Speckled Sussex Chickens

These are old photos, taken back in January when the world was mostly dead looking. It was a clear, crisp day - perfect for photographs. Our chickens free range. They eat a surprising amount of grass and greens. Tons and tons of it. They eat bugs and seeds and worms and grubs, too. In the photo above they're devouring some kind of leftovers from the kitchen. When they see me coming out with a bowl, pan, or pot in my hand they come running.

Speckled Sussex are a very pretty breed. Their dark feathers are a rich mahogany brown with lots of red undertones, and their black feathers have a green sheen to them, especially in direct sunlight.

This hen is scratching and poking around for something beside the wet weather creek. Speckled Sussex love to forage. They clamor to be let out in the morning and spend almost all day wandering around, scratching and eating.

Recently we lost four hens in about 5 or 6 days. The chickens are locked up in their house and run, and not allowed to free range for the time being. We've seen a fox down at the chicken house. We set a trap for it and so far we've only caught an opossum. Opossums will steal eggs if they can get to them, but they're not much of a predator otherwise. We let this one go.

I hope we catch the fox soon. The chickens are tired of being cooped up (so *that's* where that term came from!) and 2 roosters is too many for only 9 hens, especially in close quarters.