Australorps breed Thread

[cubakid]

I'd say that for the majority of the US, no. My birds are from the best I know. There are amazing birds in different regions by they don't ever intermingle and can cocks can lose fazzaz from inbreeding. I was trying to boost more of the fertility with a boost of foreign blood but decided to keep them pure and use cross generational aunts and grandparents. I don't breed from DQs as you call them and breed with a standard in hand.
Do you own an APA Standard of Perfection to breed from?

 

[chickened]

I have been following this thread as of late and am wondering if the BA has suffered the same fate as the Delawares? they are a great bird.

 

[cubakid]

I do not think they are in danger. Just in a fuzzy phase. It will fade and there will be nice birds coming in the future of the breed. There are very nice Aussies around, and not all breeders, actually few, even come to these sites. If you want to see good birds you must venture to a large show. We usually have classes of 25+ australorps at our PPBA show. The quality is quite nice and very competitive. The same name almost always takes Best of Breed but I am catching up, with a reserve to his bird last year in a class of about 35.

 

[chickened]

I hope you are right, I bought some very nice BA about 5 years ago from a local hatchery that raised his own stock and they were birds from his SQ stock that he used in his hatchery after he quit breeding them for showing and they were amazing birds and very capable of producing winning birds. I wish I had kept some.

 

[aveca]

I'd say that for the majority of the US, no. My birds are from the best I know. There are amazing birds in different regions by they don't ever intermingle and can cocks can lose fazzaz from inbreeding. I was trying to boost more of the fertility with a boost of foreign blood but decided to keep them pure and use cross generational aunts and grandparents. I don't breed from DQs as you call them and breed with a standard in hand.
Do you own an APA Standard of Perfection to breed from?

Yours are at the top of the list best avail in America..very good birds..

 

[groche]

I do not think they are in danger. Just in a fuzzy phase. It will fade and there will be nice birds coming in the future of the breed. There are very nice Aussies around, and not all breeders, actually few, even come to these sites. If you want to see good birds you must venture to a large show. We usually have classes of 25+ australorps at our PPBA show. The quality is quite nice and very competitive. The same name almost always takes Best of Breed but I am catching up, with a reserve to his bird last year in a class of about 35.

Hi Cubakid,
glad to hear you're doing well with your BA's. We have the same issue you mention here, with most of our best breeders being older or 'oldschool' and rarely featuring on sites such as this. In many ways this is a pity as we lose so much knowledge when they pass on. Also, if the breeder dies suddenly, the family often don't know what to do with the chooks and they're often sold off and great bloodlines get lost. RE the 'state of American BA's', there are folks doing terrific work out there! I've never tried to overstate where Australian SQ BA's are at on this thread. I think my avatar's a terrific bird, but just about everyone here is critical of the overfluffy thighs and flatter backs of many of our prizewinners. And there are other factors which many here are unhappy with, such as laying form. I'm certainly not happy with that in my SQ girls! I know that many on here also breed Orps. and if I sound critical of them, I only refer to their influence on BA's. I have the utmost respect for judges who judge to the SOP, but, over the years there appears to have been a tendency to favour larger, fluffier, more 'impressive' birds. We can see this going right back to when Joe Partington blew Cook's original Orps. out of the showring with his Cochin?-'improved' Orps., which didn't lay nearly as well. When we were trying to turn our raggtaggle 'breed' of great laying Utility BA's into a 'Standardable' form, it's generally accepted here that a fair bit of Partington Orp. was added, and has continued to be added. Hence, our BA problems. The problem with trying to recreate the birds 'from scratch' using Orps. is that the only Orps. which seem to be available, there as well as here, are the Partington types, when the bird was originally created from Cook blood mainly. Some folks have regarded the SQ BA as a virtual recreation, in appearance, of Cook's original Orp. As it doesn't appear to exist any more, I reckon the best we can do is make sure that we try to use what would be regarded as poor SQ Orps., smaller with tighter feathering. Need to get onto someone who breeds lots of Orps. and sift through the culls! Cheers Geoff from Aus

 

[aveca]

Geoff, your avatar looks like what we dream an australorp to look like..Some people have a habit of wanting a BA to look like a wyandotte. or plymouth rock ...He isnt supposed to look like that..he has to have some of his orpington ancestry showing without profuse feathering. or without over doing that aspect...its capartmentalizing everyones should look like what one guy has made in his barn..if you look at the SOP picture of australorp, his ancesttry jumps right out at you,,he was called the great bird of curves..he is Supposed to curve from beak all the way through tail..and he is round underneath. not boxy like other breeds.and he is allowed a little fluff..

