Australorp

He's only a month old and the runt. He keeps to himself.

I have an Australorp that lays many eggs year-round. She likes to be pet and held, but will chase away any chicken that is below her in the pecking order. Overall, a great chicken.

I only have experience with one of these so I can only speak about her, and of course chickens all have their own individual personalities.

My Australorp lays 5-6 eggs a week. She's gorgeous to look at and very alert. When I don't have a rooster in with my flock she is the one that makes the 'rooster alert' sounds. I'm sure you all know what I mean lol. My girls free range and on two occasions I heard her singing the 'egg song' just a lot louder and it seemed kind of like a desperate cry so I ran outside and sure enough there was a coyote (both times) right at the barbwire fence separating our 5 acres from the cattle pasture. On two other occasions she did the same thing and it was the neighbors cat in the garden. I love this about her. She looks out for the rest of the flock wonderfully.

My girl is hatchery stock and has gone broody for me twice already at the age of 1-2 years old. The second time I had fertile eggs to give her so I gave her 10 eggs and she hatched out 8 babies. She was an excellent mother and was perfectly fine with me picking up her babies to return them to her. This is a pro if you are interested in hatching your own eggs, but obviously a con if you are more concerned about egg production as they do not lay when they are broody until the babies are about 6 weeks or so.

Now here is what I don't like about her. Keep in mind that from my 3-4 years experience keeping chickens I have learned that you can not judge a breed on one single chicken because they all have their own personalities. What I don't like about my Australorp is that she chases the chickens lower in the pecking order out of the coop when they go in to lay and she happens to be in there. I have seen her follow a less dominant chicken into the coop just to chase her out lol. She is a little bit of a bully with them but it isn't to the point where I want to get rid of her because to me the positives outweigh the negatives. If she ever drew blood then she would have to go.

All in all I enjoy having her around and she's very pleasant with me (even lets me pet her all the time). She follows me around and begs for treats. I like her so much that I will most likely be adding a couple more Australorps to my flock this coming spring. I can definitely recommend this breed to anyone that wants egg production from a good looking, people-friendly chicken.

In my little flock I have two and they are welll...not the brightest bulbs in the the chandelier. But what they lack in brains they make up in beauty and ease. They are easy keepers. They are placid and don't mind being held. We picked this breed because we wanted eggs and because it has a reputation for sweetness. Mine just started laying at 29 weeks, in early December and so it is too soon to tell if these specific hens will hold true to the laying standard of others but they certainly live up to the reputation of being easy to handle and docile

In addition, they are so pretty...They look gorgeous against the green grass with their black feathers and their red combs and wattles .That plus, the iridescent green sheen of their feathers in the sunlight makes these girls the beauties of my flock.

Unlike the Delawares and Red Stars we have, these do not seek out our company. They are hesitant to come in the house and rather than take treats from my hand...unless it's meal worms...they would rather wait and get whatever falls.

They were the slowest to mature in my flock. They began laying just yesterday at almost 30 weeks. I heard that this is due to their size and the fact that they are a dual purpose breed. If you want eggs from these girls and you live in a Northern Climate you may want to get your chicks early in the spring to help insure that they start laying before winter sets in. That is not really a con. It's just something to think about and maybe plan for. Don't expect them to lay like a smaller, more production oriented breed.

ETA My Australorps consistently through the winter have given give me about 11 eggs a week between the two of them. Mine are from BYC and the egg size is smaller than I was led to believe it would be but these beautiful fluffy black girls could lay hummingbird sized eggs and I would still be a fan. Most australorps lay much bigger eggs so this is just my experience.

We have a barnyard mix roo who seems to prefer the Australorp ladies to the others in our flock as 9 times out of ten their eggs are fertile. I am going to hatch a few this spring and hope to have some great egg producing/meaty offspring.


ETA I was only able to get one AL mix baby in my hatch. Don't know how she will turn out as a layer but her mom just hatched 4 EE eggs last week. Here they are on their first day out of the coop. She has been an excellent setter and a protective and attentive mother.


ETA great setter and brooder. Kept the chicks with her for over 5 weeks. She returned to laying within days of weaning them. Free ranged with the littles from like day 4 and kept them safe, took on a pea hen who got too close.

What I said about not seeking us out has changed as well. One of my AL girls is always first to greet me when I step out the back door. Both let me handle them no problem. Not as friendly as the Dels and the Red Stars but still very easily handled.

I love my aussies! They are almost-everyday-layers of big eggs. One of mine lays a pinkish purplish eggs! The other lays a nice speckled brown. They are very cold hardy. They are not mean to the hens, but are on the top layer of the pecking order. The only 'con' I can think of is- they can be very vocal! One of mine is name 'politician' polly for short because she LOVES to talk! They are friendly birds too. They seem to get along very well with my Gold Stars. They have their own little Gold Star buddy they can almost always be seen with!

Iv'e had multiple ones in the past, they tend to make allot of noise.

Great layers and cold hearty. Very skittish/jumpy at least mine are. 4.5 stars overall

good layer and a good group bird, gets alone with everyone well. Is always in the background watching the others getting into things.

We just happen to have 4 Aussies. One is a VERY defensive rooster who weighs 6 pounds at 19 weeks. I love that they are so curious and friendly. They are my favorites because they have higher voices then the others.

