Australorps breed Thread

[aveca]

   

Lol!!!!

 

[bruceha2000]

My Australorps have stopped laying. It is winter, but I light on timers, and they free-range and should be happy. I have 20 and haven't had an egg for nearly 3 weeks. I have two dorkings who are laying one a day. Could it be that the australorps are larger birds and need a higher protein diet to produce? Has anyone experienced this issue? Any solutions? Ideas?

Echo tapered off, she started 11/26 (hatched 6/12) and was pretty consistent 2 days on, one off through 12/6. Then 3 days on, one or two off through 12/19 and only 3 since, including an XXL today - the carton won't close over it.

I'm STILL not sure if Zorra is laying but she did squat for me on Monday. And she is a bigger girl by a fair bit so MAYBE she is tossing the occasional huge egg. We got the first of 5 huge Australorp eggs on 12/8 of the 20 total Australorp eggs I have received.

They have light (low) from 4:30 AM and again until 5 PM. They have Poulin's Egg Producer Plus Feed available 24x7. I think it is 20% protein where their regular layer that I fed when the were foraging plants and bugs is 17%. And they get scratch at night and BOSS or oatmeal with fat and BOSS when it is cold in the morning.

My egg count for the last 14 days from all twelve (not sure one of the Chanteclers is laying yet either) is:
7, 6, 3, 5, 8, 7, 6, 5, 6, 5, 4, 5, 7, 5

Bruce

 

[SarahJaneB]

RattlesnakeRidgeWV - I'm very slow on the response from last week. I just learned how to
update photos to this spot.

The last photo here is from today of my little so called yellow padded
foot australorp. We got all three on 10/8/12. She was approx a week or two older than the RIR and
about a week older than the so called americauna (which I now am learning is likely an easter egger)
Regardless of what I have. I am THRILLED with my girls. Just curious what I actually have.
"Ninja" (named by my grandson) is the only one showing any sign of red/waddles. The other
two have pale combs and no waddles. You mentioned that Ninja may actually be a cockerel. Are
you able to tell from these photos #1 if she's a she and #2 if she's a mix to include Jersey Giant
given the yellow bottoms of her feet?

Thanks to anyone able to provide me some insight. Loving this new experience :>

Hi there

I would say if you're closing in on 3 months old for your chickens that the australorp or australorp/giant looks like a pullet to me.

Here are some picture of my aussies at just about the same age as yours. You can definitely tell which two are the cockerels. One thing that caught me off guard with the australorps is that the female will develop as they age a miniature comb and wattles like the male.






And here they are grown up

See what I mean?




Hope this helps! And good luck!!

 

[SarahJaneB]

Here's another one of my nephews holding a couple of my girls when they were around a few months old.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Sara Jane - Thank you so much - I had already been looking for back up homes in the event she turns out to
be a he. It sounds funny, but I've grown so attached. Hoping and believing for a hen! thanks again.
p.s. Your nephews look like they would get along great with our grandson!

 

[katiemdenne]

Just wondering what state you live in..mine take a short break in winter but usually the first back in the egg boxes..if somthing scared them, that could aggravate things..if I have 20 birds it might drop to 7 eggs or so for couple weeks..them starts to increase..sometimes they get so uncomfortably cold that they go on strike for a little while..

Thanks for the info! I live in BC Canada. Our winters are pretty mild (only gets down to freezing occasionally). It rains a lot though.

 

[katiemdenne]

Katie,
I might have missed it though, how old are your 20 BA's? In my experience it depends when they are born. When I hatch early say Dec. Jan or feb. my girls lay early and keep laying all winter. When I hatch late like beggining of summer they take longer to lay sometimes waiting to early spring. I have seen BA's lay as early as 20 weeks to 28 weeks depending on when they were born. All bets are off when you talk over a year old and the major molts take over. If the molt starts early you are golden. If the molt is late they can take a while to get back on track. I have seen 1 month to a two month full blown molt with only a couple of eggs. My BA's are still better layers than my SLW's, EE, or my wives mutts. I think that northern  birds molt earlier than southern birds due to the earlier drop in temperature. Just my opinion and I am far from an expert. Hope this helps.

My birds were hatched from the end of April through mid may. We briefly got about 2-4 eggs a day until the weather got chilly. Now not one egg. It's been over a month.

 

[ronott1]

Quote: It isn't the cold that stops them, it is the amount of day light.

The days are getting longer, so you should start getting eggs again later this month. My EO Basque have started back up already. The BAs get supplemental light so they are laying some now.

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Another way to tell is by how far the comb goes to the back of the head. Look at the roos; the comb goes way back. The hens stop at about 3/4 of the way back.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Thanks again