Australorp

out of 25 hens, 0 good year round layers

I was expecting large eggs and an egg almost every day. It took her the longest to start to lay and maybe get 3 a week. I would rather have one RED STAR than five Australorps.

I'm not sure what went wrong with my Australorps, and I was surprised to see how highly they are rated. My Australorps are the meanest chickens and by far the worse layers I have. I bought 11 chickens of 4 different breeds in May of this year (2 Australorps, 2 RIRs, 2 Gold Sexlinks, and 5 Ameraucanas - 1 of which turned out to be a rooster), and the Australorps bully the rest of the flock to the point that I am now having to separate them. I have been getting an egg per day from all four of my RIRs and GSLs since they began laying around 18 weeks, however I have only gotten MAYBE 6 very small eggs total from my Australorps (they were also the last to start laying). When my Australorps come up to any of my other chickens (including the rooster), the other chickens can't get away fast enough, otherwise they get a nasty unprovoked pecking. I am very dissatisfied with these chickens and will likely end up getting rid of them.

this hen lays maybe 1 egg per week. She gets pecked constantly by all the other birds. I would not recommend getting this breed if you have RIR or other aggressive breeds in the mix.

I hate to be the outlier here, but our Australorp is my least favorite bird. We inherited her from a friend, so didn't raise her from a chick. I would not get another Australorp as ours doesn't have a very interesting personality and lays only one every week during the warm months and never in the winter. We are also slowly introducing new chicks into the flock and she is incredibly aggressive towards them (although she's never pecked or been aggressive towards the adult birds).

Was a Good Hen when It Came to Laying, BUT she ate the other Hen's eggs. Also taught another one how to drink the egg yolk. Very shy especially when it came to snack time. So we let our friend have her.

Have one, not a good experience.

I purchased a flock of 25 birds. All Australorps. 2 died young. I can deal with that. I had seven go broody at once. Atleast one so far became what I would describe as a late bloomer and revealed itself as a roo at almost 10 months old. I raise chickens for their egg production. Not an ideal breed for that at all. In the future I will stick with RIR and Plymouth Barred Rock.

i do recommend this breed

I have 2 Australorp, 2 Barnevelders and 2 Easter eggers. I find that the Australorps are very aggressive to the other birds. My 2 Barnevelder have no back tail feathers, thanks to these birds. So they are about to become dinner. My Barnevelders and easter eggers are so gentle and calm and get along with each other. The Australorp are always coming up behind them and taking out a feather. Will be looking to replace them with another breed.

Don't base your purchase on my review, because I only have one Australorp. I just figured I should put in a review, in case it helps anyone.

I included an Australorp in my chick order because of the great reviews. Unfortunately, the one we got is not the nicest hen. I love all of my "children", but she's the most difficult. She's aggressive and obnoxious. She bullies the pullets incessantly. She is not very friendly. (We handle our chickens a lot. The others are all very tame.) She is pretty though, and a consistent layer. She's also a good forager. She catches frogs in the woods! It's disgusting, but I have to admire her tenacity.

We have 3 Australorp's that we got as day old chicks back in April of this year along with some Speckled Sussex, Red Stars, and Barred Rocks. Now that these girls are almost 5 month's old, some of them are beginning to lay. The Australorp's are giving us some very nice eggs so no complaints about their laying. However, I expected more from them in terms of friendliness and personality after reading so much about them. These 3 girls were handled as much as all the other breeds (which was a lot!) and today fall in the middle of the pecking order but they are "clannish" and prefer each other's company to any other bird or human. If we try to pet them, they back off. They do not like to be touched at all, let alone picked up. Although they are generally quiet birds, they can be very loud when we try to handle them. They are gorgeous birds and the eggs are nice but for personality and human-friendliness, I prefer some of the other breeds.

Updated 10-10-15: We no longer have any BA's. One died from internal laying issues a few months ago. Of the 2 that remained, 1 became a terrible bully to some of the meeker girls in the flock (feather pulling, attacking them when they weren't looking and chasing them from the feeders). The 3rd BA became a very determined broody but since I can't increase the size of my flock at this time, her broodiness wasn't a plus for us. These girls have been re-homed to a friend familiar with their behavior and who needed a broody for her flock. The birds in my flock are so much calmer, life is quiet in the coop and everyone (including me) is much happier without them!

