Raising Coronation Sussex, a great dual purpose bird.

The Coronation Sussex is a very gentle, calm, curious bird. I like to call them my gentle giants of the coop.

I would have no fear about raising the Coronation Sussex or any of the Sussex breeds around children as they are a very kid friendly bird. The Coronation Sussex has pigeon grey hackles, tail feathers and wing tips with the rest of the body being a beautiful white. The Coronation Sussex is essentially the same as the light Sussex, but the black markings are replaced by pigeon grey/blue. The Sussex was bred to be a dual purpose bird and is one of the most productive breeds of poultry. They lay large eggs that are cream to light brown in color.

A person owning a hen of the Sussex breed should expect approximately 240 to 260 eggs a year, which is a good number of eggs for any of the chicken breeds. I recently had a speckled Sussex lay her last egg at 7 years old. I am now incubating that egg in hopes to keep her line going. The Coronation Sussex only existed in small numbers and by the end of the second World War, no more Coronation Sussex existed. The Bantam size was re-created in the 1980′s and the Large version only exists in small numbers.

You can get started with some baby chicks in the spring of 2012. Place your order at: Dark Eggs Daily.