Australorps breed Thread

[Lobzi]

Australorps are one of many I have had that go broody a lot. Cochin and Brahmas too....broody all the time. Australorps do lay almost daily...very good for eggs.

 

[adam73]

The black one is just a rubber bowl under a brooder light i do have a incubator it's called a "little giant"

 

[adam73]

I'm p not a fan of letting my incubator get all dirty so we use a rubber bowl....way easyer to clean up after the hatching process is done

 

[MrsBrooke]

Sorry MrsB...I just don't know where you get the idea that Australorps are more broody than other breeds.  Aside from owning them myself for almost four years, my dad had them for decades and they are just NOT more broody than most other breeds.

Dark Cornish, Game birds, Naked Necks ...the list goes on and on of birds that are more likely to brood than Australorps....especially hatchery birds, as you say.

Turk

Some Autralorps are more broody than others. They are generally more broody than RIRs or Barred Rocks, but less so than Cornish Games or Orpingtons.

If you know the line the birds come from and have an idea if broodiness is a trait kept in the flock, I feel it would be possible to predict broodiness of your hen.

I've just always read popular opinion that BAs are some broody birds.

- MrsB

 

[Turk Raphael]

Some Autralorps are more broody than others. They are generally more broody than RIRs or Barred Rocks, but less so than Cornish Games or Orpingtons.

If you know the line the birds come from and have an idea if broodiness is a trait kept in the flock, I feel it would be possible to predict broodiness of your hen.

I've just always read popular opinion that BAs are some broody birds.

- MrsB

Certainly some are but most hatcheries have done their best to kill the instinct. Orps, one of the Australorp's building blocks, can be very broody as you know but the addition of White Leghorn busted a lot of that up...

On the other hand...I've seen 4 to 6 White Leghorns go broody in one flock of about 30 so it's safe to say...you find your brood hens where ever they pop up.

No argument...let's just be friends...

 

[ronott1]

Certainly some are but most hatcheries have done their best to kill the instinct. Orps, one of the Australorp's building blocks, can be very broody as you know but the addition of White Leghorn busted a lot of that up...

On the other hand...I've seen 4 to 6 White Leghorns go broody in one flock of about 30 so it's safe to say...you find your brood hens where ever they pop up.

No argument...let's just be friends...

Many of the heritage lorps have been crossed to heritage orpingtons to increase size. They will be more broody. One of my Hupp blue australorps wants to go broody. She sits in the nest for a week or so and then gets off. She is a terrible broody....

 

[4chickymama]

ugh. Broody is one thing, but a broody that doesn't even do that well...I'd not be happy!

I am starting to suspect that Kathy was right when she sexed my "girls". She checked vents the day they arrived, and said I have two boys and a girl. Now two of them are larger than the other, and both those have much thicker legs. I know I will know for sure around 6 weeks, and we are just creeping up on two weeks. If they weren't hatchery birds I'd just pick the best boy and breed them to increase my layers, but that seems a bit silly with these. They "guarantee" 90% accuracy, and I may have 33% accuracy. But I can't just order two replacement birds, so the guarantee doesn't really help much. I suppose that's what I get for ordering chicks on a whim.

 

[BethanyS]

ugh. Broody is one thing, but a broody that doesn't even do that well...I'd not be happy!

I am starting to suspect that Kathy was right when she sexed my "girls". She checked vents the day they arrived, and said I have two boys and a girl. Now two of them are larger than the other, and both those have much thicker legs. I know I will know for sure around 6 weeks, and we are just creeping up on two weeks. If they weren't hatchery birds I'd just pick the best boy and breed them to increase my layers, but that seems a bit silly with these. They "guarantee" 90% accuracy, and I may have 33% accuracy. But I can't just order two replacement birds, so the guarantee doesn't really help much. I suppose that's what I get for ordering chicks on a whim. 

what hatchery did you use?when was their hatch day?

 

[BethanyS]

I've got McMurry chicks hatched July 14....hope they are sexed properly

 

[chickisoup]

Happy Sunday everyone!
my 2 cents on broody Aussies. I got back into chickens because I decided to rescue the last of over 200 hens (mostly that were being kept literally stuffed into a small wired corner of a barn that the back end had literally fallen in. Anyway these poor girls were the ones no one else wanted because they were so ragged looking, vent leaking, just unhappy things you've ever seen. They were all supposed to be black sex-link. Well, once I had them for a while and started getting them healthy it became clear that what I had was one older Australorp. She became a beautiful lady as she got healthier but she also discovered the nestboxes and went very determinedly broody! (epilogue- they all totally enjoyed their rest of their lives living like real chickens but are all gone now)

My current Aussie pullets from Cackle Hatchery turn 5 months in a couple days. No one is laying yet, but I expect any day now as they have been getting especially nosy about the nestboxes, popping in and checking out those wonderful eggs the other girls are leaving. In the meantime, I think for hatchery birds they are wonderful. Developing nicely, great personalities, beautiful sheen to the feathers, and one especially, clearly intelligent! The one I named Einstein is the stinker. If there is some crazy mischief to get into, she will figure it out. She is also way more athletic than her sisters. One day I actually found her totally stuck on TOP of netting over the grow out pen!!!