Farmyard hen full of character
With its handsome appearance and amenable nature, the enduring Sussex is an ideal chicken to keep
ON A SUNNY April day, a gentle clucking can be heard from within a sheltered field. Here, a small flock of white hens, with black ruffs and tails, peck and scratch through the lush spring grass. A large cockerel, with matching plumage, attends them; first standing tall to scan the pasture for any danger to the hens, then bending to forage in the grass. A brief cackle of command brings all the hens rushing to him to see the discovery of a tasty bug or beetle. For a moment, the cock struts as they bob admiringly around him, then he pops the insect into the beak of his favourite hen.
Historic breed
These are Sussex hens, a traditional English breed, developed, as the name suggests, from the household and farmyard chickens of the Sussex and Kent area. They are a very old breed; recognised as a distinct type of hen at the first general poultry show in 1845, while folklore traces them as far back as Roman-era hens. By comparison, the Orpington hen, another traditional breed, was only developed in the 1890s, while modern commercial hybrids, such as the Silver Link, date from the 1970s or later. The ‘Breed Standard,’ detailing the ideal appearance of a Sussex hen, was written in 1902, and the Sussex
Breed Club was formed in 1903. Initially, just three colours of Sussex were recognised: light, speckled and red, but by the 1930s, extensive breeding and selection work had produced the range of eight colours seen today.
“There are hens which look like Sussex hens in the photos of my great-grandparents’ farm in the 1920s,” says Kirk Robertson, who has kept and bred Sussex hens for the last 30 years. “Originally, I just got a mixture of chickens, so the children could learn about husbandry and where eggs came from,” he explains. “They loved it, and I developed quite an interest in chickens, finding out what was rare and unusual, and all the different breeds. Then I saw photos of a Light Sussex hen in a poultry magazine and thought: ‘That is a gorgeous-looking bird’.” Kirk bought some Sussex eggs to hatch out and has not been without Sussex hens since. His flock has grown considerably from their back garden beginnings and now roams the fields of Higher Oak Farm in Lymm, Cheshire, from where Kirk sells pedigree eggs for hatching and also point-of-lay hens, which is a term used for hens that have matured to an age where they are ready to begin laying eggs. Sussex hens start to lay in their first year, at 23-25 weeks old.
All Kirk’s Sussex hens, such as the group foraging with their cockerel, are the Light Sussex type, which refers to their colour. His hens have white bodies, with black tail and wing feathers. Their neck feathers, or hackles, are black, with a white stripe around the edge. This pattern is called ‘lacing’ and produces the effect of a black lace ruff around the hen’s neck. Compared with many other breeds, these neck hackles are particularly full, giving the birds a gracefully curved neck.
“We only have the Light Sussex, because I particularly like that
colouration,” says Kirk. “Within the breed, they’re definitely one of the most popular colours. We have people come to the farm who don’t know what breed they want, and they always go away with a Light Sussex. We’ve never had anyone come to buy them and then change their mind.”
Whatever the colour form, underneath their dense plumage, all Sussex hens have pale pink skin, called ‘white’, while the serrated combs on top of their heads, the wattles around their beaks, and their ear lobes are all bright red. Both sexes have these, but the combs and wattles are smaller for the female.
Darker colours of Sussex have red eyes, while the lighter varieties have orange eyes. In all its forms, the beaks are yellow and slightly curved, and their legs are long, pale pink and featherless. Compared to the modern hybrids, Sussex hens have a stocky, rectangular build, with wide shoulders, an upright chest and a long, flat back. They are a large breed, standing 14-18in (35-45cm) tall or more, and quite heavy. An adult cockerel weighs a minimum of 4.1kg, and a hen 3.2kg.
Friendly personality
“Light Sussex are good-looking hens, but what I grew to love about them is their character,” says Kirk “They’re laid back, inquisitive and loving; rather like Labradors, really. They all have different characters, and they like being handled. They can easily be trained to take food out of your hand, and you can even pick them up and give them a cuddle if you handle them a lot. Even the cockerels are true gents: I’ve never had an aggressive one.” This friendly, docile nature makes Sussex
“Wisdom is a hen, whose cackling we must value and consider, because it is attended with an egg”
hens ideal for first-time poultry keepers, especially as they are also hardy and disease resistant.
Being a British native breed, they cope well with an average UK winter. “They go indoors if it rains, and they spend more time inside anyway in winter because the days are shorter, but they stay warm under all those soft feathers,” says Kirk. “I’ve seen them happily outside at -10°C.” The hens do need access to shelter, however, which must be well-ventilated, but free from draughts at their perching level. “They’ll come in when it rains and go out when it’s dry,” adds Kirk.
Earning their keep
Sussex hens are a dual-purpose breed, which can be kept for laying eggs or raised to provide meat. In the early 20th century, they were one of the two main commercial table birds. “We keep a few of our cockerels to eat ourselves, but they’re no longer a commercial breed because they take too long to ‘bring to the table’,” says Kirk. “A Light Sussex will take six to 12 months to mature, depending on how big you want it, compared to 15 weeks for a modern hybrid. They don’t make cheap food. The texture of the meat is completely different, though, and the flavour is fantastic. It’s probably how chicken would have tasted 100 years ago.”
The main focus of Kirk’s Sussex hen breeding, however, is for egg laying. An adult Sussex hen lays approximately 180-200 eggs a year. This is less than the 300-plus eggs produced by a commercial hen, but considerably more than the 50-70 eggs typically laid by some more ornamental breeds, such as the Cochin. Egg laying is not spread evenly through the year. “You get plenty of eggs for nine months of the year, then, like most rare breeds, they shut up shop in December, and you only get the occasional egg,” says Kirk. The reduced hours of daylight during the winter causes a natural decrease in egg production unless artificial light is provided, as with hens on commercial farms. “Once the light levels start to pick up, they start laying again,” says Kirk. “By April, they’re all laying well.” The eggs are very pale brown, called ‘tinted’, without any spots or speckles, and medium sized, similar to a standard supermarket egg.
A cockerel is not necessary for egg laying; only to produce fertile eggs for hatching. The hens lay the most eggs during their first 18 months. “They carry on laying until they’re approximately five years old,” says Kirk. “Then we let them live out their days, just doddering happily around with the rest of the flock.” They have a lifespan of six to seven years.
“The Sussex are charming birds: I could watch them for hours. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone. They’re an absolute joy to have.”
“Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism, are all very good words for the lips”
Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit