Australorps breed Thread

[ronott1]

My Australorps lay all through the winter, but our winter's down here aren't as cold as where you are at. I don't see any snow here.

There are more hours of daylight where you live.

 

[BlueBaby]

I hatched fertile eggs from Trader Joes!

chickens are very sensitive to light amounts. This time of year They will slow down in laying. Australorps are winter layers so they do not completely stop laying eggs but still slow down a lot

I agree that they are. I get more from them in winter. They still do lay all summer, but it slow's down a bit. I did manage to get enough eggs to incubate eggs from my flock all summer long, and some people in my state came to buy the chicks straight run while I was still hatching out some of the other chicks!

 

[getaclue]

Mine typically resume pretty good in the winter too. Once they get over their molt, and get used to the shorter days, they begin laying some again. When it's rainy, and dark out, or the day is shorter because of cloudiness, they stop for a brief period, then resume.

 

[bruceha2000]

I agree that they are. I get more from them in winter. They still do lay all summer, but it slow's down a bit. I did manage to get enough eggs to incubate eggs from my flock all summer long, and some people in my state came to buy the chicks straight run while I was still hatching out some of the other chicks!

I suspect that has to do with the temps. Where you are the summers are hot, the hens not so comfortable. My 2 alpacas are the same. They will hang mostly in the barn all summer. But give them a nice mid 30° day or night and they will happily be outside.

I've been seeing more feathers around the coop lately. My sebright bantam stopped laying and I'm seeing a bunch of her feathers, and I noticed some feathers from what I think is one of my eggers. My leghorn has been shedding feathers for a couple months already. Why would they molt when it's getting so cold? I'd think would have done that when it was hot. I worry about them getting too cold. Last night I peeked in on them and it was 50 degrees in the coop, but 42 outside. I'm sure it got much colder. I have a thermocube on a heat lamp that will turn on ~35 degrees. I noticed my leghorn has a black spot on his comb already. I didn't expect him to start having that problem until much later.

Don't sweat it ... at all. One of my 2012 BA's (hatched early June) didn't have her first adult moult until the end of January 2014. Right, when it is as cold as it gets here and that means double digits below 0°F. She was half naked. I'll skip the details as to why but I had a heat lamp over their plastic waterer to keep at least half the water ring with open water (the side closest to the lamp). One would think that if she and the other girls were cold, they would hang by that lamp. Nope, only went near it to drink.

My coop is a converted stall in a drafty old barn, the water was in the next stall over. The girls have the entire lower part of the barn to run around in all day and by January it isn't any warmer inside than outside. They CHOSE to not be near the heat lamp.

If your birds are getting frostbite it is an indication that the humidity is too high. You need more ventilation, it is as important in the winter as the summer. The birds can, with their down coats, easily survive temperatures WAY below what you will EVER see in Arizona. There is neither heat nor insulation in my coop. In fact 3 sides are hardware cloth only from 4' to the ceiling at 7', the stall coop is 10'x12'. None of the drafts that come into the barn get to the coop though.

 

[BlueBaby]

I suspect that has to do with the temps. Where you are the summers are hot, the hens not so comfortable. My 2 alpacas are the same. They will hang mostly in the barn all summer. But give them a nice mid 30° day or night and they will happily be outside.


Don't sweat it ... at all. One of my 2012 BA's (hatched early June) didn't have her first adult moult until the end of January 2014. Right, when it is as cold as it gets here and that means double digits below 0°F. She was half naked. I'll skip the details as to why but I had a heat lamp over their plastic waterer to keep at least half the water ring with open water (the side closest to the lamp). One would think that if she and the other girls were cold, they would hang by that lamp. Nope, only went near it to drink.

My coop is a converted stall in a drafty old barn, the water was in the next stall over. The girls have the entire lower part of the barn to run around in all day and by January it isn't any warmer inside than outside. They CHOSE to not be near the heat lamp.

If your birds are getting frostbite it is an indication that the humidity is too high. You need more ventilation, it is as important in the winter as the summer. The birds can, with their down coats, easily survive temperatures WAY below what you will EVER see in Arizona. There is neither heat nor insulation in my coop. In fact 3 sides are hardware cloth only from 4' to the ceiling at 7', the stall coop is 10'x12'. None of the drafts that come into the barn get to the coop though.

