4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[CrazyDaizy]

Hia Folks

 

Seems a bit soon after Snowflake's death, but we are looking for a replacement.

 

Tried to find the info I need on other threads, but cant seem to find it, not very quickly anyway.

 

What kind of a temperament do Light Sussex Chickens have?

 

What about Mottled X Sussex?

 

And any info about Lavendar Araucanas would be greatly appreciated too.

 

How often do they lay? Are they good natured? etc

[poppy33]

My light Sussex is absolutly adorable, very inquisitive and quite naughty at times, she has a very big personality and is pretty to look at, she does however seem to go broody far more often than my other two (Bovans and calder ranger)

[moochoo]

My light sussex is lovely too. She's quite a large girl and is very cheeky and friendly. Everyone that meets her wants to know what breed she is. I've not had any problems with her broodiness wise.

[Tulip]

According to my trusty chicken keeping book:

 

Brilliant layer, easy to handle, inquisitive, about 180 eggs a year. An easy and undemanding bird to keep. Love to forage but will be happy if contained.

 

Going by my own LS, Chilli Paneer:

Very inquisitive, great layer - *no* egg announcements, you'll only hear her when she's panicking over a cat in the garden, gets on well with the others (though she is top chook, so I guess that's to be expected), she has just snapped out of a broody patch without having to resort to the sin bin. She doesn't crouch but once you have hold of her, she's as good as gold.

 

Hope this helps!

T.

[Barkisland]

Mine is beautiful, but she is a broody nightmare

[CrazyDaizy]

According to my trusty chicken keeping book:

 

Brilliant layer, easy to handle, inquisitive, about 180 eggs a year. An easy and undemanding bird to keep. Love to forage but will be happy if contained.

 

Going by my own LS, Chilli Paneer:

Very inquisitive, great layer - *no* egg announcements, you'll only hear her when she's panicking over a cat in the garden, gets on well with the others (though she is top chook, so I guess that's to be expected), she has just snapped out of a broody patch without having to resort to the sin bin. She doesn't crouch but once you have hold of her, she's as good as gold.

 

Hope this helps!

T.

 

Hehe, never occurred to me to look in my Chicken Keeping Book

 

Sounds like Light Sussex is a good "made" tho a bit broody.

 

What happens when they go broody? How long before they snap out of it?

[Tulip]

LOL I just had it to hand as it's on the kitchen counter providing advice on raising chicks

 

When Chilli went broody she started staying in the nest box after laying, getting longer and longer, then beginning to sleep in there. They come out once or twice a day to eat and drink and do the biggest, stinkiest poo you'll ever have the misfortune to run into (you can smell them from the other end of the garden ). They give themselves a big shake and ruffle up their feathers while emitting a loud, high purring noise.

 

As for getting them out of it, depends how you treat it I think. We let her carry on for a couple of weeks in case our Barnevelder rejected her eggs. Since the chicks have hatched I've been turfing her off the nest whenever I'm in the garden and she's snapped out of it in a few days

[Egluntyne]

I have recently acquired Light Sussex, and she is lovely. Friendly and pleasant.

[Snowy]

Can't comment on the sussex, but I've had an araucana! A bit dippy and nervous, but once settled became my friendliest hen, loved cuddles. Never went broody, laid lovely blue eggs, but not very many - they were definitely a rare treat!

[Barkisland]

Sorry to report that it is impossible to snap my Mary out of broodiness. She has been broody on a regular 7 week cycle since starting to lay in January. Lays for 3/52, goes broody for 3/52, and comes out of it over the course of a further week(wthout eggs). I have tried the broody cage without success. I turf her out of the box for several hours a day, but as soon as the door is opened, she flies straight back in. Nightmare. I will never have another Lt Sussex because of this.

[Jules.]

My light sussex chicks are 8 weeks old & nervous as anything yet

 

The 3 boys are destined to be dinners & the girls to be kept for the eggs

[AJuff]

My two sussex are like the Kray twins!!!

[mostin]

I have a light sussex and she is gorgeous. She is built like a tank, but is so adorable. Everybody loves my Lilly . She doesn't go broody. Broodiness is genetic, so there are strains of light sussex that are very broody and strains that are not. You could ask the breeder you are thinking of going to, what to expect.

