Chicken Breed Focus - Australorp

[Diannastarr]

awww geee thanks for your concern, im doing ok but have to keep my pc unplugged from all the lighting, we had one of those lighting protection things that's suppose to stop lighting from killing off your electronics , but that was the first thing to blow up , so now i just keep every thing unplugged , its been raining cats & dogs almost non stop rain no kidding, we get a storm a day & some times 2 or 3 and then raining all night , maybe i should be raising ducks now im dealing with my brand new coop roof thats been leaking bad from the sky lights, im thinking i should just rip out all of the that part of the roof , but dont want to do that now during this super wet monsoon season, been trying to wait till fall when things will be dry again so i hope your doing good & keeping dry, how many chicks do you have that have hatched so far let me know

 

[herman 48]

Oh, my! I just received fifty Aussie chicks, but when I read that they are very affectionate and jump in their humans' laps I became very concerned. You see, we already have 8 chickens of mixed breed, and only a couple of them are barely affectionate. Yet my wife named them all, and at night, when she puts them in their coon-proof house, she pets them, cuddles them, talks to them, and I suspect she sings them lullabies and tells them bedtime stories. Now, I built a new, larger chicken house with a predator and raptor-proof fence and I bought the Aussie chicks exclusively as meat chickens. Do you see where I am going? My wife is already trying to find retirement homes for our older chickens against the day they will stop laying eggs--instead of investigating the best chicken-and-dumplings recipes suitable for tough old hens. I am afraid that the first time an Aussie chicken jumps in her lap, the whole batch will achieve the same status granted to cows in India--allowed to die of old age after having spent decades stealing from vegetable stands at the market and defecating anywhere they please. And when I feel like eating chicken I'll have to go to KFC for a couple of thighs and drumsticks--even though between chicks and materials and labor for the new chicken pen and house I have already invested more than five hundred bucks--and I am not even adding the price of the feed I'll be serving my wife's new pets... Are there any truly unpleasant and un-petlike breeds of chickens, possibly ugly, aggressive, loud and smelly, but with excellent meat--the kind you almost "process" (euphemism) with sadistic pleasure?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Aussies are truly not that big even when full grown.

Processed old Aussie hens were only about 3 to 3.5 pounds post processing.

Maybe some red rangers or other broiler types would be a better choice.

 

[BlueBaby]

Oh, my! I just received fifty Aussie chicks, but when I read that they are very affectionate and jump in their humans' laps I became very concerned. You see, we already have 8 chickens of mixed breed, and only a couple of them are barely affectionate. Yet my wife named them all, and at night, when she puts them in their coon-proof house, she pets them, cuddles them, talks to them, and I suspect she sings them lullabies and tells them bedtime stories. Now, I built a new, larger chicken house with a predator and raptor-proof fence and I bought the Aussie chicks exclusively as meat chickens. Do you see where I am going? My wife is already trying to find retirement homes for our older chickens against the day they will stop laying eggs--instead of investigating the best chicken-and-dumplings recipes suitable for tough old hens. I am afraid that the first time an Aussie chicken jumps in her lap, the whole batch will achieve the same status granted to cows in India--allowed to die of old age after having spent decades stealing from vegetable stands at the market and defecating anywhere they please. And when I feel like eating chicken I'll have to go to KFC for a couple of thighs and drumsticks--even though between chicks and materials and labor for the new chicken pen and house I have already invested more than five hundred bucks--and I am not even adding the price of the feed I'll be serving my wife's new pets... Are there any truly unpleasant and un-petlike breeds of chickens, possibly ugly, aggressive, loud and smelly, but with excellent meat--the kind you almost "process" (euphemism) with sadistic pleasure?

Maybe you could try some of those ones called Naked Neck Turken's? They are supposed to be easier to cull because of less feathering.

 

[h2oAPBTs]

Well, I only ended up with having the one Black hen. The rest of them are all Blue's and Splashes. I had to put the Black hen back with her Blue son, trying to get some more Blacks.

Do color genetics work the same in chickens as they do in dogs? I know in my breed, we are loosing dark pigment to dilutes. True black is hard to come by in APBTs, the more common being seal and blue.

I bred black brindle to a dilute, and got both dilutes and non-dilutes evenly divided, so hopefully you were as successful in your endeavors!

 

[BlueBaby]

Do color genetics work the same in chickens as they do in dogs? I know in my breed, we are loosing dark pigment to dilutes. True black is hard to come by in APBTs, the more common being seal and blue.

I bred black brindle to a dilute, and got both dilutes and non-dilutes evenly divided, so hopefully you were as successful in your endeavors!

That was a while back already, and yes I was. Breeding the black to the blue, the chicks come out 1/2 of them black, and 1/2 of them blue. Then, if you want to have even more blacks, you would put the blacks back to the black in breeding.

 

[BlueBaby]

Aussies are truly not that big even when full grown.

Processed old Aussie hens were only about 3 to 3.5 pounds post processing.

Maybe some red rangers or other broiler types would be a better choice.

Did you have the one's from the hatcheries, or the breeder's type? Mine are bigger than the one's you get from the hatcheries.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Did you have the one's from the hatcheries, or the breeder's type? Mine are bigger than the one's you get from the hatcheries.

No breeders near me at all........for any Aussie types.
That means mine are all hatchery stock.

I will say that I have a couple nice big girls but 80% are smaller then I would like. Still great birds and awesome layers.

 

[BlueBaby]

No breeders near me at all........for any Aussie types.
That means mine are all hatchery stock.

I will say that I have a couple nice big girls but 80% are smaller then I would like. Still great birds and awesome layers.

I see that you are in Colorado. A couple of weeks back, a lady named Amy who lives up there in Durango drove all the way down here and bought a blue roo, and 4 of my blue and black hens, and a few chicks from me. She is breeding them up there now. So, there are now the breeders Australorp's up there in Colorado. I forgot what name she uses here on this site.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I see that you are in Colorado. A couple of weeks back, a lady named Amy who lives up there in Durango drove all the way down here and bought a blue roo, and 4 of my blue and black hens, and a few chicks from me. She is breeding them up there now. So, there are now the breeders Australorp's up there in Colorado. I forgot what name she uses here on this site.

That is awesome news!!

Durango is still a ways away from me but WAY more doable then other options.