Speckled Sussex Roos how to choose just 1???

[Mom2Cool]

Hi all. Decisions decisions. I have 6 Speckled Sussex Roos (as well as 3 BO's) & I can only keep 1 SS roo. How do I decide which to keep? I'm still a novice when it comes to chickens & I had sent to a breeder for the eggs I hatched these guys from. I wanted a nice quality bird though I didn't think they'd be "show quality" or anything. Anyway I think my question is if you're not keeping a roo for show quality are you still picking on the standard of their breed or the looks of the bird? I would like to reproduce a few in the future & so I think I would like the nicest looking one but it's tough to tell anything especially looking at a sea of them.... LOL how do you all make the pics & what do you base it on? I couldn't even pick the topic to post this on never mind which roo to keep. LOL

 

[Mahonri]

Get us some pics!!!

Then/ tell us about each one.

 

[Mom2Cool]

ok well this group of chickens kind of gets the short end of the stick because this flock is out in the garden & then I've a separate flock that's outside the garden that can come up on the deck to the house etc. & I tend not to spend as much time with this new crew to really see their personalities. Of course I do go out there several times a day but then when I do it's like a whole sea of chickens... They're all darling & I'm just loving the Speckled Sussex breed. I do have some pics but they're a couple weeks old & they've already outgrown them. I'll take some fresh in the morning & then I'll post them. I have noticed in the past 2 to 3 weeks the hens are pretty but the roos colors all seem very striking. So much so I'd thought to take pics earlier today to try to help me decide but it's tough to get in there & get individual pics without just duplicating the same roo over & over. I'll have to spend some time in the garden tomorrow & maybe I can see if any of the veggies have survived.

Oh yea btw 1 thing I know from a far is that MANY of them have found their umm singing voices..... LOL

 

[nwgirl]

Here is an older post that may have some helpful suggestions...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=18309

 

[Mom2Cool]

ok I'm trying to post pictures for the first time using the uploading tool on BYC so bear with me if I do this incorrectly.

This here is a little group shot of them.

this is 2 of them together

and finally a single pic of one

As you can see there's SO many of them it's first difficult to get everyone into a pic to see them all together & then to keep straight who is who anyway... None of them seem aggressive, they're all curious, they all seem to be finding their voices

& they're all now wanting to become sexually active...

I would love to know what people think of them though in the way of looks. They were not purchased from a hatchery but I had bought eggs on ebay and hatched them here. I figure they're only pet quality but then I thought that maybe I should be checking to make sure I'm not culling the wrong one.

 

[insiderart]

From what seller did you purchase them? I would pic one with a good heavy body, evenly spaced speckles, and friendly temperment. And one you think could rule the hens. How many hens do you have.

 

[Mom2Cool]

I can't remember the name she uses on Ebay but it was Julia from Gabbard Farms . Very nice woman and she has such a big selection on her web site. The Speckled Sussex were not billed as show quality or exhibition but again I didn't want to be letting go of the wrong thing you know? And/or I wasn't sure what criteria to use for my selection process. I thank you for giving me a guideline. It was funny because as I went out this morning to let them all out I was greeted with 1 guy that appealed to me for several physical characteristics. Now the question is can I pic him out of the group again. LOL The good heavey body you suggest makes sense. Now the speckles well some of them seem to have more white than others & I think in the first pic I have here you can see the guy in fron has like a lot of white on the bottom of his side. I tend to be more attracted to the mahogany of the guy next to him but I wasn't sure if that is the desired thing of the breed. I think the guy in the last picture is the one that greeted me this morning & I kind oflike him too.

Oh & the SS hens I have right now are just 4. I've the Orpingtons in with them right now too because it was after I had these eggs in the bator that I had this spring 2 of my original Orpington girls go broody & now I've got 6 chicks in the area I was going to put the new orpingtons to introduce them....

3 are already in the main chicken coop but the other 3 are still sleeping in the rabbit hutch where they were hatched which is where I put chicks/chickens I'm intergrating.

So anyway there should be 6 pullets/hens in with the SS for a while. One of the reasons I'd wanted more Orpingtons though was I have had 5 hens originally & felt the rooster should have more so some hens get a break from him. I know that the SS are now becoming sexually active & so at the very least I need to get the roos out that I'm not going to keep.

 

[insiderart]

Ooo, I'm getting some SS chicks from Julie at the end of the week. I'm glad to hear you like them so well. I hope I get at least a couple pullets!

I liked that guy in the last pic too. Good full body. Since these are meat birds, looks like you'll have several for the freezer.

 

[Mom2Cool]

You won't be sorry getting them from her I know I'm not. I had ordered an over abundance of eggs thinking some wouldn't make the trip in tact & then I thought I'm new to incubating etc. Well they ALL survived the trip perfectly and they were all fertile and developed perfectly fine. I had 16 of the 20 SS eggs hatch & I have to tell you between the BO's & the SS the SS truly popped like popcorn when they hatched. I had lost count at one point of how many there were & didn't want to open the bator while others were still popping out & so had to wait but they were truly popping so fast in their hatch that the humidity fogged up the windows etc it was just unreal & I was so very pleased. The BO's are really lovely too but like the eggs from my backyard they took a little longer but I still got more than half of those which for a novice I didn't think bad... It was a real experience...

And now I had planned on harvesting the extra roos & heaven knows I got enough of them! And yes I'm imagining a good few in the freezer. This part is all new to us and hubby took the first the other day & it was tender, meaty & just delish. I think he's experimenting to see which is the best method before just doing the job straight out with a number of them. And of course he's waiting for me to say "Leave this one be".

 

[Mom2Cool]

Quote:
ok so I thought since you're getting eggs from the same place maybe you'd like to see a pic of 1 of the hens too & in case I hadn't mentioned it they're about 14 weeks now.