 

Because she is a pure breed she is older than all of my hybrids, but will probably still outlive them, she stops laying in oct and starts again in feb. Pure breds are less greedy than hybrids too, so she is the gentlest of all my girls at eating out of your hand. Can you tell she is a favourite of mine .

 

I love her so much I have two baby buff sussex's and am hoping to get some speckled sussex too . I like a nice mix of pure breds and hybids.

[Henhathnofury]

I have had my Light Sussex Narcissa for a few months now. She is inclined to be flighty at times, taking over on top of the eglu, over the fence and onto the lawn. But she is also a great alarm if anything is wrong and always trots into the nest very quietly to lay, which she has done every day from the very first day she arrived with us.

 

She is very gentle, very loyal...has fitted in with the other girls very well. She seems very strong, alert and curious....in fact very curious and is always in the shed when I am preparing their food. She crouches and submits to me like a swan....is in fact very elegant and pretty, with a long neck and alert, michievous eyes.

 

She is beautiful basically and as she gets tamer and tamer, is really getting to my heart. No broodiness at present but she is the most sensitive chicken I have ever seen. She gets upset if another chicken is upset, she cries if I take a chicken away for any reason and seems to sense my moods.

 

Narcissa got her name because I have a large mirror in the garden for the girls and when she first came ot us, she spent ages looking into this mirror.

 

Beautiful, in a nutshell. Loving, funny, cheeky chicken.

[judith67]

I have a sussex star ( white with black markins on neck and wing tips) she has the biggest personlity of all. very inquisitive and nosey, not too vocal but very hormonal. She is the one i have most trouble with as regards to broodiness, missing laying, laying humongous eggs, chewing gum shells etc.

[carrie]

My LS if huge, she used to be very docile and laid back, however she seem to have taken a dislike to my Amber star, she attacks her all the time and drew blood big time the other day- so she was sent to the naughty corner

She does however lay daily, she took a bit longer than the others to start laying though.

[Samuel Morse]

I have two that are 27 weeks old but are yet to lay. (Anyone know at what age they should start laying?) I think they are quite big birds but they're great. Don't have much experience with chickens but they trot around the garden and made themselves at home pretty quickly.

[CrazyDaizy]

Today we have bought a new baby girl.

 

A Light Sussex which is what we were looking for. She is probably already laying eggs and she is beautiful.

 

We went round in circles trying to think of a name. But we decided because she is white.... Malibu (after the drink rather than the place) seemed a good choice.

 

So, welcome to Malibu.

 

She is in the Chicken Run at the moment, and Cilla and Amber our existing Chickens are pottering around the outside getting used to her.

 

RIP Snowflake, you wont be forgotten, but Malibu (LOL still getting used to that name) will help us recover from your loss.

[mostin]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww, so happy for you. Welcome llittle Malibu

 

When do we get a photo of the new girlie?

[CrazyDaizy]

Here are some pictures of our new girl Malibu

 

 

 

sorry that they are that big. Not sure how to resize them.

 

And we had the first egg yesterday pretty little pale one which went very nicely with some bacon for tea

 

yum

[atsw]

Here are some pictures of our new girl Malibu

Great photo's. I've got some Light Sussex eggs that are due to hatch next week, so always interested to hear (and see!) everyone else's experiences.

 

Sorry that they are that big. Not sure how to resize them.

Just go back into PhotoBucket, select the picture (just click it). Once the photo appears, hover over it and look for a menu at the top of the picture which says "Resize". Select "more options"" from the drop down list and change the size so the width is no bigger than 600 (600 is a perfect fit for the Omlet forum). Press the "Apply button" to complete the operation. Finally, go to the bottom of the picture and press the button labelled "Replace original".

 

Hope this helps

 

Andrew

[Samuel Morse]

Do you know how old she is?

[poppy33]

Arrrh, she is lovely; very pretty

[CrazyDaizy]

She's laying eggs already, so must be about 20-25ish weeks.

 

In fact its quite amusing, because where she was kept, there were cockerals too..... so her latest egg we have put in the airing cupboard in the hope it might hatch!

 

What's the chances of that?

[Redwing]

Not very high - the airing cupboard is unlikely to be at the right temperature

 

Lovely hen, very sweet looking