The Sussex thread!

[Illia]

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That's what I thought!

The only Light Sussex in the US that are that big and nice looking are the imported ones. I've got a couple like yours. . . . Humungous and beautiful girls with amazing, perfect color.

 

[Ozchicken]

There are far better birds than mine here, although with work I might get up there.

The competition is pretty amazing here so you have to have top birds to get anywhere showing them. There are other colours, but the lights seem to be the only ones that have any chance of top honours and even that's rare.

Where I live, my biggest challenge is getting the chicks out at the right time of the year and getting enough growth on them before the wet season because they eat less then and don't reach peak size. The genetics are pretty tight in this line apart from the occasional bird that might show some light leg feathering. There is obviously a recessive leg feathering gene in the flock so I never breed from those. I'm also careful to breed some birds with too much black as well. I want some suitable for show, and some that I keep in case I start losing the green sheen in the black and have to put colour back in. I pick those reserve birds for having a little grey in the undercolour. I don't show them of course.

Here are the two boys that I've bred from this season. Sorry about the grainy photo. I can't find the original atm so had to pull it from somewhere else. I'll have to keep looking or take a new one. They have different strengths. The one on the left is slightly smaller but has a lovely long flat back - he's filled out a bit since this pic, he was young then. The one on the right is a massive boy, back ok.

 

[gootziecat]

What size egg can be expected from a (lav) Coronation Sussex?

 

[Ozchicken]

Sussex lay a medium sized egg, usually slightly tinted.

 

[RustyHen]

Hi, I just wanted to show my Speckled Sussex pullets now that they are 19 weeks old, partway finished with their juvie molt, hopefully the will begin to lay soon

they are very gentle and curious

and have bottumless pits for stomaches

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

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They're soooo gorgeous! I have some Speckled Sussex coming next week (eggs).

~Aspen

 

[RustyHen]

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

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They're soooo gorgeous! I have some Speckled Sussex coming next week (eggs).

~Aspen

Thank You, even though they are hatchery birds I feel very lucky to have them​

 

[Orange Ribbon]

Rusty Hen, your speckled sussex are beautiful birds. What hatchery did you get those from? I have 9 SS I got from Ideal, and they are about 2 months old. Not really old enough to tell much about yet, though there are some variances in them. Some lighter or darker, etc. etc.

I just recently acquired two new flocks from a breeder who was selling out. I say 2 flocks because they sold what was left of their original SS, plus they had some younger SS they hatched from eggs from another breeder. The older birds are 2 years old, and they had 6 of those, which I got, a rooster and 5 hens. I got 12 of the younger birds also, 2 roosters and 10 pullets. They are 4 months old. Below are some pictures of the juvenile SS. I'm am so tickled with these, and can't believe my luck knowing that many people have been looking for a long time and can't find any breeder quality SS. I spent everyday for the past six months following every lead I could find until I ran into these. Found them on Craigslist in a little town on the coast I'd never heard of before. Drove 6 hours to pick them all up, and 6 hours back home! I love the dark mahogany on these, especially the one in the second picture. But they are all dark mahogany, varying in degrees of speckles, but having nice long, wide backs for their age. They have very few white primaries and most of them are mottled with mahogany which I understand could mean they would lose some or all of that extra white after they molt. One pullet has no extra white in her wings at all. The roosters have some extra white, but by breeding them with these darker hens, I expect some good looking offspring in the future. To me Speckled Sussex are the most beautiful of all chickens, and to have found some not originating in a hatchery has me all excited. I still like my Ideal SS too though.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

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Nice flock of SS. Really like the 'gal in the 2nd picture.

~Aspen

 

[RustyHen]

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I got these from My Pet Chicken. One is very light and not as square built as the other 3.
I have been following your saga on Show Quality SS thread.