Australorps breed Thread

[ronott1]

So sorry to hear bout this

Here in California, we can sen them in for a Necropsy for free. Check with the AZ State Ag or a University that runs Extension.

Can you get some of your recent hatches back to help with the program?

we have had a catastrophic desaster at the farm

we lost our breeders to some strange desease that made them loose their balance and fall backwards randomly. they acted fine and would walk around but as soon as they stood still they would have to sit with the legs sticking strait out in front of themselves. we had a ration of finches come and get into the pens to eat the feed, leaving mass amounts of feces on the ground, even though i cleaned feeders and waterers daily, the feces on the ground must have been injested causing internal balance deficiancy.
we are so bummmmmmmbed out.

ive been on a killing spree of finches daily but there are too many to make a dent in the hoards that visit the farm.
we are having to start from ground zero and start the 3 yrs process all over again. i feel so badly as i had made promises to several folks to get black and blue quality hatching eggs by february/march.........not happening. sorry everyone........pooop happens

 

[huppfarm]

thanks for the thoughts of kindness, having to start all over sucks so bad as i have long sold the original birds i started with to create what we have lost now. its murphy's law in my face and no way to fix whats done. it was hell having to put down my birds after naming them and looking forward to the news lines we were about to create. the only way to defend from preditors and desease is to build a glass bubble around the birds or make a very large aviary with no means of small bird entry. i guess thats show business or show bird business, in any case i cant let it get me down and must carry on with hopes of lucking out earlier with some decent birds down the road. back to the drawing board!

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles. I've been following along this thread for a while. I lost both my main breeder cock and my back-up in October with no luck funding a replacement. So no Australorp chicks for me this spring. Argh. We had a raccoon get in and just tear things up left and right. I'm hoping to either come across some good quality hatching eggs or someone nearby trying to get rid of a male. I never thought it would be so hard to locate a cock or cockerel given that most people are trying to give them away. A good man is hard to find!

 

[aveca]

chet, use the hydrated lime, it is safe for poultry and people and disinfects an area where disease is present..the old timers used to use it and whitewash everything..can be mixed right onto the ground dirt.

 

[AnimalCrazed]

One quick question... i'm getting some BA's this spring (just from a store here in idaho, I'll get to pick them out ) So my question is does the color of the chicks, ones with white faces or the more black faces, have any significance to what they will look like or gender later?
I didn't think it did but i was still wondering!

 

[huppfarm]

that is funny you should mention that! good question!
this year i was going to see if my theory was correct on face color vs. sexing.
i was thinking that white faced chicks could infact be male as the white feathers fade the facial skin of male would take its place and all black face would be females.
but loosing my chance to create BA chicks from my own lines, im going to have to wait until i recieve chicks from another party. you can use a toe punch to I.D. and document which ones have white faces or black and wait until the sex is evident in the feathering.

 

[willowbranchfarm]

This was supost to be a BA from MPC but oh well. He is my favorite chicken.

 

[AnimalCrazed]

that is funny you should mention that! good question!
this year i was going to see if my theory was correct on face color vs. sexing.
i was thinking that white faced chicks could infact be male as the white feathers fade the facial skin of male would take its place and all black face would be females.
but loosing my chance to create BA chicks from my own lines, im going to have to wait until i recieve chicks from another party. you can use a toe punch to I.D. and document which ones have white faces or black and wait until the sex is evident in the feathering.

I guess i can do some experimenting and see what i get! cause i noticed that with my barred rocks one had more white and one had more black and one was a roo and one was a hen... but im unsure witch was witch as a chick!? Again sorry for your loss.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

huppfarm, so sorry for the losses

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

Hi All. I'm new to Aussies. Got 11 chicks from tigercreek a week and a half ago. They are adorable.

One thing I've noticed is they are very vocal. Constantly chattering to one another. The dark faced ones act more like little roos than the white faced ones. It will be interesting to see how they grow out. Mostly I've hatched and raised BOs.