Australorps breed Thread

[countrybuffs]

If you can obtain an A.P.A. "Standard of Perfection" book, there are great illustrations of the body types that you can compare.
Also on line you can find the standards and pictures of both breeds to see the differences.

Orpingtons are considered a HEAVY breed, large with no sweeping back but almost flat with a slight upward angle to the tail. The plumage is very loose and fluffy compared to the Australorps with sweeping "U" shaped back and nice tight plumage.
Orps also have a small to medium sized comb compared to a large tall single comb of the Australorp.

Go visit a poultry show and you will definately see a difference in the body sizes and widths.

Both breeds are great to own, funny, freindly, talkitive, dual purpose and beautiful !

Thanks. I have Buff Orps and next month I'm getting 3 Lavender Orps. I have 5 baby Australorps that are 5 weeks old, they are just hatchery chicks from the feed store, but I like their friendliness already!

 

[plantcityhomestead]

howdy, you have all the traits......the yellow in the feet bothers me but , I would like to see more pics of him standing on flat ground to see the shape of his back and the stance of his tail. What you want for show and breeding is a nice gradual "U" shaped back with a tail that does not stand up beyond 40 degrees.

A pic of his comb strait on looking at his face to see the straitness of his comb also looking for any side sprigs.

What I teach my 4-H poultry project kids is 1. feeling for the width of the back which will tell you the health of the bird. You want to run your hand down the bird's back with your thumb on one side of the bird and your forefinger on the other side. If your bird's back is very wide and your hand is stretched out, you have a good healthy bird. On the other side of the coin, if your thumb and fore finger are close together then your bird is not well or conditioned.

2. place your chicken's back aganst your chest or stomach with one hand, take the other hand and feel the keel or breast bone for straitness........strait is good, crooked is bad. You want no bad or negative traits to end up in your future flocks and judges will take points off for defects at a show.

wash those feet and see if the yellow is just some dirt, you want pinkish white. Yellow feet or the traces of yellow can be Jersey Giant or mixed breeding.

check for straitness of toes, crooked toes will also show up in the flock later on.

Many folks just enjoy having chickens no matter what they are or have, not caring about any kind of standard, just having them for the sheer pleasure of poultry antics, eggs and meat.

Those who are a little more serious about the "Fancy" tend to follow the standard set up by the American Poultry Association.

Anyone can own birds, not everyone can own great birds! That is all about dedication to your flock and the quality that you strive to obtain.

looking forward to some more pics! I hope the info was helpful

My poor rooster thinks that I have lost my mind. I gave him the physical exam, and we both survived, but I think he got the better of me. I tried chasing him around with the camera, but he started crowing every time I put the camera up to my face. He was totally stressed, so I gave him a break, and let him go to bed. This morning I let him out to run around with the hens thinking I would get some photos when he was relaxed (all the roosters have been separated from the hens to give them a chance to heal from too many roosters), his best friend, the guinea, saw him and chased him all day, pulling his tail feathers if he tried to go visit the hens. Again no, pictures. I will try again in the morning.

His keel is straight, and here is the one good photo, face on.

Cindy

 

[bigshawn]

Different countries have different rules. It's nearly impossible to get eggs from spain but easier from France.

I looked into Canada and it is nearly as easy as getting them from another state here.

Ron

Oh ok, humm France huh I do love me some Marans wonder how much from there and thank you for you reply......

 

[aveca]

I know, unless someone were flying over with an egg case carry on with all proper paper work then its really impossible..its a lot further away than england..and you can get things from britian pretty easy compared to..that is pretty traumatic for the eggs..they are thrown on and off flights..my vet used to help hatch rare and endangerd parrots and other birds of a group from cornell...they have metal cases looks like a big breifcase..with syrofoam egg holding inserts..and they dont allow them through XRAY... they have somone accompany the eggs and paperwork....I have a little gamblin money..but its so many things. lining up somone,, having vet and bloodwork paperwork ect...ect.....boy wouldnt it be something? I would send you out some for sure once they got going..you know I would. or just have some shipped direct to you.

I always wondered why somone from greenfire and a couple of the importers hadnt gotten some by now..somone said its because they hang right onto those pullets..not sure if thats true , but cripes, they go clear to china and usbekastan to get rare chickens..thought that would be easier.

