Sussex

I have 8 hens and 1 rooster. "Red" our rooster, will NOT stay in the coop and run. He will come in to eat and service a few ladies, but chooses to spend his time outside the yard, watching things. He does a wonderful job protecting the hens and chicks from predators. I have mixed breed flock, but find speckled chicks in every flock that has hatched. The hens are a medium sized hen, who lay nice sized eggs for their small body size. They lay consistently, but do go broody. When they go broody, they are very determined to keep their nests. I have had to keep each one on a nest, as they will drive themselves crazy trying to brood. When you disturb them while laying, even when not broody, they let you know they are displeased by squawking at you. When they are not broody, they are some of the sweetest birds I have raised. It catches me off guard every time one jumps on my shoulder! They will sit right next to you, allow the kids to pack them around, and even rub up on our dogs. They are very curious, and will jump in your car or house if you leave a window open.

I have never had a hen, but my friend bought me one, who was crazy, and then all her chickens got stolen. Then she got another one for herself, and that girl is crazy, and then I got one for me, and he turned out to be a roo, which sucks, but he is crazy, too. I would only get this breed from a good, quality breeder.

As a first time chicken owner I did my research and chose the Speckled Sussex. I have never regretted my choice! I absolutely LOVE this breed. The hens are super friendly. They will talk to you but are not noisy. If it weren't for our 2 roosters you would never know we had any chickens. They love to free range but never wander far. Their spots really help them stay camouflaged. We have had a total of 5 Speckled Sussex roosters. Our first is mean. We purchased him because the previous owner had "too many roosters". Personally, I think they knew he was mean and wanted to get rid of him. Our other 4 were great. We have re-homed 3 of them and the 4th one has become the king of the coop. He is great with his ladies, he puts the mean rooster in his place, even going after him when he tries to attack me. I highly recommend the breed, especially if you are a new chicken owner.

I love my Speckled Sussex! "Wynnie" is a sweetheart who I hatched in my mom's second grade classroom for a 4-H project and I adore her! She's the friendliest out of my little flock, and she always comes running to the door as I walk in. She is super dog-like, and she'll follow me into the house if I don't close the door fast enough! She's VERY curious, and sometimes pecks at my feet if I'm wearing new sandals or anything shiny. Definitely one of my smarter birds! She's always watching for the dog and runs for cover when shadows pass over head. She can be noisy when she's laying, and her cluck is much louder than the other birds. She's normally quiet, but when she is vocal you can always hear her! I love this breed, and I would totally recommend them to anyone with a bit of space who doesn;t mind noise!

I have one hen, her name is Lisma, that will walk right up to door and start asking for treats, she'll also slide past me and run into the hallway where the chick feed is because she thinks it tastes better! I have five other hens that I didn't name because they all look the same and aren't as friendly as Lisma, but they aren't as flighty as some of my other birds. Lisma is also a great show bird for 4-H, she'll stand on the table and let you pull out her wings, feet, move her head, anything! Speckled Sussex, along with Red Stars, have the biggest personalities.

I have 1 Speckled Sussex, and out of all my chickens, she is the most timid around people. I can literally walk up and grab any one of my other hens, but not Babs. She is a good layer, and if I were ever interested in hatching eggs, she'd be a great sitter.

I guess it depends on what you want in a chicken. I prefer more friendly breeds, so I probably wouldn't get another one.

Great birds. Curious is the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe even too curious. They sometimes wander off too far, and lost one to a predator this way.
They run to say hi, I don't handle my birds much and can pick these up no problem, work outside all day scratching, relax and passive with other birds so makes for a calm coop, they are beautiful and lay lots of eggs. I can't think of a better bird.
I've tried various breed and this one trumps them all. Would highly recommend.

My SS Chickadee is the top girl in my flock. She leads with an extremely gentle hand - er, wing - warning the flock, gathering and protecting the flock and rarely pecking or being bossy. She has a pair of lieutenants to do the dirty work. She allows the lowest bird to eat with her separately when the meanies have had their fill and moved on. She is an absolutely delightful bird to look at, round and plump with a delicate small head. I love the speckles and it is very good camouflage for a free-ranging bird. She was a very funny looking chick, way behind her brooder mates in development, so I'm delighted she turned out well. She is not the best layer, unfortunately, I think she had a small deformity or injury to her vent as a chick and her eggs are often misshapen and rough, that's just her and not the breed, I imagine. She is definitely stalwart, stands up to the dogs but has a sweet and gentle manner. She's much more interested in her fellow hens then in people, but she'll let me pick her up.

I have a Speckled Sussex named Patrick (after Patrick Stump, lead singer of Fall Out Boy. Yes, she is a hen.) She lays daily, and is very pretty. Gets along great with the other hens, and is very curious. Always getting into the garden. A little skittish with me, but probably just because she is new to the flock and hasn't had a lot of human contact. Got her at 4 months, is going on 7 now!

