Australorps breed Thread

[Gramma Chick]

My Aussies are sooooo close to laying. I can almost taste that first egg! Based upon my Barred Rock cockerels behavior towards my Aussie girls, I suspect I may wind up with a BR/Aussie mix of chicks at some point.

I think you might be able to sex the chicks ...

 

[appps]

My Aussies are sooooo close to laying. I can almost taste that first egg! Based upon my Barred Rock cockerels behavior towards my Aussie girls, I suspect I may wind up with a BR/Aussie mix of chicks at some point. 

Mine is very close too. She is 21 weeks now so hopefully March brings some eggs

 

[DesertChic]

This is Lulu...the most "mature" of my Aussies and the one catching my cockerels 'affections'

And here's her sister Evie:


And her sisters Layla and Sunny:


And the very determined BR cockerel, Shadow:


I'm thinking of letting them mate after I get a few eggs from my girls. I agree with you guys that the chicks would be adorable and probably really good layers.

 

[Violetsfeathers]

Make sure to give them the good normal shaped eggs if you give her a double yolker there will be two chicks and they usually dir

 

[chickisoup]

Morning everyone!
Whew! finally got caught up!
Love all the pics! Just thought I would pop in with an update on my 3 remaining Cackle Hatchery hens. I will grab some pics as soon as our temps get above 0 F. It's supposed to happen this weekend. At least we have been getting some sunshine during the day so the ladies can go play in the greenhouse. They are getting cranky! At least I hope that's all it is. They were all beautiful laying machines but now one has stopped and now "she" is behaving a lot more like a "he", attitude and all. She/he otherwise appears to be totally healthy and hasn't started to crow (at least not that I've heard) yet, but I saw "her" even trying to mount her sister yesterday

. Except for the greenhouse, the weather has kept them cooped up for a long time now (record cold up here, worse than last year's polar vortex) and maybe it's just cabin (coop) fever so as long as I don't hear her crow or start to see any physical changes, I guess there is still hope she has not suffered a spontaneous sex reversal.

I know it's rare, but with my luck, sigh.

Anyway, glad to see you all are well and the chicken math is working

Sorry you lost your lady, Violetsfeathers, I know how that feels. I had an Aussie rescue that stole my heart too and I still miss her.
Desertchic those are some very pretty ladies and a very handsome roo!

Hope you all are well and safe and all the critters too!

 

[hellbender]

This is Lulu...the most "mature" of my Aussies and the one catching my cockerels 'affections'

And here's her sister Evie:


And her sisters Layla and Sunny:


And the very determined BR cockerel, Shadow:


I'm thinking of letting them mate after I get a few eggs from my girls. I agree with you guys that the chicks would be adorable and probably really good layers.

Oh...let them go at each other...it won't hurt the eggs you want to eat and it will give him a 'leg up', so to speak, by having her accept his advances.

DARN EDITS: You might want her to lay for a while before you select any eggs to incubate, allowing them to gain in size and greater chance of being fertile. JMHO

 

[lightchick]

Do BA eggs usually look like this or do I have a special BA?
She always lays the darkest egg of all my girls and it always has speckles on it!

 

[Violetsfeathers]

That is a normal egg. But like you say they are usually lighter.

 

[Clucken2]

My coop contains the following ladies: 3 Aussie, 5 EE, and polish - plus 1 polish roo. They are 8 months, they are all getting along well - eggs are good, getting 5-8 per day. 1 of my Aussie's got broody for awhile, broke that by just removing her from the nesting bucket at night a few times. I have 20 more chicks coming the end of March and have been reading about encouraging the broody behavior again so after 2 weeks of demonstrated nesting intent, I can try slipping some chicks under an Aussie to raise. Have 4 BG Jersey, 4 RIR, 4 BO, 4 Golden laced Wyandotte girls and 4 Straight run PR coming. Felt I would likely get at least 3 PR roos out of the deal but they would be a better cross than the polish. Great site, just joined. Reviewing threads has occupied most of my non-work computer time! Ha, I don't like computers

 

[Clucken2]

Oh, 1 of my Aussie eggs looks just like that 1 is medium beige and 1 is quite light. Those with my EE and polish - who is doing 4-5 sm white per week, make a nice looking basket,