Australorps breed Thread

[Gramma Chick]

Cochins, were one of the foundation stock in most of our dual purpose breeds. I'm seeing cushions in some of my buckeyes too.

Can you show us Newbys what a cushion looks like ?
I cant see any difference in those 3 pics Matt posted ..they all look the same to me ..

 

[DeesHens]

Quote:
Super to have a fruit tree handy like that. We have an italian plum tree but since it is my favorite I pretty much eat all the fruit myself.

But when I cut them to eat them to rule out worms & such I save pieces for my girls and they go bonkers over them worms and all.

It was so interesting that Betsy Barr Rock would never eat plums until the BA's dove in with vigor. She still prefers tomatoes but ours did poorly this year as it was wet and cold both early then late in the season here. Anyway, I find the BA's are much more adventuresome in eating new things than my Barr Rocks had ever been.

Wow! With just the two of us 15 eggs a day would be way too many and the expense of feeding all those chickens to give our neighbors eggs would in some ways be delightful but not something we can justify. Of course we always have other expenses with priority. Having said that "the chicken lover me" would really get a big kick out of having 15 chickens and collecting all those eggs each day.

You are going to have a blast!

Thanks! We have had a two day break before the rains resume. The girls are dried out now and are learning how to deal with it. Betsy is molting so I was most concerned with her as she is also getting old but she seemed better yesterday & today thankfully. The BA's are young and vigorous and the rain runs off their backs much like a duck whereas Betsy was getting rather soaked eventually. Less oil maybe in her feathers?

It is horrible you are dealing with a stray dog. Although being a "dog lover" I always feel so bad for homeless dogs, etc. It is just never a good situation having a stray dog waiting for a chance to get at your chickens. I hope your situation is resolved soon with no harm done to your flock. Would be scary for me. Our electric fencing has kept out raccoon but a rat found a way in. DH has those two holes plugged up now though. Moles are making a mess out of things though. Tunnels and mounds are destructive to the perimeter foundation of buried wire, visqueen & gravel. I get very mad about it as DH worked so hard on his hands and knees making the perimeter so nice and secure. Stupid useless moles!

Hey, today I found another jumbo egg from Peppa. I can't figure out how she could lay an egg yesterday then lay a double yolk jumbo egg today. I thought if they skipped a day it was more likely. But I have never been good at math or biology.

~Dee~

 

[DeesHens]

Matt,
Real nice P, how old is she? I really like the fact that there is no cushion infront of the tail. The body type is spot on!
Kurt

Hey Kurt. Thanks. I am always learning new things from you. Did not know what to call it but that is what I don't like about the shape of my hatchery birds ... along with other things. Not to rank my girls. I got them for egg laying as you know by now. But anyway I really enjoy learning the details for SQ BA's and you among others here are great teachers. Fun to learn these things.
~Dee~

 

[DeesHens]

Maybe this will help. I found a pic of Bella that shows what I am speaking about. Do you see the "cushion" in front of her tail that breaks the flow of the SQ BA's beautiful free curve? I think that is what Kurt referred to but he will need to speak for himself. I am learning too. But when he said that I was pretty sure that was what he was referring to anyway. Kurt, what say you?

BTW, Bella does not have a weird looking eye really. The light caught it in such a way, but since it is a great pic of the curve flaw we are speaking of I believe, I posted it anyway. Poor Bella! Her eyes are really gorgeous really. ~Dee~

 

[DeesHens]

Bella has beautiful eyes really! Had to post a kinder pic of her. She is such a nice girl. ~DeeE

 

[ronott1]

Bella has beautiful eyes really! Had to post a kinder pic of her. She is such a nice girl. ~DeeE

Bella is a nice Looking BA.

The recommendation is to have two hens per egg eater in your house. That will give you enough eggs for eating and baking.

 

[jdoane]

Maybe this will help. I found a pic of Bella that shows what I am speaking about. Do you see the "cushion" in front of her tail that breaks the flow of the SQ BA's beautiful free curve? I think that is what Kurt referred to but he will need to speak for himself. I am learning too. But when he said that I was pretty sure that was what he was referring to anyway. Kurt, what say you?

