Orpington vs Sussex

[annaraven]

Buffy the EggLayer, my Orpington, is my sweetest, most reliable layer. She's awesome. She's also the head chicken, but as someone said - not mean about it. She's the one who comes running when I call and everyone follows her. She's just easy to handle and sweet. And not noisy - certainly not compared to my Leghorn and my Sicilian Buttercup!

She's big - but not HUGE. Mostly fluffy so she looks bigger than she is. I haven't had sussex, so I don't know. Good luck picking!

 

[SparksNV]

Don't have a suggestion on which one to choose but could you (or do you have room) to get half orps and half sussex?

 

[lfreem2]

I wanted to get 4 breeds that interested me initially, but ended up deciding I didn't want hybrids or interbreeding as I do want to sell purebred chicks. So, the effort of separating the breeds, roosters for each, etc. is not what I want to undertake. Am trying to keep things very simple with focusing on a single breed and really try to do a solid job of enriching a heritage breed rather than just watering things down. So, I'm trying to focus on being a specialist....but boy is it hard when there are so many awesome choices.

Everyone has helped me quite a bit with their responses actually. I decided on going Sussex, and hope to buy from a few BYC'ers shortly!

 

[kera!]

I think that chickens are as kind as you are to them, if you are soft and handle them from birth I think they both make great pets and birds great eggs. I have 4 young kids 9 and down they are both great

 

[rSpriggs]

So-
What was your final decision, & outcome?
I've had BO's and, while nice, I've superceded them with Barred Rocks.
Bought some adolescent Light (white) Sussex, waiting for them to mature & start laying (this particular batch is VERY dumb).
Bought 8 Speckled chicks today, along with a couple of Brahmas to be my natural incubators.
Looking forward to your decision & comments!

 

[mother o' chicks72]

get some of each!

 

[lfreem2]

I ended up getting 15 speckled sussex (2 of them roos). But, out of sheer curiosity, I also got 1 buff orpington hen and 1 Austrlorp hen. They are 3 weeks old today. At this point, my observations are as follows:

--The Sussex are the friendliest of the three breeds and eagerly come to me and look to be petted and eat from my hand.

--The Australorp is the LOUDEST peeper for sure. She's also the the tallest at this point and slowest to feather out. Her personality it more shy than the Sussex.

--The BO is the shyest. She hangs back while the Sussex are scampering all over me. However, when I pick her up to put her on my lap for a snuggle, she is the one that settles down the easiest and happily sits there while I'm petting her and nearly falls asleep every time.

So, based on only three weeks of seeing personality traits of the three breeds, I'm happy I went with Sussex as my main breed because I can see they are very social, easily tamed birds. Of course, we'll see what happens if this remains true as they become adults.

 

[rSpriggs]

That pretty much bears out what I've heard & read elsewhere; I'm half-hoping that I end up with a roo in my eight! The ten chicks I brought home yesterday are quite happy this AM, and it's refreshing to be able to put a hand in there & not have them go screaming in circles (as so many other breeds do)!
Please keep us informsed, and "Hi" to NC - I had a solar-powered home in Black Mountain in the 90's!
Russ

 

[gavinandallison]

Get some of each, raise them as chicks together so they will be familiar once adults!

 

[susannemw]

I have fourteen 7 day old chicks in the brooder - 6 speckled sussex, 6 EE's, and 1 black sex link. In just a week, the EEs will voluntarily have little to do with me and do not seem to like being handled at all - the BSL is sweet, but just shy, and the susses will not leave me alone. They want to be held, petted, and touched every time I go near the brooder. They are smaller by a little bit, but so sweet. Doing it again, I may just get all sussex.