Australorps breed Thread

[ronott1]

Quote: Australorps are probably the best chickens for eating ticks. Guineas are a separate species and rarely can breed with chickens. It is like a horse and a Donkey making a mule. The offspring are not fertile.

BAs and Guineas would be a great combination for tick control.

 

[CarolynF]

You've also pricked my conscience, Dee. Two of my breeding girls have been ridden 'saddle sore/bareback' by my big roo, Derrick. He hasn't been running with them as it's not breeding season here, but, the poor girls are getting sunburnt on their bare backs. Got the stuff to put on, but gotta do it! Something I found a little weird. I began with Derrick, a first year hen related to him, a pullet from a different line and a pair of pullets from a prize-winning line. Wanted to see which 'clicked' with Derrick to start a line. He produced many chicks from all four, yet only the pair are bareback. The hen you could still show and the other pullet is 'untouched'. Does this mean that some strains are more prone to damage than others? Weaker feathers? I dunno! Any takers?
Cheers Geoff from Aus

Hi Geoff,
It's funny you should mention this. I got into a conversation with a couple of breeders last year and they brought this up as an aside to our conversation. They said some girls are little "tramps" and others never make friends with the roo. They likened them to highschool kids with the roo having his #1 girl. #1 girl has her click that he courts too. Then there are a couple at the bottom of the order that he ignores. I thought it made a good story, but I don't have a roo so can't vouch for how true it might be. Hopefully others will chime in.

 

[WVDan44]

Hello Carolyn and Geoff,

couple of things come to mind but I have no empirical evidence to back it up.

the order of natural selection is at work; the hierarchy has been established within the small group of hens, the roo is exhibiting his innate ability to select and breed with only those hens that will produce the
strongest and largest number of offspring to perpetuate the flock (survival of the most fit). As you move different hens in and out of the breeding pen, the heirarchy will change and adjust, however the process of natural selection will not.

It's truly amazing how animals/fowl have built in features that we mortals cannot now and may never fully understand. But oh what a priviledge it is to try!

Just my thoughts on the subject for what little it's worth.

 

[groche]

Hello Carolyn and Geoff,

couple of things come to mind but I have no empirical evidence to back it up.

the order of natural selection is at work; the hierarchy has been established within the small group of hens, the roo is exhibiting his innate ability to select and breed with only those hens that will produce the
strongest and largest number of offspring to perpetuate the flock (survival of the most fit). As you move different hens in and out of the breeding pen, the heirarchy will change and adjust, however the process of natural selection will not.

It's truly amazing how animals/fowl have built in features that we mortals cannot now and may never fully understand. But oh what a priviledge it is to try!

Just my thoughts on the subject for what little it's worth.

Hi folks the theory sounds logical A couple of holes. Firstly, Derrick's favorite from day1 has been the hen he came with. She produced many chicks. His least favored girl was the single pullet. She also showed high fertility. Neither is saddlesore. It's the two pullets from the same strain that have suffered. They also showed good fertility. I certainly never noticed him paying them extra 'attention'!
Cheers Geoff

 

[WVDan44]

Hi Geoff - that's all very interesting. When I kept pigeons, I'd see a hen interfere with the cock's mating of a "lesser" hen by disrupting the act and chasing off the other hen. Have you seen anything like that going on? I'd think that would rough up a hen's back if it happened repeatedly. Other than that, do the saddle sore hens struggle more during mating, or can it be that they are just tender chickens? Who can know. I'd be applying Blue Emu ointment to them in any case LOL.

 

[RattlesnakeRidgeWV]

Theses are the two week olds from Tigercreek.





Stan's babies growing up at Rattlesnake Ridge! As you can see I have the one with the white face and the other four have the dark face, time will tell. Nice dark legs with a little pink and round dark eyes. Thanks Stan. Any guesses on cockerels and pullets out there? I still say too early to tell!

 

[ronott1]

Theses are the two week olds from Tigercreek.





Stan's babies growing up at Rattlesnake Ridge! As you can see I have the one with the white face and the other four have the dark face, time will tell. Nice dark legs with a little pink and round dark eyes. Thanks Stan. Any guesses on cockerels and pullets out there? I still say too early to tell!

They look very nice!

It is too early to tell but from the second picture, I think the two in the middle are pullets. The one at the back may be a pullet too. I think the ones on the outside are cockerels.

Hopefully you will get a mix like that and that you will get a great Rooster out of them!

 

[DeesHens]

Quote: Hi Geoff. LOL Yeh. That 'Oldtimers' disease hits me at the oddest times lately. ie. It suddenly dawned on me I spelled 'squeal' wrong in a post recently. I never have done that before for crying out loud. oh well.

Anyway, the chick details are very interesting to me. I will do my best to pick my future hens and deal with what ever comes my way by it. It cannot go as wrong as three years ago can it? I mean my DH had to pick out my chicks as I was too ill to travel at the time. Bless his heart for stepping up for me. So to be sure I am not criticizing here. He is wonderful! Anyway, the farm store sold him four Barr Rocks for BA's. At that time I did not have a clear grasp of the subtle details of BA chicks either. A few weeks later when they were maturing and beginning to feather out I saw they were BR's and freaked out at first. But then BR's are nice birds so under the circumstances rather than drive 70 miles to return them I kept them. I ended up with one roo and three hens so my DH did a pretty good job with the sexing. However it was apparent to me early on I had a cockerel among them. From the get go he developed more slowly, was larger in size, had a big fluffy butt in contrast to the girls. Of course soon the comb and pointed feathers gave him away for sure long before the crowing began. So I was hoping BA's would be as easy to tell the difference early on. Seems it is not the case unfortunately. Your story made me giggle as I imagine how you felt when the realization hit you about your green leg banded cockerel. Takes a big man to admit his mistakes. We learn as much or more from them than some of our successes in life.

Happy to know you will minister healing balm to your poor girls.

Good on you mate! I have wondered myself why some hens sustain more feather damage than others. Probably a combination of facts I warrant. I look forward to reading everyone's opinions.
~Dee~

!

 

[DeesHens]

Quote: Sincerely sorry you have had LD. It is wicked for sure. The great imitator. You are more than likely correct about the deer tick. I have read that in seabird migrating areas like ours the tick population among the deer is at the highest levels. Our neighbor, a veterinarian college professor, had his favorite Border Collie suffer greatly from LD even after he was put on abx. Unfortunately he worsened so had to be put down last summer. I have often wondered since then if chickens could infected and sick from these ticks? Your endeavors for tick reduction are impressive! Good luck with your future BA's. ~Dee~

 

[DeesHens]

Theses are the two week olds from Tigercreek.





Stan's babies growing up at Rattlesnake Ridge! As you can see I have the one with the white face and the other four have the dark face, time will tell. Nice dark legs with a little pink and round dark eyes. Thanks Stan. Any guesses on cockerels and pullets out there? I still say too early to tell!

Well, I must say I am having second thoughts that the white face chick is a cockerel. He looks more like a she today. LOL My DH was right, I believe, that the same black face chick is showing signs of being a cockerel. Hmmmm. Thinking for sure 1 cockerel possibly 2. The chick with the white spot between eye and beak front and right in the last pic says cockerel to me. The chick to the left also. (looks like DH pick) ~Dee~