Sussex
In 2007, Greenfire Farms was the first to introduce to America two varieties of Sussex: coronations and silvers. In the summer of that year we imported from Australian championship lines coronation, silver, light, and buff Sussex. Bloodlines of lights and buffs already existed in America, although none had the large size of our imported Australian birds. Since then we have worked to refine our bloodlines and have added red Sussex to our lines.
Of course, the story of the Sussex begins many years before we first imported these birds. In fact, to study this breed is to understand that these birds are engaged in a slow march around the globe that began thousands of years ago.
Descendants of the ancient fowl brought to England by Roman invaders, the Sussex chicken emerged as a distinct breed in Sussex County, England almost two hundred years ago. The breed became standardized in 1903. They are a dual-purpose breed; prolific egg layers and a fine meat bird. Sussex hens lay upwards of 250 large, off-white colored eggs each year. With their pearlescent legs, these huge birds have a striking and regal appearance in the barnyard. Their behavior, too, is remarkable. More than any chicken breed we’ve seen, Sussex exude a quiet confidence and an open curiosity about humans. Even as chicks, while other breeds scramble to be distant from their human caretakers, Sussex actually approach humans with a frank inquisitiveness that is as endearing as it is unusual.
There are eight color varieties of Sussex, several of which are not found in America. Prior to 2007, four color varieties were represented here: light, red, speckled, and buff. When we imported the coronations and silvers in the summer of that year, we created a sensation in the poultry world because of the remarkable appearance of these birds.
Silver Sussex look like a bird designed by Jackson Pollock during his black and silver period. With wild splashes of silver and white over their large black bodies, with their bright red combs they leave a lasting visual impression.
Coronation Sussex were first bred in England to honor the reign of King George—one of the King Georges, anyway—and have a simple, classic beauty that in their own way is every bit as impressive as the wildly abstract beauty of the silvers. With a lilac mane and bright white bodies, the coronation Sussex look as if they were formed in a porcelain mould. It’s our goal to use these birds as the seed stock to help establish Sussex as an important element of small farm poultry operations in the United States. Already we have met with great success. Through the coronation Sussex stock we imported, we have already produced many times as many coronation Sussex as exist in England where fewer than fifty birds of this variety remain.
We also breed the strikingly elegant light Sussex and the buff Sussex. These, too, are huge birds and tend to be larger than the bloodlines that already existed in this country. We recently added red Sussex to our lines from stock that already existed in America. We are crossing the reds into our line of Australian buffs to enhance the size of the reds.
How rare are these varieties of Sussex in the United States? Light Sussex were legally imported from England a number of years ago, and it’s our understanding that before we imported there were already two bloodlines in America. We also understand that buff Sussex had been smuggled in from Canada, and there are buffs now available from other sources in this country. Red Sussex remain rare despite having been in the United States for a number of years. We’ve heard rumors that coronations were in America—allegedly in Colorado and Georgia—but we’ve never seen any evidence to support those claims and believe they are false. And, we’ve never even heard rumors that silvers were in this country. So, if you live in America and have a coronation or silver Sussex, you can trace its parentage to the original seed stock from Greenfire Farms.
