what can you tell me about speckled sussex?

[TK Poultry]

im picking new breeds after a diasterous start to winter............ i want to know what to get for spring and plan and prepare for the new arrivals! i had a short list of the following.....

1. Speckled Sussex
2. Austrolorps
3. Buckeyes (werent on the original list but read about them on here and am liking ALOT)
4. Welsummers

im really wanting to know alot about speckled sussex or the sussex breed in general but if you have anything to offer about any of the other breeds on my "list" that would be more than appriciated....... the thing on the top of my list for any breed is that they are very winter hardy so any comment on that and they are good with kids from what i can tell all four are that but looking for a owners perspective and cant find that on a breed profile website!

thank you in advance!

 

[cherylcohen]

We just lost ours, omg she was the sweetest bird...came to us all the time, loved snuggling

 

[patandchickens]

I <heart> my speckled sussexes big-time - they are my main chickens. I can't speak for SS from other sources, but mine are calm and sensible and reasonably friendly, and make a beautiful looking flock

As they have decent-sized single combs (comparable to Rocks) they are not the *very* most immune-to-frostbite critters, not compared to rose- or peacombed breeds, but mine do okay.

Pat

 

[RAREROO]

I really like my Speckled Sussex, they are so beautiful, They are decent layers though not quite as good as my Barred Rocks, of medium sized, light colored eggs, and they forage really well when I let them out. Mine don't particularly care to be handled, but I have 3 roos, with icepic sharp spurs and none of them have ever shown any aggressiveness to anyone. I plan to keep breeding and improving on mine, pm me if you would be interested in eggs in the spring.

Here are some of mine

 

[speckledhen]

I have one, my fat little Nelda. She is like a beachball on short legs and is an eating machine. Lays an egg that is barely even a medium. She's been known to jump into people's vehicles looking for food so we have to watch her when someone is here and the girls are freeranging. Not sure I'd ever get more of them due to the egg size...that, and the fact that they'd eat us out of house and home if they were all like Nelda. She's a character, though!

 

[suburbanminifarm]

I have only one, named "Coral", and she's about 4 mos old. She is VERY friendly and curious! She will come in the house at any opportunity, will ride on the dogs and on kids who stoop down, and is just generally a nice girl with a good personality. She is from MPC. I have not noticed her being a voracious eater.

 

[Katy]

Mine are probably my most friendly and are always underfoot. I think they consume more feed for their size tho than some of my other breeds.

 

[TK Poultry]

sounds like im hooked and RAREROO ill keep you in mind for spring................ i fall more in love the more i see them and hear about them!!!!! im still on the fence on my second and final breed tho....... welsummers arent that appealing to me but the austrolorps and the buckeyes are tied! i just dont know!!

i guess it will come in time! id love some more info the more the merrier! keep it coming guys really appriciate it!

 

[speckledhen]

Forgot to say that Nelda is lovely. After her molt, she got more white on her, but she's still very pretty. She walks around whining/chattering in a voice I swear sounds like Olive Oyl, LOL. Often when the freerange, I open the kitchen door to find her just sitting on the welcome mat, waiting for someone to toss her a treat.

 

[Julie_A]

I have four Welsummers and they are pretty nice. Have been very calm so far. Much easier to deal with compared to my RIRs.

I wanted chickens that were calm as opposed to tremendous egg layers, so my flock has gone in a completely different direction. I have several SS chicks from Bargain. I hope to buy eggs from Rareroo this spring. He has beautiful birds!!!

I kept my grandfather's Australorps for two weeks, while searching for a rooster for him. They are beautiful birds. Good layers. Loud mouths, though. LOL I love their eyes the most... beautiful little bits of black onyx. I hatched 6 Australorp chicks for him last week.

Here's my dream flock...
Welsummers (giving these a test run), Delawares (from speckled hen), Speckled Sussex (from Rareroo).

I'd also like to own a few bantam buff brahmas. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to keep the silver laced wyandottes I hatched last month.