I had actually gotten the info from the u.s. customs dept on shipping hatching eggs from Australia, it seemed live animals were a problem and would have to spend several days in quarantine and perhaps not making the trip or the stress involved. whereas the eggs would cost $149.00 for an over seas permit and no quarantine required. once again handling could be the difference between eggs that would hatch and the all might Murphy putting his hands on the lot and you've spent a grip of cash to bring home dead eggs.
The odds were against me and I dont have the gambling money to waste so I just had to bow out. Darn!

 

[huppfarm]

does any one know the the started of proftiocnon for the Black Australorps?

Howdy, is there a different word that you can use? I would like to help out with your answer.........do you have spellcheck on your computer?
Thanks

 

[huppfarm]

Howdy Cindy, sorry I had to laugh just picturing all the drama in your yard, he has a great face and good to hear he is a healthy lad. Looking forward to some body shots!
thank you
chet

My poor rooster thinks that I have lost my mind. I gave him the physical exam, and we both survived, but I think he got the better of me. I tried chasing him around with the camera, but he started crowing every time I put the camera up to my face. He was totally stressed, so I gave him a break, and let him go to bed. This morning I let him out to run around with the hens thinking I would get some photos when he was relaxed (all the roosters have been separated from the hens to give them a chance to heal from too many roosters), his best friend, the guinea, saw him and chased him all day, pulling his tail feathers if he tried to go visit the hens. Again no, pictures. I will try again in the morning.

His keel is straight, and here is the one good photo, face on.

Cindy

 

[huppfarm]

$149.00 to ship eggs from over seas is this from most places or just Australia, I've never checked to see how much that would cost most made it seems as if it would cost thousands of dollars $149.00 although alot of momnies it dosen't add up to thousands of $$ seems a couple people could easly go in together and get some eggs for some of the breeds that need a dose of new or better genes??

Yes, that was just Australia, I hadn't checked any other countries and that was just eggs only. If shipped hatching eggs were garanteed to make it to the U.S. without damage ....I would be happy to go in with someone but that is not the case. Good luck if you do!

 

[aveca]

it would be a feat to get them here for sure...there are some farms that do this like greenfire..they think nothing of it..somehow they brought home polet de bresse..i didnt think that was possible..and you see people importing english orps...you would have to have vet clearance on both ends i suppose for travel papers..you would think one of these places would get them...but the australian web site says that there was a waiting list..

just got a funny message on answering machine..gotta go return that call..

 

[aveca]

hey chet, i have a question for you..i usually stick to the old single color chickens..somone a couple years ago wanted me to do a white australorp project with them...we set up some breeding pens....i told him straight up that lot of black aussies in this country need a lot of work and my part hatchery never lived p to the better parent...he wanted to use plymouth rock...his thinking was plymoth because australorp did have barred rock in ancestry..he wanted white rocks..

i wanted white orpington more correct leg color eye color i thought and some of the US version are a little less puffy than the british version..i thought it would be a good match cross..i was at that time afraid of yellow feet on the other bird and light eye...

if you were to choose one, which would you pick?

this guy kind of created a lot of problems for me after we set up these pens..wit freinds and family, the whole enchalata..he got mad at me because he wanted to bring upward of 50 plymoth hens over here..i said , i have 10 acres of land and you have 200 acres..so why dont you set them up over to your house..i said upfront small and best we can find..what he said to me? im going to bring the 50 hens over here because i dont want want the poo over at my house.............
jeeeees
havnt spoken to him since,it was more than that but long story short... yesterday he was sitting in my driveway when i got home from work acting like nothing had ever happened and when do i finish putting the roofing on that breeding pen..
i dont hold onto hate and hard feelings..makes people mean and bitter..but im a little gun shy about doing the same thing he wanted ever again..he was talking like he was going to start finishing that pen roof...all i could think is a simple im sorry would be fine..

 

[aveca]

i dont think im going to get back into that again after what i went through.... but i was kind of curious as to what would be the better blend..australians used orpingtons and clean legged langshans most recently in theirs. to create chocolate , white and an assortment of colors.

i understand why australians chose the orpington, my mind cant wrap around why they used langshan culls that were clean legged ..im trying to imagine what their thinking was , to bring some of the orpington fluff and shorter legs more upright and tighter feather? it was just kind of odd to me but it sure worked..i dont know..take a chance, i just kept thinking that stuubs would keep croping up..so far i havnt heard anyone complain about stubbs over there.