 

[ronott1]

I have been following this thread as of late and am wondering if the BA has suffered the same fate as the Delawares? they are a great bird.

Not as bad as Delawares but not as good as RIRs. Delawares have 20 years to get them up to snuff(meaning a lot of them, not a couple of breeders). RIRs are almost there. As an example, I can easily get Heritage RIR hatching eggs that are obviously SQ stock. Delawares? No. BAs? most of the ones advertised as being from a breeder are not that much better than what I can get from Cackle. Been trying for a couple of years now. I think if many people work together, BAs could get to there in 10 years.

I do not think they are in danger. Just in a fuzzy phase. It will fade and there will be nice birds coming in the future of the breed. There are very nice Aussies around, and not all breeders, actually few, even come to these sites. If you want to see good birds you must venture to a large show. We usually have classes of 25+ australorps at our PPBA show. The quality is quite nice and very competitive. The same name almost always takes Best of Breed but I am catching up, with a reserve to his bird last year in a class of about 35.

Congratulations! Share your chickens and share your knowledge!

Geoff, your avatar looks like what we dream an australorp to look like..Some people have a habit of wanting a BA to look like a wyandotte. or plymouth rock ...He isnt supposed to look like that..he has to have some of his orpington ancestry showing without profuse feathering. or without over doing that aspect...its capartmentalizing everyones should look like what one guy has made in his barn..if you look at the SOP picture of australorp, his ancesttry jumps right out at you,,he was called the great bird of curves..he is Supposed to curve from beak all the way through tail..and he is round underneath. not boxy like other breeds.and he is allowed a little fluff..

They are also supposed to be able to work!

Mine can do the funky Chicken:


She was tearing across the yard too!

 

[aveca]

That is one funkey chicken! LOL.

Its too bad what happened to dels..hopefully that wont be the fate of Australorp..not sure how something like that happens, but you see it in so many once very popular breeds..I think its comercialization mostly..people left the farms for workplace and many breeds fell by the wayside..you see a lot of dedicated people trying desperatly to make over some of these birds and save them today..at one time del was a top choice for table bird and all around good farm flock.

 

[ronott1]

That is one funkey chicken! LOL.

Its too bad what happened to dels..hopefully that wont be the fate of Australorp..not sure how something like that happens, but you see it in so many once very popular breeds..I think its comercialization mostly..people left the farms for workplace and many breeds fell by the wayside..you see a lot of dedicated people trying desperatly to make over some of these birds and save them today..at one time del was a top choice for table bird and all around good farm flock.

I am working with a Poultry Breeder here in Northern CA. I have been hatching chicks for her-SG Dorkings. She also is working with Delawares. This Summer I helped her process 4 of her Delawares along with three Hatchery Partridge Rocks. The Rocks were 4 months old and dressed out at 3 pounds. The Delawares were 7 months old and only dressed out at 4 pounds. Delawares should be that big at 4 months. Yes, they are very messed up! Of course the Rocks should have been bigger too.

From what I can gather, many of our breeds were messed up with the egg laying competitions. Leghorns were added to increase egg laying. And then there is the decline from moving away from the family farm and commercialization of livestock in general. In my humble opinion, pork has been messed up too. Way too lean now and I just read that a drug that makes them even leaner has been found in pork meat!

I have recently fallen in love with lard and am trying hard to get over the false propaganda that lard is bad health wise. Crisco shortening is now considered bad for heath.

I really hope the BAs continue to recover.