Australorps breed Thread

[bruceha2000]

SO our next problem has been, fitting theses giant Aussie eggs into egg boxes, since we cant close the egg boxes we had before we got our Aussies,


so i almost avoid selling them & have been keeping them back & using them for our selves...

HA

That is what I do. I don't send out the eggs smaller than 50g nor larger than about 70g. Have you weighed the big ones? My smaller BA has laid as large as 102g, the bigger one 114g - effectively a gram shy of 2 eggs the size of the low end of USDA large. Fortunately these huge ones are rare, I fear for the girls' health with the big ones. The smaller usually lays mid to high 60s, the larger high 60s to low 70s.

The signs usually go in order:

Combs and wattles get big and red
They start squatting for you--look it up!
They start "investigating" the nest box
Will sing the egg song as practice. When that happens, the first egg is usually within a day or two.

Except for my broody raised girls! NONE of them squat. But along with the red combs/wattles and nest box investigation, I did see them checking out the oyster shell feeder. Somehow they just KNOW!

 

[Diannastarr]

hi Kurt, yes exactly the Hupp farm in DUNCAN AZ a few hours away from us here on the Mexican border of AZ & New Mexico & SUCH VERY NICE FOLKS

WITH SOME BEAUTIFUL AUSSIES BLUE & SPLASH FOR SALE ..!!!

 

[RattlesnakeRidgeWV]

Dianna,
Chet and Berta are good friends of mine and got me started with the Blue and Splash 4 or 5 years ago. I combined his line with my Duane Urch line to create the Rattlesnake Ridge Line. I think we also exchanged some eggs last year or the year before for some genetic diversity. Tell Chet Hi from Rattlesnake Ridge the next time you run into him.
Kurt

 

[ronott1]

That is what I do. I don't send out the eggs smaller than 50g nor larger than about 70g. Have you weighed the big ones? My smaller BA has laid as large as 102g, the bigger one 114g - effectively a gram shy of 2 eggs the size of the low end of USDA large. Fortunately these huge ones are rare, I fear for the girls' health with the big ones. The smaller usually lays mid to high 60s, the larger high 60s to low 70s.


Except for my broody raised girls! NONE of them squat. But along with the red combs/wattles and nest box investigation, I did see them checking out the oyster shell feeder. Somehow they just KNOW!

They do not squat for people if you have a rooster. If you have a rooster, look for mating instead.

 

[Diannastarr]

yes exactly thanks , i should weight them , they are as long as my hand & so big around , so im getting a scale today, thanks for the reminder

but these giant eggs are a bit scary since that last problem we had with our one year old NHR big reg girl , when she had a pretty bad prolapse , i sure don't want any more of that kind of problem ever again , but i got my red girl all back together again after I rebuilt all her connective tissues back good & strong & she is doing really great now & still laying giant eggs.

but such large eggs from a 5 month old is concerning doing that every day for a life time of laying such giant eggs could possibly be very harmful..??

O & i just got this great egg scale to help out around here

 

[Diannastarr]

hi KURT , sorry i forgot to send a pic of our Aussies we got from CHET first mr. GHOST he is a year old & very sweet & a hansom GUY .we also have a beautiful Blue Roo named mr. BLUE & he is very sweet & such a hansom GUY plus we have a Blue hen & a large Black hen we got from CHET , here below are both the hens visiting with mr Blue a few weeks after they arrived , all are a year old

GREAT KURT sounds like you have some wonderful Aussies of your own Rattlesnake Ridge line & I will Tell Chet Hi from you guys up there at Rattlesnake Ridge & yes CHET has some very nice Aussies & we are so fortunate to live near them here in southern AZ & so we have been able to acquire all our beautiful Aussie from him & lately i was thinking of looking for a good broody to try out some of our eggs that will be a cross between our GUY mr Ghost our splash roo & our blue & black girls , to see what comes of it, but that will not happen unless we have a good broody first, since all of mine will be mama hen raised & nothing is better them mama hen raised babies

ms. BLUE our blue Aussie girl ,with some of our 5 month old black Aussie babies

 

[bruceha2000]

They do not squat for people if you have a rooster. If you have a rooster, look for mating instead.

Nope, no rooster. They will squat for dominant hens but that might be because they are on their backs.

yes exactly thanks , i should weight them , they are as long as my hand & so big around , so im getting a scale today, thanks for the reminder

but these giant eggs are a bit scary since that last problem we had with our one year old NHR big reg girl , when she had a pretty bad prolapse , i sure don't want any more of that kind of problem ever again , but i got my red girl all back together again after I rebuilt all her connective tissues back good & strong & she is doing really great now & still laying giant eggs.

but such large eggs from a 5 month old is concerning that a life time of laying such giant eggs could possibly be very harmful..??

I agree, at 5 months only one of my 2012 BAs was laying, the other waited until 6 months. I didn't have a scale until just after the second one started laying. She started with USDA Large, her first BIG egg was 82g 12 days and 8 eggs later. Then 5 more Large in 6 days (with 1 day off) then an 88g. She bounced back and forth between Large and the occasional 80s size egg before generally settling into the low to mid 60s (Large) most of the time with a stupidly big one now and then.

She was almost a year old when she threw the first one that was over 100g. But she is a BIG chicken, I bet she would give a Black Jersey Giant hen a run for her money on size. She doesn't even have to stretch much to see into (and steal from if I'm not looking and it is full) the 10 gallon feed can and I think it is about 16" high with the lid off. Just the same, I wish she wouldn't do it. While it is a bit of a novelty to crack open 1 egg and have what looks like 2 sunny side up eggs in the pan, it just can't be good for the internal workings.

 

[hellbender]

Nope, no rooster. They will squat for dominant hens but that might be because they are on their backs.


I agree, at 5 months only one of my 2012 BAs was laying, the other waited until 6 months. I didn't have a scale until just after the second one started laying. She started with USDA Large, her first BIG egg was 82g 12 days and 8 eggs later. Then 5 more Large in 6 days (with 1 day off) then an 88g. She bounced back and forth between Large and the occasional 80s size egg before generally settling into the low to mid 60s (Large) most of the time with a stupidly big one now and then.

She was almost a year old when she threw the first one that was over 100g. But she is a BIG chicken, I bet she would give a Black Jersey Giant hen a run for her money on size. She doesn't even have to stretch much to see into (and steal from if I'm not looking and it is full) the 10 gallon feed can and I think it is about 16" high with the lid off. Just the same, I wish she wouldn't do it. While it is a bit of a novelty to crack open 1 egg and have what looks like 2 sunny side up eggs in the pan, it just can't be good for the internal workings.

I certainly wouldn't use that hen in a breeding program...na,an,na!!!

 

[justdishy]

Should be close. Combs and wattles should be getting red and sometimes they will squat if you walk up behind them and try to pet their backs.

Here are our eggs for this week (7 days.) notice the BA eggs on right, going up around the back. 14/14. Two hens, a nice egg each day

.

 

[appps]

Here are our eggs for this week (7 days.) notice the BA eggs on right, going up around the back. 14/14. Two hens, a nice egg each day

.

Quite jealous. I've got 6 hens and 2 pullets not quite laying but I'm buying eggs again this week sigh.