Speckled Sussex

[debid]

OK, so this breed makes me crazy with the "Is it or isn't it a cockerel?" There has been no comb or wattle development at all so at 7 weeks, I think she must be a pullet as promised. But she looks so different from the last SS pullet I had in color and shape so it gives me pause. Her wings are too long for her body and she's the friendly and bold one that is constantly trying to convince the rest that the food is better where she is... but especially that wonky tail! I grabbed her today and examined the new neck feathers coming in and they are definitely blunt.

 

[donrae]

I agree she looks funky and the color is off, but no comb, etc yet. I'm thinking pullet, but please post again in a month or so?

 

[debid]

She's started her baby feathers molt so I'll be curious to see if her coloring normalizes at all and if her big girl tail is straighter. I've just never seen a SS chick with a curled tail or one that still had wings extending to her vent at this age. She still looks leggy to me as well. Her proportions just seem off. Perhaps she's a mutant rather than a cockerel in hiding.

 

[warmheart]

I'm hoping that she's the pullet you're wishing for! This has got to be the friendliest, chatty-est, most busy-body breed out there. I love SS! Hoping her tail and coloration and wing length all normalize for you, and put any gender concerns to rest. What a cutie she is!

 

[debid]

I'm hoping that she's the pullet you're wishing for! This has got to be the friendliest, chatty-est, most busy-body breed out there. I love SS! Hoping her tail and coloration and wing length all normalize for you, and put any gender concerns to rest. What a cutie she is!

Or, if she's a very late-blooming HE that it's been long enough since the unpleasantness of the last rooster's departure that he'd be granted a pardon...

This chick is named Dorothy (Dot) and she is officially the first to get up the nerve to go inside the big henhouse and look around. She chirped like crazy to the others to come and see but they wouldn't. I wish I'd gotten two speckleds so she'd have an explorer friend. They really are a riot. My previous SS died in the awful heat wave we had last summer and I had to get another because even though her production wasn't great, she was just a bundle of personality! I was so pleased to find that Dot acts SO much like Maggie did.