Australorp Males: Who to keep/cull

[HollowOfWisps]

I like yellow. On some of the others, the backs look too long and flat to me for show quality Australorps. White is pretty good except for the comb. Their backs should also be broad over the entire length of their bodies. That's important to judges.

Their backs should shorten once they fully grow in their tails. The pictures of yellow I’m not sure if his back is really any shorter because he is cocked at an angle. I know with horses they will use that angle when trying to sell a horse with a long back because its an illusion that makes the back seem shorter.
These are of the same roo the first he is just about 7 months and the second he is 2 years. His back looks considerably shorter once his full tail bloomed.

 

[Amer]

I like yellow. On some of the others, the backs look too long and flat to me for show quality Australorps. White is pretty good except for the comb. Their backs should also be broad over the entire length of their bodies. That's important to judges.

Australorps are supposed to have long and flat backs.
Back : Rather long, broad its entire length, slightly sloping downward from shoulders to center of back, then rising in a gradually increasing concave sweep to tail. Saddle feathers, long, of good width, abundant. Tail : Moderately large, well spread ; main-tail feathers, broad and overlapping, carried at an angle of forty degrees above the horizontal ; sickle feathers of good width, well-curved ; lesser sickles and tail-coverts long, of good width, nicely curved and abundant.

(Australian poultry standards.)

 

[Amer]

https://www.openpoultrystandards.com/Australorp
White looks nice though that photo angle doesn't look any better than the previous picture of him...
I still like Green best.

 

[JedJackson]

Australorps are supposed to have long and flat backs.
Back : Rather long, broad its entire length, slightly sloping downward from shoulders to center of back, then rising in a gradually increasing concave sweep to tail. Saddle feathers, long, of good width, abundant. Tail : Moderately large, well spread ; main-tail feathers, broad and overlapping, carried at an angle of forty degrees above the horizontal ; sickle feathers of good width, well-curved ; lesser sickles and tail-coverts long, of good width, nicely curved and abundant.

(Australian poultry standards.)

My standard says moderately long backs. To me green and blue have very long backs, like Minorcas. There is also no downward slope from the shoulders that I can see. I see low shoulders and the backs sweeping up from there. It's just my POV, though. Ultimately judges decide in a show room.

I had a friend who won grand champion at a show with his Australorp rooster, which he got from a well known breeder at the time. The bird looked very similar to the picture in the Standard. But maybe the Standard has been changed in recent years. That happens, too.

 

[JedJackson]

Their backs should shorten once they fully grow in their tails. The pictures of yellow I’m not sure if his back is really any shorter because he is cocked at an angle. I know with horses they will use that angle when trying to sell a horse with a long back because its an illusion that makes the back seem shorter.
These are of the same roo the first he is just about 7 months and the second he is 2 years. His back looks considerably shorter once his full tail bloomed.

View attachment 3988646

View attachment 3988647

That could be true, too. Certainly green and blue look very robust and healthy, and that definitely counts in a show room.

 

[Amer]

My standard says moderately long backs. To me green and blue have very long backs, like Minorcas. There is also no downward slope from the shoulders that I can see. I see low shoulders and the backs sweeping up from there. It's just my POV, though. Ultimately judges decide in a show room.

I had a friend who won grand champion at a show with his Australorp rooster, which he got from a well known breeder at the time. The bird looked very similar to the picture in the Standard. But maybe the Standard has been changed in recent years. That happens, too.

I didn't have the American Standard on hand which is why I referenced the Australian. Yes, I would concede they are supposed to be moderately long. I do feel like the Standard drawing doesn't show a long enough back or the slope nor do many birds in the showrooms today.
I would agree they do like Minorca-lengths right now. But its amazing how much a few weeks can change a cockerel.

 

[Carterborchers]

I don’t know anything about standards, but they are all posing so nicely.

If I were to pick the most visually pleasing, I’d say blue and yellow, but it may just be a camera angle thing.