Austra Whites

Did your Austra indeed hatch her clutch? I hope so, I would love to see pictures if you have any. I wonder if she looks like my girl.
On 1/11 hatched out two of the original 9 eggs I gave her . Four eggs disappeared along the way so I can only assume she ate them because I could find no trace of them. Of the remaining 5, two hatched. The neighbor who gave me the eggs suspects the chicks are probably blue orpingtons based on the coloring and knowledge of her flock and the eggs she gave me. It still amuses me that my girl can sit on eggs that were never her own and happily raise the two chicks she hatched. She is doing a fine job with them, letting them run by her, but still settling down to let them warm under her again, though we have actually had somewhat of a heat wave with temperatures reaching near 40 the past couple of days.

I don't have any real good pictures of mama, but her are two that I took of the chicks.



Mama is mostly white, but she has a few more black feathers visible than my other Austra-Whites so it should always be easy to distinguish her from the others I have.

I have her partitioned off along side a broody Australorp. I have an incubator hatch that could be going on even now and I plan to give any chicks from that one to the Australorp. It's my first time doing that so we will see how it goes. In the meantime, the broodies and the two chicks seem to be coexisting well enough.We'll see what happens when I had some more chicks to the mix.

If I can get some more photos, I'll try to get some more on. Thanks for asking.
 
On 1/11 hatched out two of the original 9 eggs I gave her . Four eggs disappeared along the way so I can only assume she ate them because I could find no trace of them. Of the remaining 5, two hatched. The neighbor who gave me the eggs suspects the chicks are probably blue orpingtons based on the coloring and knowledge of her flock and the eggs she gave me. It still amuses me that my girl can sit on eggs that were never her own and happily raise the two chicks she hatched. She is doing a fine job with them, letting them run by her, but still settling down to let them warm under her again, though we have actually had somewhat of a heat wave with temperatures reaching near 40 the past couple of days.

I don't have any real good pictures of mama, but her are two that I took of the chicks.



Mama is mostly white, but she has a few more black feathers visible than my other Austra-Whites so it should always be easy to distinguish her from the others I have.

I have her partitioned off along side a broody Australorp. I have an incubator hatch that could be going on even now and I plan to give any chicks from that one to the Australorp. It's my first time doing that so we will see how it goes. In the meantime, the broodies and the two chicks seem to be coexisting well enough.We'll see what happens when I had some more chicks to the mix.

If I can get some more photos, I'll try to get some more on. Thanks for asking.
Oh thanks so much for the pictures! I too have never had a hen go broody, and will be learning as I go if I do. Sounds like you are doing the right thing giving her and the BA their own little area. Love those babies! I too was amazed that they treat their babies as if they came from them.. that's beautiful. Good Luck with your hatch in the bator.. let us know how it goes!

MB
 
Good Luck with your hatch in the bator.. let us know how it goes!

MB
12 of the 13 eggs that were still in the incubator have now hatched and the last one is working on getting out now. I did not expect all 13 to hatch! My Australorp broody already has five of the chicks and appears to be doing well up to now. 13 might be quite a few, though.
 
For anyone interested in Austra's I see that Cackle is now hatching them...just a little FYI
 

This is my new girl I just bought a week ago. I'm guessing she's 10-11 weeks old?? I had no clue what she was until I googled her description. Thinking she's an Austra White. Poor thing has a cough.
 
Are they game
No. They are a crossbreed between a White Leghorn Hen and a Black Australorp Rooster. They are mostly white with some black feathers from dad as well as black legs. They are much closer in size to an Australorp rather than the much smaller leghorn and they lay very large eggs that are very close to white or very, very light brown. I love them because they are good layers of good sized eggs. I have had three of mine (out of four) go broody on me, though. All successfully hatched or raised adopted chicks.
 
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Has anyone tried breeding these ladies back to a Black Australotp rooster?

If so, do they keep breeding white or are there black chicks mixed in?

I'm thinking if a project, but I really don't have the room right now, but in a couple of years I may give it a whirl.
 

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