Australorps breed Thread

[getaclue]

My new cockerel is doing good, looking great. I've had him in a very large dog crate on the screened in porch. His quarantine period is over. He was a bit afraid of us at first, but has gotten used to us. I need to get him out with his ladies.

 

[Coop Z-ville]

Wow, I just found this place again and sorry to hear of you getting rid of your stock. Life does throw us curves. My hens are four years old now so I will be adding more and hoped I would find a source here. I have never had hawks bother my birds and wondered if others did? Some say the hawks think they may be crows and leave them be?

I have never heard this before. I would be interested in others' thoughts on this. I have a small mixed flock, including 2 BA, that has to stay in their safe, secure pen because of all the hawks around here (one visits everyday and sits in a tree watching the pen). I have seen what a hawk can do to a chicken, and it's a horrible thing-one I don't want to happen to my girls.

 

[yaldnif]

I have never heard this before. I would be interested in others' thoughts on this. I have a small mixed flock, including 2 BA, that has to stay in their safe, secure pen because of all the hawks around here (one visits everyday and sits in a tree watching the pen). I have seen what a hawk can do to a chicken, and it's a horrible thing-one I don't want to happen to my girls.

I follow a channel on YouTube that added australorps and the hawk attacks stopped. Mine have areas that are fenced but open to the sky and they have never been attacked. I have even seen a hawk sitting on the fence and looking down on them huddled together. I saw that and ran outside yelling and it flew away lol!

 

[Coop Z-ville]

One more reason to love Australorps!

 

[getaclue]

The areas that are fenced, but open to the sky, you can string fishing line all across the top, and the chickens should be safe from the hawks. The hawks look for ways to escape, and fly off with their prey. When they don't have a large enough opening to escape with the prey, they don't usually attack.

 

[yaldnif]

Ha ha I did that once for one area and then couldn't walk through myself because the fence is only four feet high.

 

[paintedChix]

I have an area that I will be fencing in for a run. Approximately 8' wide and 64' long that has a large pine tree approximately in the center of that length. The fence on the one side (pony pasture) is about 40" high (I have never measured it), may be higher. I wasn't going to attach 2x4" x 48" high wire to it, but then realized my chickens can get out through the holes in the existing fence. So now, I will add fencing to that side and then fencing the side closest to the house. To make the top, instead of hooping the whole run, I will be trying to do bird netting attached to permanent wood rail attached to the pony pasture fence and then attached to another board that will be "draped over" the fence on the house side. BUT my plan is to do it in sections that can be lifted and propped up or rolled up when I want to enter the area to access birds or add litter to the floor of the run. We'll see how it works. I am not sure it will. If it does, I will be doing other pens/runs the same way!

Well, I have blue Australorps. I've wanted them for a long time. I did not get them from a breeder (until I found this thread, I didn't even realize there were any breeders in the US that had them), they are hatchery stock. But the girls have grown up nicely, the two roos are pretty sweet. I've split them into two flocks - 1 has 6 pullets/cockerel and the other has 5 pullets/cockerel. From the group of 6/1, I've put my first 11 eggs in an incubator for our first ever hatch. SOOO exciting! Not all of the girls are even laying yet, so most of the 11 eggs are from the same 3 girls I believe. The pen with the 5/1 are just now starting to lay - a full 4 weeks after the others started laying. All of these pullets were hatched at the same time, so it's amazing to me to see the ones that I now realize are laying and the ones I'm pretty sure aren't yet...

I love this picture! The little black one is a barnyard bantam X pullet.



The ones I've gotten the eggs from are at my neighbors' place by our mutual agreement. Here are some pics of them -





Ok, now I've got to get back to reading. I'm still at the beginning of this thread! BTW, I LOVE these blue Australorp girls... So pretty and so unique.

 

[getaclue]

Nice, painted. Where did you get them?

 

[paintedChix]

These actually came through my feed store, but I special ordered them. These came from Privett Hatchery out of NM.

Now I have a question. Can someone point me to the SOP for this breed (for blacks, of course)? I do not currently have a membership in APA, is that the only way to get breed SOPs? Is there a breed club here in the USA?

Are their eye supposed to be solid black (they appeared to be as younger pullets but now
- well - )...


i am only on page 30 or so of this thread. still in 2011.

 

[getaclue]

These are not BA's.