I've loved my Australorps. The last one I had died defending a chick she'd adopted. She was tough, but no match for a head-on confrontation with a fox. The chick survived

Very friendly, one of my best holders. Lays lots of big brown eggs. Would be good meat bird if it wasn't one of my favorite hens. It occasionally lays huge eggs that I can't stuff in the carton.

Australorps are calm, beautiful birds. Their black feathers turn shades of greens and purple in the sunlight, making them even more adorable. Mine is a little flighty, but they are sweet birds in general.

I'm hesitant to write this review and speak for the whole breed, but Jemima, our Black Australorp, has been amazing! She was the first of our chickens to start laying, and the last to stop during the winter. One thing I noticed, but since we only have one it might just be the individual personality, is that she is shy and doesn't appreciate being pet or picked up. This isn't really a problem to me, but I thought I should just get it out there in case it's an issue to someone else. We actually didn't order her (she came as an extra with some Barred Rocks from a hatchery), but I'm glad they sent her and will definitely order more in the future.

My rooster was hatched in January 2012 the three hens were February. I did lose a hen who was the same age as rooster early on to a sky bird. They free range even when I am gone for days. I have an automatic door opener. Had to adjust time a couple time cause the hens got locked out. They range over about Seven of my 28.5 areas. They come running if they think I have raisins or any other treat. The hens lay almost every day, sometimes in the woods so I have to watch. I had twenty eggs in pile this summer. I thought they were a little short on eggs for several days so went looking.

I spoil them some with canned cat food in the fall because frogs and other critters are harder for them to find. The rooster keeps a good eye out for hawks and other preditors. They all can run extremely fast to the woods for cover if they are spooked. I don't have tick mice or many bugs since I got these birds. Free range eggs are tasty and the yokes are a dark orange. Eggs have gotten bigger as the hens have matured.

I plan to hatch several in the early spring if one of these decides to sit. I may use a brown, older hen, if the young hens are not wanting to stay put. Great birds, they take care of themselves compared to my other chickens. They haven't eaten a complete gallon of food all summer because they are always ranging.

Black Australorps are a chicken worth having. They are excellent farm and family birds. Australorps are extremely prolific layers of large brown eggs. They have beautiful true black feathers with a lovely blue sheen, which is extremely attractive. I found them too be excellent foragers, and good candidates for free range settings. The males grow to excellent large dressing weight, and are very flavorful.

If your sure you must have chickens, consider Australorps first. You will be hard pressed to find a more attractive and amiable chicken. They are somewhat clever, and will dependably put themselves to bed at night. One rooster and 4 hens will keep you in about 16 eggs per week, once they are laying at 5.5-6 months. Their eggs are a lovely rose brown, and quite large at maturity. No need to color Easter eggs, with the lovely shades even a few hens will offer you, from pinkish tan to dark brown. Once, an Australorp hen laid all but one day in a year.

If you need a dual purpose chicken, Australorps are a good choice overall. The roosters grow up to 8 lbs in about 5 or 6 months. If you purchase strait run, you'll have great eggs and good eating. Just feed the roosters and hens together, until the girl start laying, then separate out the extra bachelors, and fill that freezer with good size birds. It is important to note that the Australorps have dark feathers, which can lead to more dark pin feathers, and not a perfect white skinned dressed bird.

If your hens are back yard pets, you'll be delighted. No rooster required to enjoy a few years of fine eggs from any of the ladies. And, they can be helpful in controlling garden pests, if it is safe for them to free run. They are excellent at controlling spiders, hoppers, and other small pests that cruise from house to house in the city. Black Australorp hens also tend to be quiet birds, which is a real bonus for the city dwelling BYCer.

I like my Australorps, and will always think on my experiences with them in a very positive light. Its hard to go wrong with such a fine bird.

i have 3 of these and they r not friendly at all i dont know what it is but i got 8 all at once the others are RIRs and barred rocks all handled the same bu8t i dont know just not nice birds. seem to be snippy when i get the eggs from under then also way ore then other birds. but i plan on getting more

This girl is definitely our favorite, she's super friendly and easy to handle even with small children. Her feathers are incredibly SOFT, I just love to hold her and pet her. She's not the Super Layer some have described, but I don't know if she's purebred BA so that might have something to do with it. She will usually lay either 2 or 3 days in a row then take one day off. So that's about 5 eggs per week. She's been laying a little more than 1 year and she hasn't ever gone broody, which is good for us. There's no rooster so it's of no use anyway.

It's a good thing we love her so much because we've nicknamed her Amelia Earhart! Even when we clipped one wing she's still able to launch herself well enough to fly over the 4' fence around their daytime play area.

If we ever lost her we would definitely get another.

very nice birds very calm good layers takes a bit of time for them to lay but overall they are good at it i have six of them including a roo and he is such a sweet and handsome boy love him this girls are one of the softes chickens ive ever petted they are very calm and dont like trouble..

I have 3 Australorps, Agatha Raisin, Penny and Weego. I originally had 5 (Mrs Bloxby and Atilla the Hen) but first they are big hens and 5 was way to many for my suburban back yard, 5 Australorps poop a lot and finally of the 5, those two were the loudest and crankiest so they went to a farm out in the country.

I really enjoy this breed. They are very friendly, come running when I walk out the back door and are a lot of fun to watch. Weego began laying at 20 weeks. Penny and Agatha are getting close but nothing yet.

The link below is a video of the banana frenzy. The love bananas.