Speckled Sussex!

[StarLover21]

Tell me about your speckled sussex please! I love how they look! Are they friendly (most important to me)? Good layers? Loud? Good foragers? Flighty? Any info I need to know about them? When did yours start laying?

Thanks!

 

[StarLover21]

nobody has SS?

 

[6RandomBrownLayers]

Well, mine named Specks is rather nervous around me. Her feet are weird, her last knuckle on all toes curve. I think it is all or it might just be the middle toe. She is nice though and when I do pick her up, she doesn't kick or try to fly away to often, not anymore than the other girls that allow me to pick them up. I haven't gotten any eggs from her yet though and she is 23 weeks old today. Anymore questions and I'll answer them to the best of my ability. This is only one pullet though so don't base everything off of her.

 

[Bullitt]

You might have gotten a better response in the breed section.

Sussex is supposed to be a friendly breed. They are dual-purpose chickens, and the hens are pretty good layers of light brown eggs.

There are some links with information about Sussex at the bottom of this thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...chickens-resource-for-selecting-your-chickens

 

[SimpleSonflower]

I LOVE my speckled sussex! She is my favorite by far. She follows me everywhere and "talks" to me and hangs out with my Beagles too. My husband is always saying she thinks she is a dog I would say to describe her personality it would be VERY curious and friendly.

 

[Barrdwing]

We're down to two speckled Sussex, the sisters Dot and Dash. Their mother Zoe is the hen in my avatar. (She liked to sit in my lap--she was perched on my knee when I took that picture. Despite her rather fierce expression, she was not getting ready to eat the camera!) All three have been great birds: some of the best foragers in the flock, friendly, good-tempered with the other birds, good layers (although they all tapered off sharply once they got past 4 years old), and smart little things. They're flashy, too: everyone who has seen my flock asks if the Sussex are for sale. About my only gripe with them is that they seem to be susceptible to worms: I can deworm the flock, and somehow it's always Dot and Dash who start looking peaky a few months later. But mine are just hatchery stock, so they're "average" in terms of genetics. Someday I plan to get a much larger starting stock, and select for hardiness. I think this is a great breed to work with.

 

[ldutch123]

I like mine. They are 22 weeks old now. They are pretty friendly but still a little timid. They are beautiful! Do not wear flip flops around them! Lol they are the only darn girls to run up and mistake my toes as large worms!! They hang around waiting for treats! I have never had an unfriendly chicken though.

 

[Chicky-dees]

I've never had one before, but I ordered a male to be the 'main man' of my flock and he will be arriving with some others on the 22nd. I like the fact that they are on the heavier side of the dual purpose breeds, and am looking forward to raising and hatching some of the birds for meat and keeping my best layers for eggs. I can't wait! I hope they get it right and send me a male - I know that sexing has about a 10 percent failure rate so I'm crossing my fingers!!

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

I have 2 SS from Welp Hatchery I got last year. They are super friendly and very pretty.

 

[debid]

I only have one. She's awesome, though! She's soft as silk, full of personality, and a relatively quiet girl. She's also a rockstar forager. She was the tiny little chickie in the brooder snatching the occasional fat beetle up that made its way through the hardware cloth and then beating its wing covers off so she could eat it while the rest of the chicks cowered in the corners.

My only hesitation about having a whole flock of them would be egg size. Hers are 47-49 grams (size small) and her frequency is not as good as my other breeds. Now, granted, she's not quite a year old yet so the eggs might get a little bit larger but I suspect she'll never pass a medium nor be an everyday layer.