I love my speckled sussex hens! we have a hen named susan, (we call her one-eyed susan which is a pun after the flower, black-eyed susan) and she is a goofy little bird. Her tail is at a 90 degree angle sideways and she has one blind eye. She is quite the comical little bird. She is an excellent layer and treats the other chickens very nicely. My other sussex hens are also very friendly.

I have to agree with all the good things said about the SS. Mine are curious and friendly and when I'm building something in the coop they hang around and watch. I was taking photos of the brackets I wanted to use for the new roosting pole and there is an SS in every photo because they wanted to know what I was doing, and wandered into every photo! Even when very young they were the first ones to approach me when I went to sit with the chickens. And they would always make some kind of cooing noise to me-which just endeared them to me even more. They are far and away my favorite breed-(of the 9 breeds I've had) and next time I will just stick with them-they have sweet personalities, are not flighty and are very pretty.

My Sussex is a very friendly girl. We call her a lap chicken because she prefers to be around humans rather than other chickens. The main thing about her, she's very curious, which leads to wandering away from the others and getting herself stuck (sometimes literally) in sticky situations. Be that as it may, she's my favourite chicken and I would definitely recommend this breed.

The Speckled Sussex is the Labrador of the chicken breeds. This is the only breed that allows my daughter to touch and hold them. They follow me around the yard and are curious about everything! They love to carry on a conversation with you and let you know loud and clear when they have laid an egg. Their egg laying has been good, except for the eggs are on the smaller side compared to my Easter Eggers and barnyard mixes.

The plumage on this breed is beautiful, with a deep mahogany base tipped with black stripes and white dots. I love their squatty plump body type.

If you are looking for an all around great chicken, the Speckled Sussex is for you.

My alpha hen is a speckled sussex named Huevo. She clucks a lot and they're long and whiny. She pecks every single little thing and is very bossy but gives us beautiful light brown eggs with slight speckling.

i had 2 speckled sussix in my flock...ethel was the sweetest, friendliest bird i ever had...she always sat in my lap,cuddled up and snuggled in....very verbally expressive...kind and gentle!!!...they both went thru a very harsh winter just fine...stella was full of personality too; altho not as gentle...she used to peck at my shoes if i hadn't been there to visit often enough!...she didn't like to be picked up as much...she was the one to stick her head out of the pen area to eat the weeds...so funny!... i will not hesitate to get them again...

Bought three SS chicks for my very first chickens a year ago and it was a great choice! They are friendly and were very easy to tame. They are smart and come up to you and beg for attention. Not to mention they are beautiful! Compared to the other breeds that I have now acquired, these are still my favorite! The only bad thing to say about them is that they can actually be demanding of attention. One of mine will jump up on me if I don't feed fast enough. And if I bend down to do anything in the cage they will try to fly up on my shoulder. Such a wonderful breed, especially for those who want tame and friendly pets!

I have 2 speckled Sussex and I love them! Mine always welcome me in the morning (usually always come when you have treats). Although I have heard that they can be bit rude to new chickens.

The oldest hen in my flock right now is a Speckled Sussex simply named 'Special Chicken'. She has literally flown into my arms before and is VERY talkative along with the other SS hen. The rooster has become overprotective (although raised by hand) and does attack my back when it's turned. If he's in the coop and I'm changing out the feeder or waterer, he attacks my hand with his spurs (which is fun), and I have to grab him and play 'who likes hanging upside down' for a bit before tucking him under my arm and holding him like an American football for awhile. I like that he's so protective of his flock, but have learned to wear gloves. I may name him 'Bladerunner' because his comb (and part of a waddle) fell off this winter, despite my best efforts at dressing his comb with salve before really cold nights.

My two Speckled Sussex are nice enough. They don't peck at the other hens or at me, and they pretty much just leave everyone alone. Don't come up to me like the rest of the flock when I let them out of the coop, and really hate being picked up. If I try they start struggling a lot and if/when they get their wings out smack me until I have to set them down or they get out of my arms. Other than that, they are great layers with beautiful brown eggs. They lay all year, and aren't broody at all.

We got our Speckled Sussex by accident. We bought a Welsummer at the feed store and she ended up being a Sussex. Very slow to grow and feather out, but when she did she is a beautiful, heavy bird. She loves to free-range and wanders way out in the field by herself. We worry a predator will get her, but so far she has either been lucky or smarter than they are.

Eggs are very lightly tinted. Hen has laid consistently all winter, about 4 or 5 eggs per week. One of the main complaints I have is the eggs are small to medium in size. She is also a very vocal bird and extremely loud. I don't think she'd do well being confined all day because she was squawk all day long. Nice, friendly bird though. She enjoys being picked up and carried around the yard.

Despite the small egg size, we hatched four of them this winter and all the chick are doing great!