Australorps breed Thread

[Cockle-Dood]

Marguerite Lindemann just won Reserve Champion Bantam at the Heartland Classic Poultry Show in Ana, IL. She won with a Australorp bantam hen.

Congrats!!

 

[equinefrnd]

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I am in Western PA (Beaver County).

Yes, I am rather realistic about the rooster - I did not expect to buy a show bird, but I was hoping that he did not have any "mortal flaws" for an australorp, I can live with few imperfections. My hens are excellent layers and I hope to keep this up.

 

[aveca]

Congrats!!

Congratulations..we would love some pics!!!!!

 

[RossAussie]

G'day,

I rarely ever post pictures of my young growing stock anywhere, in fact this is probably the first time I have done this on the internet. But I noticed someone has youngish stock I thought I would show you how mine are progressing as a comparison.

Due to the show seasons here, usually I breed several batches of 3 or 4 batches of 36 and usually it is in end July, end August, and September which by rights gives me about between 110 to 130 Large Black Australorps to pick from in three or four age groups as my show team.

Because of my heart surgery a tiny team of this season's show team were hatched on 10 November 2012, which is very late for me. From the 36 tray we got 14 cockerels and 17 pullets which is an 86% strike rate, which is just below my usual target of 90%. I am happy with their quality and growth so far.

By now my usual show team would be at Sydney Royal Easter Show (a huge show), which would have been that July bred stock, which would have peaked them for the show.

These pullets in the pictures are now around 17 weeks old. They are coming along quite nicely. When the Australian Australorp Titles on 22nd June 2013 is on, these pullets will be just peaking at 7 months and just started to lay, so we might do some damage in the show pens, but the competition is very strong. I've already leg tagged a few that have taken my eye, but it is still early days in their careers.

That sandy looking ground cover that they are on are Rice Hulls. The rice growing season has been huge this season in Australia and I use these hulls as it is good soft bedding and its very absorbent.

Kind regards,
Ross

 

[Cockle-Dood]

Growing up nicely!

 

[RossAussie]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]Marguerite Lindemann[/FONT] just won Reserve Champion Bantam at the Heartland Classic Poultry Show in Ana, IL.

She won with a Australorp bantam hen.

G'day,

Well done !

I'm sure we would all love to see a picture of that Australorp Bantam Hen. I also breed Bantams and I have only seen a few in the USA.

Kind regards,

Ross

 

[aveca]

Ross. Glorious birds...Im sure you would never miss a few if they accidently flew on over to see the statue of liberty..interesting bedding..I dont beleive we have anything like that here..just an old bag of sawdust or straw , hay.

 

[RattlesnakeRidgeWV]

Ross,
Very nice pullets with clean faces and awesome body type. That is one uniform flock and a credit to your breeding.
Kurt

 

[KnobbyOaks]

I agree with Kurt, they do all look like carbon copies of each other. I can also tell a big difference in Ross' pullets and mine. Ross, thank you very much for posting these pics, very instructive for us newbies.

 

[RossAussie]

Ross,
Very nice pullets with clean faces and awesome body type. That is one uniform flock and a credit to your breeding.
Kurt

G'day,
The frustrating thing for you good folks in the USA is that had Mr D. Goddard initially selected his stock from the Bonaventure Poultry Stud in Sydney instead of going for the cheaper commercial lines in SA, way back in 1924, you all would have had the basis of the stock most of us show here in Australia. But to be fair he imported them primarily for their egg laying ability and not the show bench.
Regards,
Ross