Speckled Sussex?

[theOEGBman]

Quote:
No problem, at all. Im glad they went to a good home! LOL, definitely! Rizzie is my BossLady!

 

[greyfields]

One of my SS pullets one best hen at the fair last year. By pure dumb luck I had picked the one with the most correct speckling of all my girls. When you look at the Standard, look at the pattern of white dots on the wings (two parallel lines). That's speckled. A lot of people are most proud of their Sussex, even though they have way too much white and are more spangled than speckled.

Oh, by the way, they are great production birds, too. I have I think 4 cockrels running around who I keep, just because I enjoy looking at them.

 

[HenHaven]

greyfields, can you post a pic of your SS? I can't quite visualize what you are describing. I am going to have 14 of these little buggers if all goes well, it would be nice to know a little more about the standard. Thanks.

 

[greyfields]

This may describe it better.

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/speckled_sussex.html

The little thumbnail paintings on the MM site are the pictures out of the Standard of Perfection. They don't use photos, but idealized renderings of what the Standard calls for. Unfortunately, being a copyrighted book, you only find very small thumbnails. If you get the actual book, it may be easier to tell what I'm saying.

Do you see on the wings how there are two parallel lines of speckles? Also on the upper body & neck, there should be hardly any white. Along the body and up to the tail, the speckles should be random but somewhat equally spaced.

If you look at the photos people post of their "pretty" speckled sussex, they are sometimes entirely white along the neck and body. People tend to prize the birds with the most 'porcelain' showing, not realizing that it should only be present in moderation.

Oh, and by the way, I really do love the color on my SS's... but, I have to be honest, the specimins I've seen at Fairs in England are so much larger than here in the US. Over there, the Light Sussex is very common and bred to a massive size (great for backyard cross breeding). I think in general, in the US, the hatcheries have got hold of the Sussex's and outcrossed them with Leghorns and RIR's to improve laying over the generations. It shows as it just seems to me our Sussex are just too small.

 

[RedStickLA]

Here are some pictures of my Speckled Sussex pullets and young roo...

They are one of my favorites! They are Pretty, Sweet and Good layers.
Mitzi

 

[HenHaven]

I think you are right in that the hatchery birds are rather small. I considered buying from Sandhill Preservation, as they say their stock is quite large. I also saw some really sizable SS at the Stockton Show here in California. They were just gorgeous birds. If I were going to breed or show them, I would definitely look for the larger birds.

 

[greyfields]

You can also do it yourself. Just line breed them selecting the largest cockrel each time. It should take you relatively few generations to up the size of the birds. That's what I'm having to do with my Dark Cornish because the stuff from hatcheries is simply too small for what I want. I also have a lot of Cornish who pop out of the shell with these giant, foofey, long Leghorn style tails which goes to show who they've been outcrossed with.

 

[theOEGBman]

I was with Lynn at the Stockton Show, and the SS I gave her are WAY smaller than the ones at the show. The ones there were huge.

 

[jab91864]

Ok, now here is the big question of the day... who is selling speckled sussex eggs ?? Come on give the details........lol

Julie

 

[HenHaven]

I got mine on eBay. Gina (ginasmarans) may be selling SS eggs later on in the spring--I just didn't want to wait, LOL. There is someone on eBay who claims to have large SS. The feedback was good and buyers said the chicks were huge. I didn't want to get into a bidding war, so I got mine from someone else.