Chicken Breed Focus - Sebright

[sumi]

The Sebright is a very small, beautiful, rose-combed bantam, usually with laced feathers. They are a purely ornamental breed, very popular as pets and with hobbyists as show birds. While usually quite friendly with people, they are very active and very good flyers and need to be confined. Sebrights are a 'true' bantam, not coming in a standard sized variety.

The Sebright is named after its creator, Sir John Saunders Sebright, who established the breed around 1810 and went on to form it’s breed club, making the Sebright the first chicken breed to have its own breed club and the only breed named after an individual.

Breeds that went into the makeup for the Sebright are thought to include the Hamburgh, Nankin, Polish and Rosecombs. Sebrights are one of the few breeds in which the males are hen feathered, that is they do not have the long, sickle shaped saddle, neck and tail feathers. The mutation responsible for the hen feathering makes them difficult to breed. They come in a variety of colors with the two most popular colors being Gold and Silver Laced.

It was recognized by the APA in 1874.

It is on The Livestock Conservancy's Watch list.

Details:

Breed purpose: Ornamental
Comb Type: Rose
Broodiness: Seldom
Climate Tolerance: Average
Weight: 22oz males, 20oz females
Egg Productivity: Poor
Egg Size: Small
Egg Color: White/tinted

Golden Sebright Hen picture @Lady Chickadee

Silver Sebright Rooster picture @FarmGirl01


Golden Sebright Hen by @Msbear


Silver Sebright chicks by @hawcer

BYC Breed reviews:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/sebright

General breed discussions & FAQ thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/348031/sebright-thread/0_30

Do you own Sebrights? Are you a Sebright breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!


We have a bunch of other awesome breed-focus threads for you to enjoy. You can see all of them here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-project.975504/

 

[Cane]

I've had my lovely sebrights for nearly 6 years now, purely as pets for the kids and for their eggs. Beautiful chickens but hard to find to buy in Victoria. Anyone have a contact who is selling?

 

[delder2009]

I got in to Sebright's for show, breeding and personal enjoyment. My experience is that they are full of personality, a more of a look not touch little bird. They will jump up on you to see what you are doing (aways have something to say about what you are doing) but don't touch me. Out of all the breeds I have or had the hen's will crow the most (not as much as the rooster's). Their (hen and rooster's) crow is not the normal chicken crow ( more of a young rooster just learning to crow). As new chick's they need a little extra care (because of their tiny size). But once grown they definitely can hold their own. The hen's I have seen be quite aggressive to anything they find to be a threat (more so then the rooster's).

day old golden laced

5 month's old hen

5 month's old rooster.
In breeding and show breeding there are some flaws the comb (coloring the mulberry is starting to wash out to red) (shape alot have added other breeds trying to get new blood in their line. Resulting in single comb instead of the walnut comb that they should have). Toes sometimes can have some twist. And as with any breed their beaks can get crooked.
Over all they are a fun breed.

 

[N F C]

@delder2009 thanks for sharing pictures, especially of the young Sebrights (cute chicks!).

 

[cluckcluck3499]

I absolutely love my sebrights. I have a trio of gold laced and they are the sweetest babies, as long as you don't pick them up. My rooster, Ceaser, has a horrible case of little man syndrome, and loves to chase the bigger roosters (he always seems to win)... My 2 girls mousie and copper are so sweet as well. But man they are loud
Here's copper and Ceaser (mousie in a lil anti photogenic)

and here's just lil man Ceaser

 

[Kelsie2290]

Really cute breed, got some of them from McMurray some years back. Kept a gold rooster, very friendly little guy, he's always running to meet you hoping for a handout, never had any aggression problems with him, and gets along fine with the other roosters. The girls are really talkative, they have quite an attitude also, not even the standard hens mess with them, they are pretty broody, like twice a year or so, fair layers over the summer otherwise.

 

[uzisuzuki]

I ended up with my little Sebright rooster by accident. He showed up on my grandparents' front porch one day last October & after a week of looking for his owner to no avail, he came to live with me. He is definitely for fun since I've never had chickens before he showed up (now I have 11 + 3 peafowl). I mainly used taking care of him & his hens as my physical therapy for my handicap from a severe car accident I was in about 3 months before he found me. He is a little spitfire! I just love how much attitude he has & he cracks me up with how he thinks he's ten feet tall whenever my dogs come outside with me to take care of the flocks. He's definitely changed my life in a massive way.

 

[ninjawesome]

Cool! Sebrights seem like a very fun breed. Thanks for posting!

 

[applebutter14]

im thinking about getting this breed next year.

 

[jtn42248]

I have five (3 Silver and 2 Golden) and I love them. They are quiet (except the Silver rooster how thinks he is supposed to chime the quarter hour). They are a bit flighty so consider that if you get some, a covered run helps. The only thing I would differ with in the description is that mine lay 4 eggs each day (one each) without fail. The females "egg song" sounds very much like the call of a peacock.