The Sussex thread!

[LoreenH]

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Speckled sussex girls are extremely talkative. The do not talk like other birds.... it is like cooing with gowling mixed in for reflection.
It sounds like TR may just be the alpha pullet. SHE will probably be the one that follows you around the yard 24 /7.
SHE is looking all girly.... Don't send her to the farm yet!

If that farm of yours is hard up for an SS rooster, hook them up with me. I have about 8 SS cockerels in the bachelor pad!
I can confidently say TR looks all girl!

Thanks! Ok...TR won't be going to the farm. Guess I'll need to figure out a name for her. Both Sussex are always following me; I've accidently kicked them a couple of times and they still haven't learned to stay out of the way.

 

[LoreenH]

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If you feather sexed them it was proubly wrong as I don't know any one who has breed Speckled Sussex for feather sexing.


The breeder flock for the female line must be slow feathering only, and the breeder flock for the male line must be fast feathering only. To breed for the chicks you would then cross the slow feathering females with the fast feathering males. The resulting offspring would be the opposite of their parents. Females fast feathering and the males slow feathering.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKFeathSex.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261208
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1974-05-01/How-to-Sex-Day-Old-Chicks.aspx

Thanks. That's another reason I was questioning gender....Miss Piggy feathered out way faster than the 'roo'. But now that I've closely compared hackles and saddle feathers, they are both rounded. Miss Piggy's are just more rounded than the 'roo'.

 

[Stevenson]

I visited Lincoln State Park today (just about an hour away from my home in Indiana) where they have a working farm exhibit. The chickens that they had were speckled sussex, so I took some pictures to share with you all. I was really impressed with the fencing and coop as well as the chickens.

 

[RustyHen]

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Thank you, great pics

 

[math ace]

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Mine are over a year old and STILL trip me. They haven't learned to stay out of the way, BUT I have learned to WATCH for them BEFORE I break my neck!

 

[AinaWGSD]

Mine are almost a year old and still I occasionally find myself stepping on their toes. I feel a little bad, but at the same time it's funny because once I step on them they try to "run away" while I'm still standing on their toes! Of my 7 chickens they are the first two to come running when they hear me on the back porch (they don't even wait for me to open the door anymore!).

 

[mrheinz77]

Too funny

 

[NonnasBabies]

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That's some great pics! Love the fence!!

 

[flowerchild59]

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That's some great pics! Love the fence!!

x2

 

[debid]

I'm loving this thread!

I only have one young Speckled Sussex pullet in my mixed flock and I wish I had more because she's adorable! She was the youngest by a week and so tiny when I got her... yet she was the only chick in the brooder unafraid to smash and eat a fat beetle when one would fly in and terrify the rest of the chicks. Her foraging skills are impressive and she's clearly the smartest chicken in the group (the run door doesn't befuddle her -- if it's in her way, she just walks around it). She's not a big fan of being picked up but comes running when she hears me approaching to see what I might have.