Chicken Breed Focus - Sebright

[Cerise1924]

I love this little Sebright! Firefly is 2 1/2 weeks old, and has lovely wing feathers and the tiny beginning of a tail. This bird is unlike any chicken I've had - more like a little parakeet. S/he is quick, agile and alert. There is nowhere this little chick would rather be than on my shoulder. Firefly will climb up my boot, my arm, whatever, just to get closer.

I would have her with me all day long, but I don't want her in the rooms where the dogs are, especially as she has an odd habit of trying to climb into my mouth. That wouldn't be so good with the dogs.

In 3 weeks, I should have LF chicks. I am thinking of having the Sebright share a brooder with them at that point, for company. Would a 5 week old bantam do will with newborn large breeds, like Orpingtons and EEs? If the brooder is big enough, the differing temperature requirements might not be a problem, I'm thinking.

Thoughts on that?

Any more Sebright pics or tips anyone can share?

 

[imagine]

Just thought I'd share a cute picture of my "pretty chicken" that's what we've come to call her. She's my only sebright I hope to get another (or 2 or 3..) I have a small mixed flock...1 big red chicken (got her at a stand on the side of the road) a Phoenix hen (game bird), my bantam silkie, pretty chicken , and 2 old English game bantams, oh and I just got 3 chicks that are about 4 days old....1 white silkie and 2 Mille fleur!!! I would def. have to say that pretty chicken is my favorite she's always following me around chattin it up...great breed, hoping that the feed store will order some of these chicks so I can have a few more...I like the idea of having 2 of each breed so I'd like 1 more silver sebright and 2 golden sebrights

 

[Cerise1924]

Just thought I'd share a cute picture of my "pretty chicken" that's what we've come to call her. She's my only sebright I hope to get another (or 2 or 3..) I have a small mixed flock...1 big red chicken (got her at a stand on the side of the road) a Phoenix hen (game bird), my bantam silkie, pretty chicken

, and 2 old English game bantams, oh and I just got 3 chicks that are about 4 days old....1 white silkie and 2 Mille fleur!!! I would def. have to say that pretty chicken is my favorite she's always following me around chattin it up...great breed, hoping that the feed store will order some of these chicks so I can have a few more...I like the idea of having 2 of each breed so I'd like 1 more silver sebright and 2 golden sebrights

 

[imagine]

Oh gosh yes my red hen is bossy but my Phoenix kinda keeps her in her place as she's the oldest...Pretty Chicken and Red were both raised by my silkie, Joy, so those three are pretty close, it was so funny too because when the red hen got bigger than the silkie she was still trying to get under her wing and it just wouldn't work lol

 

[imagine]

ive been wanting to hatch eggs for some time now...the reason I had gotten silkies was because I read that they're broody so I was going to use the silkie to hatch quail eggs for me, neighbors cat had different ideas and I ended up with no quails and one silkie because her sibling died a day after I got her...before that I had only oegb but the rooster was mean and my 2 hens fell prey to something not sure what really...between then and now our dog had puppies...we kept one of course,his name is Tommy, and he's a pit bull like his mom Delilah who my husband has had long before me , I've trained Them both and Tommy protects the chickens really well...so anyway now that the neighbors cat and whatever else don't come in my yard because of Tommy I'm really wanting to hatch and actually am watching a few hatching eggs on eBay for some sebright and Cochins...my Phoenix wants babies so I'm thinking she'll sit on them but man I don't want to waste money on eggs if she don't so I'm thinking of buying an incubator...

 

[Cerise1924]

ive been wanting to hatch eggs for some time now...the reason I had gotten silkies was because I read that they're broody so I was going to use the silkie to hatch quail eggs for me, neighbors cat had different ideas and I ended up with no quails and one silkie because her sibling died a day after I got her...before that I had only oegb but the rooster was mean and my 2 hens fell prey to something not sure what really...between then and now our dog had puppies...we kept one of course,his name is Tommy, and he's a pit bull like his mom Delilah who my husband has had long before me

, I've trained Them both and Tommy protects the chickens really well...so anyway now that the neighbors cat and whatever else don't come in my yard because of Tommy I'm really wanting to hatch and actually am watching a few hatching eggs on eBay for some sebright and Cochins...my Phoenix wants babies so I'm thinking she'll sit on them but man I don't want to waste money on eggs if she don't so I'm thinking of buying an incubator...

