Saturday, December 31, 2011
The Sussex
I started my Light Sussex flock almost two years ago and have enjoyed them immensly. I was fortunate to obtain Lights from several sources including Pennsylvania, New York and Colorado Springs. Most of my Lights are recessive for Coronation ( Lavender ) so I was able to produce the visually stunning Coronations I now breed from. I also recently obtained two more Coronation pullets so have a nice diversified gene pool to pull my breeding stock from. Of course most if not all of these birds can be traced back to Greenfire Farms bloodline with a little Canadian blood thrown in for good measure!
For those new to chickens the Coronation/Lavender is a recessive gene so both parents must carry gene to produce a Coronation offspring. For instance two parents may look like Lights but if they both have the recessive gene 25% of the offspring would be visually Coronation. The nice thing about these two colors is that you can breed them together since Coronation is just a dilution of black so the black color is replaced with the lavender/Coronation.
My next project with Sussex are my Silvers. Visually stunning these guys are huge gentle giants. I have a very small flock in the works this year and am working on obtaining more breeding quality stock. I have read that periodically crossing a Coronation to a Silver helps to brighten the silver color.
Last year my Sussex produced eggs all winter long. They are very fluffy and cold tolerant. Because they are so calm around people I highly recommend this breed for families with kids. We took my Sussex hens to a birthday petting zoo last summer and they sat quietly on the kids laps as if they had been doing that for years!
I will be planning test hatches late winter and have chicks available in early spring.
Silver Sussex Pullet
Silver Sussex pullet
Silver Sussex cockerel with Light hen
Coronation Sussex cockerel, rooster in back
Light Sussex rooster
Light Sussex cockerel
Silver Sussex cockerel
SIlver Sussex rooster
Silver Sussex rooster
For those new to chickens the Coronation/Lavender is a recessive gene so both parents must carry gene to produce a Coronation offspring. For instance two parents may look like Lights but if they both have the recessive gene 25% of the offspring would be visually Coronation. The nice thing about these two colors is that you can breed them together since Coronation is just a dilution of black so the black color is replaced with the lavender/Coronation.
My next project with Sussex are my Silvers. Visually stunning these guys are huge gentle giants. I have a very small flock in the works this year and am working on obtaining more breeding quality stock. I have read that periodically crossing a Coronation to a Silver helps to brighten the silver color.
Last year my Sussex produced eggs all winter long. They are very fluffy and cold tolerant. Because they are so calm around people I highly recommend this breed for families with kids. We took my Sussex hens to a birthday petting zoo last summer and they sat quietly on the kids laps as if they had been doing that for years!
I will be planning test hatches late winter and have chicks available in early spring.
Silver Sussex Pullet
Silver Sussex pullet
Silver Sussex cockerel with Light hen
Coronation Sussex cockerel, rooster in back
Light Sussex rooster
Light Sussex cockerel
Silver Sussex cockerel
SIlver Sussex roosterSilver Sussex rooster
Friday, December 30, 2011
Available birds
It pains me to do this but my lovely little flock of Large Fowl Cochins is up for sale. I have a quad of BBS available. The Rooster is a gorgeous Black with very heavily feathered feet, he is still quite young so have not seen him breeding yet . He has a black pullet just started laying also a blue and a splash hen. Update, one of the hens just layed a huge egg! Must have been either the Blue or the Splash as the Black is a pullet and her eggs was still quite small. Rooster is top pic ( see those amazing feathered feet ), center pic of the 3 hens with another pic of black hen below. I am so sorry but I will not be splitting this group up, they are all or nothing as it doesn't do me much good to sell the three hens and have to place the rooster by himself. They make a perfect little starter flock ready made for you without having to mess around with raising chicks all winter and waiting 6 months for eggs!
I have two extra Sussex cockerels available. Not for food, I would just as soon keep them for breeding stock than chicken stock! These boys were hatched out last Easter so even though they are large they still have some growing and maturing to do. They have grown up together so would be fine in the same flock . One is a Coronation the other a Silver. Both rare and hard to find locally. They would be nice to diversify a flocks gene pool or just increase the size of your next generation of dual purpose birds. I do keep my roosters tame and pick them up frequently so you would not have to worry about an aggressive bird with these two.
I have two extra Sussex cockerels available. Not for food, I would just as soon keep them for breeding stock than chicken stock! These boys were hatched out last Easter so even though they are large they still have some growing and maturing to do. They have grown up together so would be fine in the same flock . One is a Coronation the other a Silver. Both rare and hard to find locally. They would be nice to diversify a flocks gene pool or just increase the size of your next generation of dual purpose birds. I do keep my roosters tame and pick them up frequently so you would not have to worry about an aggressive bird with these two.
Check out my new web site for all the latest news, tips and available birds!
The darkest day of the year is finally come and gone so after a long cold spell it's time to start planning for the upcoming season. Flocks to be seperated and narrowed down to only the very best birds for breeding. The hens are coming into lay again ( some never stopped ! ) the Marans have had some fabulous eggs already! The Sussex and Orpingtons are not quite laying yet so are still housed together to keep warm. My Cuckoo Olive Egger pullets are getting close , hens combs turning red so expect some green eggs soon. I am especially looking forward to my Silkies and Showgirls these are the sweetest birds around and I have invested in Bobbi Porto Silkie stock to cross with my Showgirl Silkies. The incubators have been cleaned and will soon be fired up so lots of babies will be available after my flocks have been seperated and test hatches complete. One new project in the works will be Jersey Giants. My Sussex and Orpingtons are already huge but the Jersey Giants should dwarf even them, cant wait!
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