I have two austrolorps an they pick on my banty hens. One of my banties that was dying got adopted by an austrolorp and they sat in the nest box all day. Now that the banty went missing the austrolorp is fine and plays with the other chickens.

One was enough for me. Not that it's a terrible breed, but my experiences with them aren't spectacular. Birds with "blah" temperaments simply aren't my cup of tea. However, if you're looking for something decently nice to look at, and lots of medium brown eggs, Australorps are for you!

~Alex

I had 3 black australorp hens in a mixed flock of 12. All of them seemed more skittish and aloof than the other breeds (orpington, plymouth rock, wyandotte). Contrary to what I had read, they were not low on the pecking order, as they did assert themselves. So far, they have been reliable layers. UPDATE - birds stopped laying eggs around 26 months; for the few months before this the shells were very rough. Based on their reputation, I was expecting them to lay well for much longer than this! Unfortunate to have to cull heritage breeds at 2 years of age due to non-productivity. (purchased from Healthy Chicks and More)

It wasn't the star egg layer I was hoping for, but I could have lived with that. Unfortunately she always had a dirty bumm. No matter how many times I cleaned it, it was dirty again. I culled her for that reason alone. She dressed out nicely and was a nice couple of dinners.

I just bought another Australorp chick yesterday and am going to give it another try.

I got my Australorp with another batch of chicks from a hatchery last Febuary. Very quiet bird, really docile and doesn't mind being pet. She wasn't as docile as a chick but as she matured into a hen she was really friendly. She is two years old now. Her eggs are a different color from all the rest of chickens, usually pink with sometimes a purple tint in them. She is a really good egg layer and started laying at 4.5 months.

The only negative aspect of the breed is that they constantly attack other chickens and she has even drawn blood from my other hens before. Thank goodness I only purchased one because I was considering to purchase more. I believe they would of ended up tearing the flock with bloodshed. She has plenty of space and usually gets access to free range, a spacious coop with plenty of nesting boxes and high protein feed too. I will also mention that my other breeds get along really well so I presume that it has to do with the breed and genetics. Australorps probably aren't the worst breed but I never would consider buying again.

Chick.

Hen.

One of the sugggested breed for a first time backyard chicken raiser is an australorp. I read many good reviews about them so i ordered two babies, and along with other breeds. Four months after... it was just non-stop screaming and cackling from them. Another 2 months after when they hit their point in laying, it just got worse. They werent even singing their "egg song". What they did 2 months back...this is 6 times worse, and louder now. They were literally screaming as if they were in one of jigsaws contraption in the movie "SAW". I spoil them, and i dont think that would make them hate their lives?? Im sure australorps arent the only breed that does this, so im not only pointing fingers at this breed. I honestly really dont mind the noises.....but if you live in a city thats permitted to have chickens, but have grumpy elderly neighbors then this ISNT the breed of chicken for you. Id enjoy hearing them cackle all day, but the constant thought of one day having one of my neighbors or the authorities knock on my door telling me to do something about my chickens. i wouldnt know what to do beause i am attached to my pet chickens. It really just stresses me every time the australorps have another one of their 'fits' and it happens everyday..

I dont know if this will offend australorp lovers, but this was my experience.

First ever review! dont cull me for this one =(((

Good eggs, but won't let anyone touch them.

I adopted an australorpe when she was already 4 years old thinking it would just be a short stop over before freezer-camp, but she ended up staying for almost a year because she was such a great layer. Even at her age I was getting daily large/extra large eggs with smooth solid shells. She did have some funny bald spots around her chin where she just never got them back after a molt so she wasn't the prettiest anymore, but that hardly matters when she's such a good layer. I did eventually decide to cull her when she took a big chunk of skin off one of my new chicks and went back for more. I understand that pecking-order duels are nopamal, but have no patience for violent aggression that leaves major injuries on my other birds.