I'm sure that was funny watching big baby Red and mama silkie. Now, if they Phoenix doesn't go broody when you give her eggs, can you just give them to Joy? Or is she too small to manage the eggs you want to hatch? I got my Sebright eggs on eBay, but 10 of the 12 eggs were clear. Another ended up DIS. I felt so lucky to get this one chick.

 

[imagine]

I'm sure that was funny watching big baby Red and mama silkie.  Now, if they Phoenix doesn't go broody when you give her eggs, can you just give them to Joy? Or is she too small to manage the eggs you want to hatch?  I got my Sebright eggs on eBay, but 10 of the 12 eggs were clear. Another ended up DIS. I felt so lucky to get this one chick.

 

[imagine]

I think Joy would do it but I'm not sure and I'd hate to spend so much and then end up with nothing but I guess either way it's a gamble

 

[Faraday40]

I heard Sebrights are difficult to breed. Not sure why. Mine likes to go broody. Some books state that Sebrights rarely go broody. Birds can't read, so our little Sebright hen is quite a fierce & persistent mama.

We also only have one Sebright, "Trouble". She thinks she's queen of the coop, very chatty, and likes to follow me around. I just found her stash of eggs yesterday behind the feeder. (She's the only one that can fit back there.) The roos are too big for her, so her eggs are not fertile. Last year she managed to hatch giant orp eggs and raised them as her own - on 3 different occasions. I find that she's more of a loner within the flock. I did have a time when my Bantam orp & Sebright both went broody. They bonded temporarily & raised chicks together.

Although the bantam orp hatched her, she became a companion for a lonely Dominique chick. (The bantam orp would not adopt the Dominique, so we pulled the Sebright to be a companion for the Dom. Never planned on keeping a Sebright, so if that didn't happen, we would have sold the Sebright with all the other chicks.) "Bubbles" (The Dom) & "Trouble"(the Sebright) were BFFs until they started laying. That's when Trouble started going off on her own adventures. She's small enough to go under the fence & flies well enough to go over it too. I fear if I got another Sebright, the 2 may travel too far away from my yard. With only one, she sticks around to stay near her flock.

Anyway, if you want to hatch eggs & your Sebright goes broody, I would recommend using her. There's something about the Sebright tenacity that makes them great mothers. I know I was very surprised. Ours hatched 5 LF eggs. I was afraid that she wouldn't be able to cover them as they grew, so I rehomed 2 chicks. Trouble stayed with her 3 chicks until they were 7 weeks old & 3xs her size.

2 days old

3 weeks old

6 weeks old

Here are trouble's "babies" now:

 

[Cerise1924]

I heard Sebrights are difficult to breed. Not sure why. Mine likes to go broody. Some books state that Sebrights rarely go broody. Birds can't read, so our little Sebright hen is quite a fierce & persistent mama.

We also only have one Sebright, "Trouble". She thinks she's queen of the coop, very chatty, and likes to follow me around. I just found her stash of eggs yesterday behind the feeder. (She's the only one that can fit back there.) The roos are too big for her, so her eggs are not fertile. Last year she managed to hatch giant orp eggs and raised them as her own - on 3 different occasions. I find that she's more of a loner within the flock. I did have a time when my Bantam orp & Sebright both went broody. They bonded temporarily & raised chicks together.

Although the bantam orp hatched her, she became a companion for a lonely Dominique chick. (The bantam orp would not adopt the Dominique, so we pulled the Sebright to be a companion for the Dom. Never planned on keeping a Sebright, so if that didn't happen, we would have sold the Sebright with all the other chicks.) "Bubbles" (The Dom) & "Trouble"(the Sebright) were BFFs until they started laying. That's when Trouble started going off on her own adventures. She's small enough to go under the fence & flies well enough to go over it too. I fear if I got another Sebright, the 2 may travel too far away from my yard. With only one, she sticks around to stay near her flock.

Anyway, if you want to hatch eggs & your Sebright goes broody, I would recommend using her. There's something about the Sebright tenacity that makes them great mothers. I know I was very surprised. Ours hatched 5 LF eggs. I was afraid that she wouldn't be able to cover them as they grew, so I rehomed 2 chicks. Trouble stayed with her 3 chicks until they were 7 weeks old & 3xs her size.

Trouble is adorable. I love seeing her with her giant babies - very sweet. I hope my Firefly is a pullet.