My cheeky Sussex babies!

Hey all! I wanna share a couple of photos of our 2 Sussex pullets, Solar and Gray.



Solar is so boyish, she had us so confused we got her DNA tested just to make sure, hahaha.

We got 3 Sussex chicks at day old, 2 platinum/lavender and one light. One turned out to be a roo, so he's since been rehomed, but the other 2 are little girls, and cheeky ones at that!



Solar protects Gray from our bigger buff Orpingtons that like to try and put them in their place, she brings her treats, digs her nice holes to scruffle in in prime dustbathing locations, makes sure she eats, shows her around the yard, and is the ringleader of their troublesome twosome xD



Solar bonded to me immediately when we first got her, and can often be seen (and heard!) looking for me when she's free-ranging and I'm not around. One time, they climbed all the way up the back stairs and into the kitchen looking for me! My partner only saw them because Solar was calling out the 'where are you?' cheep so loudly... Or else we may have just found them trying to roost on the TV or something, haha.

But they just love people! Solar especially has a penchant for shoulders - Even since she was tiny it was hard to hold her without ending up looking like a confused pirate.



Having been held and cuddled nearly every day of their lives, these two have absolutely no qualms with climbing right into peoples laps for some attention. One time the neighbour turned on his lawnmower right near where they were peacefully foraging under our hedges, and they came sprinting, flapping and flying straight into my lap.



Solar didn't want to look like a sook though... But still didn't want to venture too far.



Neither of them like rain very much, and seem somewhat suspicious that our Orpingtons do.



And one time they thought they'd gone to heaven when they stuck under the house and found a bag of food.



They're my cheeky babies, and I thought you might like to meet them too =D





I'd love to see some shots of other people's Sussex chickens =)

I love their story! They look like really sweeties for sure! Thanks for sharing.

This is such a well-written and entertaining story! Your Sussex girls are truly beautiful, and I just love Solar's fancy-looking "collar." It is very striking. I have no doubt they are spoiled to pieces with love, which is simply awesome!

We also have a Sussex in our flock...of the "speckled" persuasion. Meet Mairead:


It's not the best picture I have of her, and it doesn't really do her justice, but it's the only one I can access at the moment.

Like Solar and Gray, she is very sweet and personable...intelligent, too! One of her favorite pastimes is waiting impatiently for us to fill the feeder at bedtime so she can raid the scoop as we pull it out of the feed bag. What can I say...the girl loves to EAT!!!

I think it's hard to beat a Sussex for sweet temperament and good looks.

Wow Mairead is beautiful! Do you know what that kind of pattern/colouring is called? It's very interesting.

I've found our Orpingtons are definitely up there with the sweet temperament and good looks, but the Orps have a more 'dignified' calm kind of sweetness, whereas I've found the Sussex are a little bit more cheeky, just a touch rascally, and what can I say - I just love a loveable scallywag xD

Thank you! Mairead is a Speckled Sussex. We love her so much and are smitten with her flashy plumage...so much so, in fact, that we ended up getting one for my brother's family. They are the cutest little butterball chicks, as wide as they are long! Meet Copper, Mairead's "cousin":

I agree with you, by the way, that Sussex chickens are a bit on the silly/mischevous side. Scallywags... haha...YES, that's a perfect description!

Those straight-laced Orpingtons are missing out. ;-) We've had two: a buff girl and a lavender boy (he was supposed to be a girl, but mistakes happen). Gosh, I loved that lavender plumage...but sadly, he turned out to be the devil incarnate and earned himself a one-way ticket to the soup pot. :-0

Mairead will definitely be one of our "forever" chickens!

Solar and Gray are so perfect-looking! I just want to reach through this screen and give them both a squeeze.

Here's a better one of Mairead that really showcases her pretty colors:

I completely understand what you mean about the Sussex breed, considering that this ornery girl "rewarded" me with a swollen lip.

~Alex

Yes, @alexandra33, now THAT looks more like her!

They were the messiest eaters as babies - Still are! They go completely out of their way to walk in, scratch around in, flick everywhere, kick dirt and straw into, poo in, and tip over their own food and water all the time. I couldn't even believe it when they were chicks, hahaha, but I'm just used to it now.

I made them an automatic feeder out of an empty icecream bucket and a shallow plastic take-away container to try to stop them walking into their food and kicking it everywhere... Well, it worked, and they love that container. They love it so much they started sleeping on top of it, all in a row, totally ignoring the nice roost I'd made for the brooder just to smoosh themselves awkwardly onto the top of this random feeder/icecream bucket. Hahaha, so funny. They still try to get on top of it but they're way, waaay too big now. They have refused to accept this and still try =P

Wow, they ALMOST sound like ducklings to me...but with ducklings, it's a sopping, soggy, squishy WET mess! I've never met anything messier. Have you ever raised ducklings? Oh my goodness! They are NOT for the faint of heart!

I'd say your automatic feeder was a brilliant idea, even though it became an exciting new roost for your girls. Chickens are funny, aren't they? When I can get a picture, I'll show you where some of our girls sleep. It's comical!

Solar and Gray really do showcase the fact that chickens can make the most fabulous pets when loved and properly socialized.

I'd love to see some of the funny random places your birds decide to sleep!

I've always found chickens to be quite funny, in my limited experience before keeping chickens myself. Just something about the way they walk around, bobbing their heads, making all these funny little noises, randomly fluffing up and frantically fly/flap/running to nowhere in particular just to scratch at some new, random patch of grass xD And watching them get themselves all in a tizzy over one of them finding a worm or grasshopper and everyone trying to get it for themselves, haha!

But I never imagined, coming into chicle keeping, that they would make such amazing pets, companions, and friends. We've decided to go exclusively with heritage breeds, as we've found the comericial hybrid layers to be more skittish and flighty, just generally less friendly and fun. Plus, we don't like the purposeful breeding over 100s of years for higher and higher egg production at the detriment of the chicken's own health, wellbeing, and life span.

I've been so happy to be completely surprised by just how much fun it is to keep chickens =) Ours are definitely pets, they get showered with love and affection. I make them fun little toys and my partner really enjoys making them soup! People usually think that sounds crazy, haha, but we just keep all our pumpkin, carrot, sweet potato, etc peels and boil them up with some water. Then we take the whole thing, water and all, and blend it up. Maybe chucking in some raw garlic, chilli, fresh fruit, cooked rice, or whatever other scraps are on hand. They all have different preferences for treats (Buff loves fresh rocket and spinach, Sage loves currants, Gray loves banana and strawberry tops, Little Star loves tuna, Solar loves breadcrumbs and seeds, and Chai loves EVERYTHING! She's a treat fiend ) but they all seem to absolutely love the 'orange' foods. I think it's because those things, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, etc, are all quite sweet, and when blended have a really creamy consistency. It's hilarious to watch them eat soup - They get it all over their faces and wattles, flick it all over each other then peck the splashed bits off each other's wings xD

One morning I realised we'd run out of their normal feed, so we whipped up some scrambled eggs with kippers, fresh garden greens and herbs, a bit of sunflower oil, and some leftover rice. They loved it. They then got the discarded remains of my partners mango and banana smoothie as an evening treat. They were some happy birds that day xD

Okay, I got a little off track there, haha, but yes chickens make excellent pets and I wish more people would get into it coz I can't believe how long I seriously had no idea how cool it would be to have some, and I'm sure other people will find it just as fun and fulfilling as we have =)

Bring on the pics! =D