The Sussex thread!

[Faraday40]

It was time to take some Christmas pics & as usual the kids insisted that the chickens be in some of our photos.
Here's our fav camera hog = Precious. My DD really spoils this hen. We believe Precious is a barnyard mix that contains some Sussex. She certainly has the personality of one.



Precious gives "hugs" by stretching her neck & placing her head on your shoulder.

 

[Faraday40]

My son's fav chicken is a Coro Sussex x Orpington mix.



As you can see, she's a lot of pullet for this little guy, but she really loves him & vice versa.


I decided to use her in some other fun pics.

 

[purplehenfarms]

Cute Christmas photos. My chicken Fuzzie went and saw Santa yesterday. I know she's not a Susex but I have two and there not friendly like my Silie chicken Fuzzie. She asked for more mealworms!.

 

[Jujubara]

Faraday40, those hens and kids are adorable!!!

Here is our Sussex, Atika:

 

[chicken-clucky]

Speckled Sussexs that I brought from the breeder yesterday

 

[MeeMa Brown]

Can you pick the Sussex eggs? Hint...RIR, Golden Compine, Dominique, and Buff Orpington...and speckled Sussex.

 

[PDPercherons]

I would say the 3 eggs to the right of the white eggs. My SS hens lay an almost terracotta color

 

[Faraday40]

Can you pick the Sussex eggs? Hint...RIR, Golden Compine, Dominique, and Buff Orpington...and speckled Sussex.

I think the other egg to the right of the white eggs (the pinkish egg) came from your Dominque.
I think the white eggs are from the Golden Campine.
Not as sure, but maybe the 3 on far left are the Orp eggs due to the larger, more rounded shape. Of course my own Coronation Sussex & her offspring make very large & rounded eggs too. They are a lot more like my Orps than other Sussex.

 

[esme13]

Faraday40, those Christmas photos of the kids are precious!!! thank you for sharing.


On another note, my speckled sussex has been laying more consistent!! The only problem? I thought it was the silkie egg!! I started wondering how my silkie was laying darker eggs. My husband too was convince it was our little silkie. However I told him, how could her eggs change color?? The speckled sussex eggs are ridiculous for it's size. Now they are a tiny bit larger than the silkie egg. But how sad that I had to compare it to the silkie?? and my silkie eggs are wayyyy smaller than my tophat polish eggs. But maybe because they are a hatchery bird it is small? or because its dual purpose. I'm not sure, largest bird in my coop lays the smallest, who would have known. If she wasn't so pretty she'd be dinner my husband says.

 

[Faraday40]

Faraday40, those Christmas photos of the kids are precious!!! thank you for sharing.
Thanks

On another note, my speckled sussex has been laying more consistent!! The only problem? I thought it was the silkie egg!! I started wondering how my silkie was laying darker eggs. My husband too was convince it was our little silkie. However I told him, how could her eggs change color?? The speckled sussex eggs are ridiculous for it's size. Now they are a tiny bit larger than the silkie egg. But how sad that I had to compare it to the silkie?? and my silkie eggs are wayyyy smaller than my tophat polish eggs. But maybe because they are a hatchery bird it is small? or because its dual purpose. I'm not sure, largest bird in my coop lays the smallest, who would have known. If she wasn't so pretty she'd be dinner my husband says.

Pullet eggs are always small & they will slowly increase in size as the hen ages. After the 1st molt the egg size will increase again. I found that my bantam's small eggs are actually large if you compare the eggs' size to her little body size. After her molt, the bantam's eggs stayed about the same size, though. DH prefers the big eggs, so our bantam is more of a novelty.

My spring pullets are finally all laying, so now I get to play "Whose egg is this?" Such a fun game, isn't it?! I hope MeeMaBrown gives us the answer to her egg riddle.

....And, FYI: Today, my 3lb Bantam Orp's egg is the same size as my 8lb English Orp pullet's egg.

(In her defense, it was her 1st egg.)