BTW, Bella does not have a weird looking eye really. The light caught it in such a way, but since it is a great pic of the curve flaw we are speaking of I believe, I posted it anyway. Poor Bella! Her eyes are really gorgeous really. ~Dee~

Thanks for posting that Dee. I thought I understood the "cushion" thing but this really help me visualize much better! And cushion or no she is a pretty girl!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Super to have a fruit tree handy like that. We have an italian plum tree but since it is my favorite I pretty much eat all the fruit myself.

But when I cut them to eat them to rule out worms & such I save pieces for my girls and they go bonkers over them worms and all.

It was so interesting that Betsy Barr Rock would never eat plums until the BA's dove in with vigor. She still prefers tomatoes but ours did poorly this year as it was wet and cold both early then late in the season here. Anyway, I find the BA's are much more adventuresome in eating new things than my Barr Rocks had ever been.

Wow! With just the two of us 15 eggs a day would be way too many and the expense of feeding all those chickens to give our neighbors eggs would in some ways be delightful but not something we can justify. Of course we always have other expenses with priority. Having said that "the chicken lover me" would really get a big kick out of having 15 chickens and collecting all those eggs each day.

You are going to have a blast!

Thanks! We have had a two day break before the rains resume. The girls are dried out now and are learning how to deal with it. Betsy is molting so I was most concerned with her as she is also getting old but she seemed better yesterday & today thankfully. The BA's are young and vigorous and the rain runs off their backs much like a duck whereas Betsy was getting rather soaked eventually. Less oil maybe in her feathers?

It is horrible you are dealing with a stray dog. Although being a "dog lover" I always feel so bad for homeless dogs, etc. It is just never a good situation having a stray dog waiting for a chance to get at your chickens. I hope your situation is resolved soon with no harm done to your flock. Would be scary for me. Our electric fencing has kept out raccoon but a rat found a way in. DH has those two holes plugged up now though. Moles are making a mess out of things though. Tunnels and mounds are destructive to the perimeter foundation of buried wire, visqueen & gravel. I get very mad about it as DH worked so hard on his hands and knees making the perimeter so nice and secure. Stupid useless moles!

Hey, today I found another jumbo egg from Peppa. I can't figure out how she could lay an egg yesterday then lay a double yolk jumbo egg today. I thought if they skipped a day it was more likely. But I have never been good at math or biology.

~Dee~

lol Dee, yeah you'd think Peppa wouldn't be able to do that huh.
yeah me to Dee on the stray dogs BUT we have SO MANY around here like that and if we kept them all we'd be in the poor house as they say, that AND cats! UGHHH every time we turn around it's a cat or a dog. Right now we're ALSO battling a cat that is wanting to eat ALL our cats food. We're feeding 3 of our own now. One of those in which was a stray that came up and then one more that someone ran over and my daughter found it and took it to the vet. She was a tiny baby kitten and don't think she was even weened yet.
Yeah talking about that dog, don't remember if I told you or not but the door of their pen was rammed in this evening I noticed. That happened during the night so I had to repair that to keep something from getting inside with them. It knocked the wire a loose from the gate itself so I had to rewire it. Going to get started tomorrow I HOPE on putting that welded wire up over all that poultry wire so I can better secure their run!

Oh honey I KNOW what you mean about those moles! They are ruining our yard! They say they don't like those whirly gig things. You know you stick them into the ground and they have like a thing on them that goes round and round from the wind? They say they don't like the vibration and I did try that and they worked BUT they finally tore up and I haven't replaced them and I NEED to because they are doing that out there around the chickens pen.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Thanks for posting that Dee. I thought I understood the "cushion" thing but this really help me visualize much better! And cushion or no she is a pretty girl!

oh ok I see what you mean about the cushion but I to think Bella is a pretty fine BA. Very pretty.
Thank you for posting that Dee.....now I see what he means.

 

[MeanV2]

Can you show us Newbys what a cushion looks like ?
I cant see any difference in those 3 pics Matt posted ..they all look the same to me ..

Trace a line on the chicken from the head to the tip of the tail. From what I have read and saw on here you should have a smooth flowing line, smooth curves, without sharp angles or bends. One problem I have seen in many BA's is a tail setting too high.

Those of you with more experience, am I correct on this? Or am I off base?

Dan