The Sussex is a British breed of dual-purpose chicken, reared both for its meat and for its eggs. Eight colours are recognised for both standard-sized and bantam fowl. A breed association, the Sussex Breed Club, was organised in 1903.

 

Characteristics

The Sussex chicken is graceful with a long, broad, flat back; a long and straight breastbone; wide shoulders; and a rectangular build. The tail is held at a 45-degree angle from the body. The eyes are red in the darker varieties but orange in the lighter ones. The comb is single. The earlobes are red and the legs and skin white in every variety. Cocks weigh approximately 4.1 kg and hens about 3.2 kg.

Eight colour varieties are recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain: brown, buff, coronation, light, red, silver, speckled and white.

The light Sussex has a white body with a black tail and black in the flight feathers and wing coverts; the neck hackles are white with black striping. 

 

Use

The Sussex was traditionally reared as a table bird, for meat production. In the early part of the twentieth century, it was one of the principal breeds kept for this purpose, until it was displaced by modern industrial hybrid lines. It may be kept as a dual-purpose bird. Hens lay some 180–200 tinted eggs per year; some layer strains may give up to 250.The eggs weigh about 60 g. The Sussex is also reared for showing.