting food for the hens, and attempting to mate with them. His 3 hens are My Speckled Sussex (The Lady Grey) and I gave him a Buff Orpington (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and a Sapphire Gem (Saphron) to keep him company until I can get another 3 good quality Speckled Sussex hens. (Their names are already picked out, The Dutchess, The Dame, and The Countess - I know, we are strange.) He hasn't quite warmed up to me yet. I can get within about 5 feet of him before he starts to scoot himself away from me. He will come around eventually but as long as he does what he is supposed to do as far as the hens go, he doesn't have to be a lap chicken.
The Hen (The Lady Grey) gave me another egg today even though my Sapphire Gem (Saphron) tried to run her out of the laying box. Her eggs are not quiet as large as the Sapphire Gem's, I would say around 55 to 60 grams, so Large size and a light brown color, honestly, if they got any lighter in color I would have to call them a light tan to cream color, but I looked online and they seem to conform to the breeds standard for Sussex eggs. Even though I didn't raise her and she has zero reason to trust me, she walks right up to me and stays near me when I am in the yard. I have only had her a couple days so I thought it would take longer for her to acclimate herself to my presence. She really is a great hen. I am glad to have her as one of my flock and to be using her as a primary in the breeding program. I am ultimately breeding to the SOP for Speckled Sussex's, but I say attitude counts too and hers is great! Even though it is months away, I am eagerly waiting for her chicks hatch and reach maturity!
I am always looking for inspiration so drop those Sussex Photos!
Bonus : HAS NOTHING TO DO THE THE BREEDING TO THE SOP OF MY SUSSEX'S, JUST THOUGHT IT MAY BE INTERESTING.
Anyone with information please chime in.
If I incubate the eggs from The Earl and my Buff Orpington (Buffy) then breed back the best daughter to The Earl again, some of the offspring, in theory, would be a Sussex Orpington cross that would look Speckled but instead of having that beautiful deep mahogany color, they would have a buff primary color almost like a Mille Fleur. Has anyone seen that or attempted it. If they have, do the feather patterns hold? Do they still have the black stripe separating the white from the base color? Do both colors bleed through? Does the body type resemble the size and roundness of an Orpington or would they be more medium size like a Sussex? Like I said, nothing to do with my SOP breeding program I am starting, I just thought it could be an interesting side project.
P.S. - There are no side projects with Sapphon, she just provides us with extra large to jumbo eggs for food on a daily basis. Another good hen!
I don't think so. One of my four started out almost completely red with very few white spots, while two others were very spotted and the fourth somewhere in between. At almost a year old now, I can barely tell them apart except for the darkest one, who still hasn't quite caught up to her siblings in spottedness. Mostly I tell them apart by personality; the one that started out with the most white is very bold and demanding at snack time, and I have voted her Most Likely to Be First in the Stew Pot.
- Thread starter
- #28
gwells1980
Songster
Update for 03/26/2023 - Testing the hen's fertility and her ability produce chicks.
I broke down and decided to incubate 6 of Lady Grey's eggs. Please keep in mind, there is only about a 50% chance these chicks are from my rooster, The Earl Grey, or the previous owners Speckled Sussex rooster (The Earl's Brother), there is a 50% chance the sire could be an enormous Light Brahma or a nice looking Buckeye rooster. 2 Speckled Sussex roosters and 2 non-Speckled Sussex roosters, so we will see. Regardless, this was for my own peace-of-mind so I could make sure my new girl is able to produce fertile eggs. 6 eggs went into the incubator on the 22nd (4 days ago) and all 6 are showing veins growing inside the egg. SUCCESS!, at least marginally.
I would of course be extremely excited if I knew for a fact that the chicks growing were going to be part of my project, but this will have to sustain my chick-fever until I can be sure all the previous roosters sperm is used up and no longer being used to fertilize eggs inside Lady Grey. I will keep updating as the incubation goes along. Fingers crossed for total success!
