Getting seven speckled sussex chicks soon :-D

[SillyChicky]

We used to have chickens and have been birdless the last year and a half. My beloved pet out of all the layers was my beloved Emma, a red sussex. When she passed away it almost killed me so i didn't want to get more birds anytime soon. Since then we moved to a place with a coop, nice size for about ten. It needs to be cleaned out and bedded, hubby has to make sure the heat lamp works and we have to redo the outdoor enclosure (it's all saggy and a few posts are out). I'd love to paint the exterior and look forward to some color ideas on this forum. I enjoy browsing coop ideas

I also read up lots of Speckled Sussex reviews and it all sounds just like how my Emma was... She'd come in the house often and wait with the dogs at the back door to be let in. Another reason I wanted day old chicks to hand raise again.

 

[SequoyahFarms]

I have one speckled Sussex and she is the first to greet me at the coop/run door. Sweet personality and pretty much bottom of the totem pole in my flock...until the meal worms come out! She will steal them away from my big brahma!! She sees a worm and has no fear.

 

[SequoyahFarms]

I have one speckled Sussex and she is the first to greet me at the coop/run door. Sweet personality and pretty much bottom of the totem pole in my flock...until the meal worms come out! She will steal them away from my big brahma!! She sees a worm and has no fear.

 

[SillyChicky]

that's too cute lol! I don't have any other chickens so I don't worry about their wussy nature

I do have a question. I asked the breeder if she could sex them for me, as I don't want any roosters and she said she can't sex them :-S I looked at some videos on youtube and it doesn't seem TOO difficult (as long as they are within a few days old). You think she honestly doesn't know how or doesn't want to for fear of being stuck with all males that no one wants?

 

[SequoyahFarms]

Unless you know how to vent sex,( which is very hard and if you don't know what your doing I've heard you can harm the chicks), speckled sussex can be very tricky to sex. I know that's not a big help sorry.

 

[debid]

Those videos are SO deceptive. If it were really that easy, vent sexers would be common. Instead, it takes a sharp eye and years of experience to reach the level of accuracy that the pros have. And yes, squeezing without having someone experienced there to show you where to press and how hard risks injuring the chick.

You can probably buy grown pullets somewhere. Or, get sexed pullets from a place that offers them. If you like this breeder, you'd have to accept the 50/50 odds and either sell/give away or process the males for meat.

 

[sphillips]

How do the hatcheries know which are pullets, and which are cockerels when they are newly hatched? Lots of people order sexed pullets from hatcheries, so are these people very knowledgeable to be able to sex these birds so early? I have some Speckled Sussex pullets coming this week, and have wondered about this myself. Sillychicky, would you be willing to order from a hatchery? I know that there are a few out there that don't have a huge minimum order, and you can get as few as 3 chicks at a time. Just a suggestion.

 

[debid]

Hatcheries hire trained chicken sexers to come in and sort thousands of chicks on hatch days. It's why sexed pullets cost more.

 

[sphillips]

Wow. Ok, so would you want to tell people that you are a 'chicken sexer', or that you sex chickens for a living???

That is nice to know, I was wondering how they were able to do that. Didn't know they had experts!

 

[SillyChicky]

The video I seen on youtube was a woman doing it with the wing feathers, and that's the same way I've seen it done at hatcheries with chicks. They do hundreds an hr at the big hatcheries (which will sell sexed chicks in minimum orders of 20 and not in the breeds I'm interested in). I don't want anywhere near that many chickens and am pretty set on the breeds I'm interested in. I did order more than I want even for chance there's a few males in there. Guess I'll just give them away on kijiji or something. I can't eat birds I raise lol.