Foraging ability of Light Sussex chickens

My gut feeling said that our Light Sussex broilers were better foragers than either of this year's other breeds ---  Black Australorps and Cuckoo Marans.  The numbers argued otherwise.  Black Australorps won the feed conversion rate race, followed by Cuckoo Marans, with Light Sussex trailing in a close third.

Part of this dwindling efficiency could be that wild prey are most bountiful in the spring.  Despite harvest bounty, October and November chickens have to work harder to find their grub.

But will they eat it when they find it?  When they were two months old, I had to shut our Light Sussex broilers into the forest garden because they were starting to scratch up our young garlic plants.  I felt sorry for them, so I turned over some hugelkultur logs, the undersides of which were wriggling with huge grubs and luscious worms.  Our Light Sussex came running when I called, but seemed a bit confused about what they were supposed to do next.  They pecked at the grubs then moved on to something more tasty, even though our Golden Comet hens used to think these fat grubs were the world's gift to chickens.

The friendly nature of Light Sussex chickens does make them fun to be around, but I suspect it also keeps them from trying new things.  They look to me, and if I'm not pecking up those grubs, they don't either.

Of course, a mother hen could turn the tables quite nicely, teaching her flock to forage avidly on things they'd otherwise ignore.  That's why I'm keeping a small Light Sussex flock for further experimentation even though they lost the race (and even though we have to house them separately so our two cockerels won't fight).  Maybe next year I'll have a different story to report.