Mine aren't frost bit. It's not even cold enough for that here. I do not put heaters of coolers of any kind in my coop, and they do have plenty of ventilation. I do put a mister up for them in their run at the far end away from the coop during the hotter months of summer. Shaded places are also important for them.

 

[Diannastarr]

I have two hens but not laying everyday. I have 11 layers but 3 of them are older ISA and one is an older legbar. Of the 7 left I am only getting 3 to 5 eggs daily so I'm not sure who's not laying because they are all brown egg layers 2 of them are the Astrolorps hatched last spring.

i would not worry about that amount of eggs right now, your birds must have been molting in the last months and now its heading into winter, so 3 to 5 eggs out of 7 birds is not bad at all,

 

[robinwhiskers]

Australorps are one of my dream breeds. They are so, so regal and majestic to look at.

 

[ronott1]

Australorps are one of my dream breeds. They are so, so regal and majestic to look at.

You will love them!

 

[apryl29]

I suspect that has to do with the temps. Where you are the summers are hot, the hens not so comfortable. My 2 alpacas are the same. They will hang mostly in the barn all summer. But give them a nice mid 30° day or night and they will happily be outside.


Don't sweat it ... at all. One of my 2012 BA's (hatched early June) didn't have her first adult moult until the end of January 2014. Right, when it is as cold as it gets here and that means double digits below 0°F. She was half naked. I'll skip the details as to why but I had a heat lamp over their plastic waterer to keep at least half the water ring with open water (the side closest to the lamp). One would think that if she and the other girls were cold, they would hang by that lamp. Nope, only went near it to drink.

My coop is a converted stall in a drafty old barn, the water was in the next stall over. The girls have the entire lower part of the barn to run around in all day and by January it isn't any warmer inside than outside. They CHOSE to not be near the heat lamp.

If your birds are getting frostbite it is an indication that the humidity is too high. You need more ventilation, it is as important in the winter as the summer. The birds can, with their down coats, easily survive temperatures WAY below what you will EVER see in Arizona. There is neither heat nor insulation in my coop. In fact 3 sides are hardware cloth only from 4' to the ceiling at 7', the stall coop is 10'x12'. None of the drafts that come into the barn get to the coop though.

My Odin, leghorn, has a spot on his comb that was darkening. I put some bag balm on it. Unfortunately the run isn't covered (or able to be b/c snow will weigh it down) so they keep going outside and standing in the rain. Next year I may do some work to to get some kind of covering over part of it, but I have a feeling that it wouldn't matter b/c they'd just go outside and stand in the rain anyway.
It's good to know that even a naked chicken will not freeze. I have a sebright bantam who's doing a light molt and an egger whose feathers I'm starting to see. No bare patches, but loads of feathers around the coop. I was worried they'd be too cold. It's was a whole 36 degrees this morning when I dropped off my kids at 7:30. After years of being told 'If you're cold, they're cold' about animals it takes a lot to stop that conditioning. I do have a heat lamp and w a thermocube so if it goes below 35 it'll turn on. It's point towards the floor to keep their water from freezing. I know they don't NEED it, but I still worry. Maybe someone can answer this for me. They keep saying lots of ventilation, but provide a DRAFT FREE coop... my question is, those coops that really don't have any walls & are just screens, how does that = draft free? And how concerned should I be about the wind coming in from the chicken doors? I'm more concerned at this point about snow possibly blowing in.

 

[getaclue]

Mine is an open coop, about 8 ft. tall. During the winter, I staple tarps around my coop, leaving them about a foot from the top on at least 1 side. That way, they are protected from the winds, but have plenty of ventilation, so they don't get frostbitten combs, and feet. I either cut, and staple tarps in the doorway, with a little pop hole at the bottom, so the chickens can get in and out of their enclosed (predator proof) run(s), OR cut the tarps, and staple them to the doors, closing the chickens in at night, then opening the doors the next morning, so they can get out, if their run is not enclosed, to keep them protected from predators during the night.