Australorps breed Thread

[ronott1]

ahhhhhhh. Do you think she was moulting? She has her pecked feathers coming in now, looking very well and all healed. I was worried it may have been the peeper pinching her comb or fact she's not laying. But the moulting makes sense. How long until things go back to normal? Been out of coop since 15nov or so to heal, laid a week after that. Cant put pecked on girls back in until feathers all back. Healing started the 20-21st.
Thanks so much!

Because of the hours of daylight and molting, I would expect to see her laying eggs again around January first.

You can give her a bit of calf manna or cat kibble each day to help with feather growth. Also, you can cut calcium and give her a grower feed. Hens do not need as much calcium when not laying eggs and the xtra protein will help.

 

[mamatink7]

The molt can be month to two months depending on the breed. All their protein is going to making feathers not eggs, plus daylight is decreasing.
Kurt

Thx Kurt. She's of course Black Australorp this was a surprise as our girls are under a year. Her feathers are coming well. When do introduce the 2 main pecked on Aussie to the flock? Both are mainly healed now and growing feathers back. We have peepers on all the coop girls.

 

[RattlesnakeRidgeWV]

Mama,
I have never used peepers here so I don't know what to tell you. I know it is cold to say, but only the strong survive here at Rattlesnake Ridge. There will always be somebody at the bottom of the pecking order who gets picked on, sad to say but that is life. When you isolate a bird to treat them they have to start all over in the flock hence the catch 22. I just try to get by with blue kote on the injury with no isolation. Sorry I could not help you, sometimes there is no magic fix with chickens.
Kurt

 

[cjpeeps]

Just wanted to say hello and follow. We are starting our backyard flock in 2017, though I had chickens as a kid in Australia. I have gone backward and forward on breeds, preferring older breeds with a long history, and I don't mind birds that are slower to mature if they lay longer and are heartier overall. Being a bit nostalgic for home I keep coming back to the Australorps, and discovered with pleasure that there are now some alternative colors being bred. I'm ok with the regular black ones too, as they are what I remember so fondly. (flocks and flocks of black birds)

We would be looking for hatching eggs or chicks from a breeder, but I know sometimes those lists are small and fill up fast.

Thanks too for all the pictures. It's really fun to flip through and admire all the birds

 

[BlueBaby]

I have 4 out of 5 pullets laying eggs now- the splash, 2 blues, and a black. One more blue pullet to go! 3 of them are already laying eggs big enough to hatch out. I need to get some more BA from Kurt, though.

 

[mamatink7]

Mama,
I have never used peepers here so I don't know what to tell you. I know it is cold to say, but only the strong survive here at Rattlesnake Ridge. There will always be somebody at the bottom of the pecking order who gets picked on, sad to say but that is life. When you isolate a bird to treat them they have to start all over in the flock hence the catch 22. I just try to get by with blue kote on the injury with no isolation. Sorry I could not help you, sometimes there is no magic fix with chickens.
Kurt

thank you I appreciate it. Things are much better now, have lights in the coop, girls are healed up with new feathers as well. They were so bad (blood dripping and big chunks of meat gouged out) I had to pull them out but thankfully, with your advice and several others, they got squared away quickly. VETERICYN was a miracle worker after several others didn't work.

 

[mamatink7]

I have 4 out of 5 pullets laying eggs now- the splash, 2 blues, and a black. One more blue pullet to go! 3 of them are already laying eggs big enough to hatch out. I need to get some more BA from Kurt, though.

ooo pretty, do the eggs vary in shades of color due to the different in australorps? Our BA are medium brown right now and I've heard they end up being darker brown.

 

[BlueBaby]

ooo pretty, do the eggs vary in shades of color due to the different in australorps? Our BA are medium brown right now and I've heard they end up being darker brown.

There is slight variation depending on which one lays the egg, but not by much. I think that when I have more females added to my flock, it's going to be hard to tell who laid the egg unless I catch them in the act!

 

[BlueBaby]

Eye-candy for @mamatink7

 

[mamatink7]

Eye-candy for @mamatink7

oooo I LOVE them already ♡