Poorly chicken

[robs5230]

hi we plan to keep hens. we have just about decided on the light sussex due to the nice looks and foraging ability but i am considering bantams rather than the standard size sussex.

so......

does anyone have any experiences of either ? is there any difference in behaviour with the bantams ? noise etc ?

would the bantams lay similar quantities of eggs ?

thanks

[gongladosh]

I have a light sussex bantam chicken of fate and she's a little sweetie.

 

Absolutely lovely personality, friendly, chatty and always happy to be handled. She lays about 4 eggs a week, but as with any pure breed she goes off lay in the winter. Also being a pure breed, she does go broody every 3 or 4 weeks but that's fine. The eggs she lays are slightly smaller than normal eggs but the yolk is roughly the same size.

 

Being the one bantam we have with a flock of medium and heavy birds hasn't hurt her - she's low in the pecking order but usually one of the bravest hens.

 

I love her to bits and I'd have another any day - in fact, she's the girl that introduced me to bantams!

[surf_space]

Bantams tend not to ruin your garden as much as large fowl do, so it depends whether they are more pets or for the eggs. We let ours free range all day every day (we have bantams) and apart from the odd few flowers being eaten and their mud bath under the hedge, they haven't ruined our garden. Where as I suspect there would be a lot more damage from the larger birds. If you want them as pets and don't mind about them laying less eggs, I would go for bantams. If you do want a large about of eggs than I would go for the large fowl light sussex. Although be aware most pure breed large fowl also stop laying in the winter, with the occasional exception. So if you wanted eggs all year round maybe look into some hybrid hens. Hope this helps, good luck with your decision!

[Daphne]

Also being a pure breed, she does go broody every 3 or 4 weeks but that's fine.

 

Did you mean every 3-4 weeks, or every 3-4 months? I think I'm lucky, mine don't seem to go broody at all!

 

I have large and small sussex and the bants do lay smaller eggs, but not massively smaller and in fact a LF egg isn't that big, certainly not as big as a hybrid egg. As previously mentioned, if you want winter eggs they won't be your best bet, as pure breeds take a few months off every year. Bantams are probably a bit quieter, but not much, but I don't find either size particularly noisy. In all other respects they are the same. Although mine don't get a lot of handling, the friendliest chooks with humans I've ever had have both been white sussex, its probably a coincidence as others have certainly learnt how to bully other birds.

[Saronne]

I've got a couple of little buff sussex bantams. They are absolute sweeties. Very chatty and full of personality. They lay nice eggs - but yes, they can go broody quickly. I've also had large fowl Sussex - they were enormous but laid smallish eggs for their size. They ate a lot and I reckon they would have been lovely meat birds had I been so inclined. Anyway, they've been rehomed due to bullying issues. I would go with bantam sussex.

[gongladosh]

It's every 3 or 4 weeks like clockwork with little Houdini - and a week off lay when in the broody sin bin and a couple of days until she starts laying again.

 

Some Sussex hens don't go broody but they're generally hybrids (Sussex Stars and similar).

 

Still wouldn't swap her though.

[zakjon-98]

I have 2 large fowl sussex who are lovely. They are very friendly, hardy and lay well for a pure breed but as previously said the eggs they lay aren't as big as shop eggs from hybrids. Mine are quiet compared to my other two and I have one who goes broody once a year and the other has never been broody. The large fowl are big though so the bantams may be better if space is limited.

[good_egg]

I have LF buff sussex and she is a sweetie. Just started laying so not a lot of knowledge of broody tendencies (but I had broody hybrid so not holding out much hope for pure breeds - hatching you say - shhhh! ). She has laid about 4 eggs all perfect and about 58g so reasonable size, she is so inquisitive and chatters away but happy for cuddles. Made new planters at weekend and she threw soil out within 30 seconds so destructive tendencies true but mine do tend to leave grass alone. I spent ages researching breeds and ended up with completely different as couldn't source - wouldn't change for the world! Might be as I live in Scotland so less suppliers but I would say knowledge is a good thing but let their wee chicken faces guide you!

[Goosey Lucy]

I had 4 Light Sussex hens and they were my gentle giants. They had a tendency to mucky bums but were always very friendly. None went broody for me. They loved having a wash and blow dry.

[robs5230]

thanks for all your replies . i think we'll go with the bantam . however i can't find any locally in the south west . a bit stuck now , arc ready , everything prepared and no hens

[patsylabrador]

My chickens are three hybrid light Sussex bantams. I'll try to post a picture of them on Sunday. I love them. They are sisters and are approaching 4 years old. They are hardy, sweet and funny. Mine are very broody, it seems rare that none of them is broody at any given time. I always feel sorry for the broody chicken, if I'm feeling hormonal I want to hunker down and be ignored, so I apply that to the chickens. I make sure they get up to SSS and then leave them to it. I have four rubber eggs for them to settle down on and that seems to make them happy. We have a little game, I hold out a corn on the cob and they clamber up onto coop roof and fly onto my arm to get the corn. It amuses me.

I don't know other chicken breeds but these seem easy going, they don't free range but don't seem bothered. They lay more in the winter than the summer, ans lay small but tasty, very yellow eggs.

I only have experience of this type of chicken but its been a good experience.

[robs5230]

just fetched 2 light sussex bantams today. 14 weeks old so it will be a while before i see any eggs but plenty of time to get to know them. they love their accommodation, they are feeding well and easily handled. time will tell.