The eggs will take 17 +/- more days to hatch as we all know, so for the next 3 weeks I won't be hatching any more of The Lady Grey's eggs. Which means they will be available if anyone is interested. (I live in Northeast Kentucky btw and she lays 5 to 6 a week, so every week someone can pick up 5 or 6 eggs. We can work out the details if you message me about them.)
For craps and giggles - I saw Earl mating with Saphron (My Sapphire Gem) on many occasions so I decided to toss one of her jumbo sized eggs into the incubator. The monster was 74 grams and I have never incubated an egg that size or one from a hybrid hen. I raised her from a pullet and there is a 0% chance she that she could have been impregnated by anyone other than The Earl Grey. Blue Plymouth Rock - Blue Barred Rock - Speckled Sussex cross.... Could be interesting looking!
If anyone is interested in a pairing like this let me know! (She has laid everyday since she started on the Feb. 15th. On 3 separate occasions she has laid 2 eggs per day. Both were very thin shelled or shell-less but still, impressive)
I made a mistake with my Buff Orpington (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), I put 4 - 6 week old chicks outside and instead of her beginning to lay eggs, she decided to adopt them. She just stays next to them all day and has pretty much stopped letting The Earl mate with her. I can't really blame her for wanting to be a mom. She apparently is great at it. The chicks are almost old enough to not need a mom but they took right to her. Any plans I had for making an orange Speckled Sussex is on temporary hold
I broke down and decided to incubate 6 of Lady Grey's eggs. Please keep in mind, there is only about a 50% chance these chicks are from my rooster, The Earl Grey, or the previous owners Speckled Sussex rooster (The Earl's Brother), there is a 50% chance the sire could be an enormous Light Brahma or a nice looking Buckeye rooster. 2 Speckled Sussex roosters and 2 non-Speckled Sussex roosters, so we will see. Regardless, this was for my own peace-of-mind so I could make sure my new girl is able to produce fertile eggs. 6 eggs went into the incubator on the 22nd (4 days ago) and all 6 are showing veins growing inside the egg. SUCCESS!, at least marginally.
I would of course be extremely excited if I knew for a fact that the chicks growing were going to be part of my project, but this will have to sustain my chick-fever until I can be sure all the previous roosters sperm is used up and no longer being used to fertilize eggs inside Lady Grey. I will keep updating as the incubation goes along. Fingers crossed for total success!The eggs will take 17 +/- more days to hatch as we all know, so for the next 3 weeks I won't be hatching any more of The Lady Grey's eggs. Which means they will be available if anyone is interested. (I live in Northeast Kentucky btw and she lays 5 to 6 a week, so every week someone can pick up 5 or 6 eggs. We can work out the details if you message me about them.)
For craps and giggles - I saw Earl mating with Saphron (My Sapphire Gem) on many occasions so I decided to toss one of her jumbo sized eggs into the incubator. The monster was 74 grams and I have never incubated an egg that size or one from a hybrid hen. I raised her from a pullet and there is a 0% chance she that she could have been impregnated by anyone other than The Earl Grey. Blue Plymouth Rock - Blue Barred Rock - Speckled Sussex cross.... Could be interesting looking!
If anyone is interested in a pairing like this let me know! (She has laid everyday since she started on the Feb. 15th. On 3 separate occasions she has laid 2 eggs per day. Both were very thin shelled or shell-less but still, impressive)
I made a mistake with my Buff Orpington (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), I put 4 - 6 week old chicks outside and instead of her beginning to lay eggs, she decided to adopt them. She just stays next to them all day and has pretty much stopped letting The Earl mate with her. I can't really blame her for wanting to be a mom. She apparently is great at it. The chicks are almost old enough to not need a mom but they took right to her. Any plans I had for making an orange Speckled Sussex is on temporary hold
- Thread starter
- #29
gwells1980
Songster
Sorry if I confused anyone, My daughter changed there names. Champ is now "The Earl Grey" and Rose is "The Lady Grey".
- Thread starter
- #30
gwells1980
Songster
Okay, I was impressed yesterday when Saphron laid a 74 Gram egg... She laid a 90 gram egg today... That poor girl.
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