Madchook Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Hi peeps, long time no post here. I am looking for some advice... I have been chickenless for a few months now and am now planning my 'restocking'. I am incubating a few eggs myself (for layers - for egg colour) but a friend is going to put 12 LS in his bator for me (and brood them as I don't have space). I did the kill pluck gut and bone course last yr and always planned on a dual purpose bird so LS are a good choice in that respect, but I am wondering about housing the growing boys. Said friend is assuming only a 50% hatch from his previous experience... although that may well be, I am being positive and thinking it may well be nearer 10 of the 12...and if I end up with 5 or more boys, how will they fare being housed together in the time it takes to raise them to a good weight? My plan is/was to keep all the youngsters together until the boys show signs of approaching sexual maturity - but maybe I should seperate them as soon as they are sexable? Am I thinking 6months or longer for a good slaughter weight? Also - I had a LS throwback cockerel (from a friends hatch) and by about 6/7 months he was a right terror, really oversexed (he didn't have a lot of meat on him either but he was free ranging, whereas this lot will be penned)! He had also been loudly crowing for some time-which was fine as we are rural but I am trying to imagine x 5 as we do have neighbours Does anyone have any experience of Light sussex boys? I guess if they are bad they will just be done earlier (which I don't have an issue with, other than seeming wasteful-may as well get cobbs next time if that is the case). Thanks or your help, Maddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 My broody Buffie hatched 3 LS eggs from a batch of 6 last summer & got 2 boys and 1 girl , the other 3 were 1 x dudd and 2 pipped but not unzipped Apparently those in the know can sex them at a few days old...not me though...Griffin's good at that! One of the boys, White Back, was rehomed at about 12-14 weeks, pre-crowing & hormones & was a thoroughly gorgeous boy, he's since been rehomed again to a much better home but that's another story ........Yellow Legs started crowing at about 20 weeks and was rehomed at 21 weeks to Golden Valley Poultry where it doesn't matter if he crowed all day he had started to "practice tread" a few weeks before .....Pansy went to her new home with Sadietoo at about the same time, as she had not shown any signs of integrating with the rest of my flock, although they'd freeranged together from about 12 weeks. They were a lovely group of chooks, the boys were both friendly.......Yellow Legs still thought he could sit on my shoulder like he did as a chick, but by 20 weeks could fly up whilst I was standing (I'm 5ft6) rather than be put there I had planned for them to be dinner birds but had to nurse their daft mum, who was starving herself, through their chickhood, so got rather too attached. This could also be why they were quite friendly, they were used to being handled from diddy-wee. Sorry this probably isn't much help to you as I can't comment on the multi purpose elements of the breed, which was what you asked Good luck with your plans Maddy, Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madchook Posted February 27, 2010 Author Share Posted February 27, 2010 Thanks for replying Sha. It has kind of answered my question I guess if by 20w they had been treading a couple of weeks, then a pen of boys would be fighting by then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 Not sure really, as I had to go & retrieve White Back from his first new home a couple of weeks ago & he was peacefully in with another 2 cockerels and a small flock of girlies.......mind you I think they were more concerned with me than each other at the point The other 2 were destined for the pot when WB went over there as new blood stock, but obviously they hadn't been dealt with 2-3 months later ..........the reason he was moving was that one of their hens had "turned into" a boy & as WB was handreared he was thought to be a better option to rehome to a pen of friendly pet girls...........also he 's now closer for us to visit I think as long as they have been bred together & have a fair amount of space you have a better chance of getting them to a good size before they get too unruly......they do have a very loud crow though, so be sure that the neighbours aren't going to be unhappy (like mine ) with a flock of competitive noisebags next door Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffin Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 I've reared Light & Speckled Sussex boys for the table and they've all lived in harmony until the day they died. There's the usual squabbling for position that you get in any flock but no real fighting because they end up in the freezer before they reach the age that'd happen. Having said that none of my Sussex boys have lived longer than around 26 weeks so if you're going to grow them on for longer I guess you may get the odd fight. They're a quiet, laid back breed who don't tend to feel the need to fight, infact I'd say they're too lazy to bother with all that silliness I've found them very easy to sex. After just a couple of days the boys have slightly bigger combs. If you look closely you'll be able to see which are girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
