Brussbars were initially created by Mr R.C Punnett and Michael Peace of the Cambridge Agricultural research department around about 1941. It was an obvious move to create an auto sexing breed of one of the most successful commercial breeds at the time. They were created using Barred Plymouth Rock and Brown Sussex. They did not initially use the Light Sussex as they could not see a way to create an auto sexing breed using the Columbian pattern. However, the Brown Sussex was better suited but was purely a show bird with lower utility value than other Sussex colours. To improve their utility value and make them more commercially attractive, the resultant Brussbars hens were crossed with Light Sussex cockerels, the resultant unbarred Columbian pullets were crossed with Brussbar cockerels and pure Gold and Silver Brussbars with correct type were selected from then on. The Brussbar was standardised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain in 1952 but never became popular commercially or domestically. The Brussbar is probably the rarest of all native auto sexing breeds with only the Gold variety currently surviving. The breed could potential have the highest dual purpose utility value of all the auto sexing breeds.
| Origin: | Cambridge, England |
| Class: | Heavy, soft feather, auto-sexing breed |
| Colour: | Gold or Silver. Silver is no longer in existence. The colour is a Black- red/partridge. |
| Comb: | Single |
| Eggs: | Tinted |
| Weight, cock: | 4.1 kg |
| Weight, hen: | 3.2 kg |
| Autosexable: | Yes |
| Breed Club: | Rare Poultry Society |
