Australorps breed Thread

[paintedChix]

O.

What would they be? They of course came from the hatchery as Australorps, blue. Not a recognized APA variety.

They are similar in type to my previous BAs that all came from hatcheries as well (have no idea which ones)... I've only had a total of 4, I believe... but would have to go back through pictures to remember for sure. I had the 5 yr old get taken by the coyote, during the day, while free ranging in our pasture just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Coop Z-ville]

The lighter colored ones look a whole lot like my Swedish Flower Hen. I'm definitely not an expert on chicken breeds, though.

 

[getaclue]

You might want to post is on one of the threads that is more suited to identifying chicken breeds. There are quite a few on here that are good at it, but I'm not one of them.

 

[Coop Z-ville]

See post # 11894 on this thread. Kurt (RattlesnakeRidge) used to breed blue and splash Australorps. I looked at pictures, and the feathering looks much like my Swedish Flower Hen, Elsa, but the eyes are black/dark, which hers are not. Also, legs appear to be a different color. Hers are yellow. There was a thread on this site way back about blues: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...le-all-the-way-from-western-australia.779281/

 

[paintedChix]

See post # 11894 on this thread. Kurt (RattlesnakeRidge) used to breed blue and splash Australorps. I looked at pictures, and the feathering looks much like my Swedish Flower Hen, Elsa, but the eyes are black/dark, which hers are not. Also, legs appear to be a different color. Hers are yellow. There was a thread on this site way back about blues: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...le-all-the-way-from-western-australia.779281/

Thank you. Since this thread is so long, I am reading it from both ends - from the front and from the beginning of 2018. I haven't gotten to that portion of the thread. I'll check it out.

I studied my " 'lorps" the other day - I have about 1/2 the pullets with completely dark brown to black eyes. The roo here has a ring of dark chestnut around the black. I will have to get closer to my other roo - to see what color his eyes are. He's at my neighbors (used to belong to this property - was split 6 months before we bought). All have the dark shanks and white to cream under foot; beaks are still not all completely black/dark. The beaks are a bit longer and not quite as curved as some - but I've definitely seen beaks on BAs that are the same as these girls/boys. I know the tails are set too high on these, too. As to the feathering - I hadn't realized that was different too. I can go from there... They are still beautiful birds and they are laying well considering our weather and no lights. Some of the friendliest birds I've ever had other than our Bielefelders.

Thank you for the other link as well.

 

[paintedChix]

Just checking out his first 3 posts has pictures of Aussie Australorps that look NOTHING like ANY that I've seen here so far.

I have seen a couple of breeders with a bird here and there that have that appearance, but most certainly not many. Right at the beginning of this thread, several breeders are lamenting the fact that the USA versions aren't like any of the Aussie version (because we Americans have to Americanize everything - I've seen it with so many other breeds/types of livestock & dogs, too) - and saying we have to "catch up". When I was searching for BAs - even through the livestock conservancy where the BAs are on the "Watch" list - there aren't many breeders and the ones I've found pictures of are still quite a long ways away from being the same type as the Aussie types.

I'm going to say that the type of birds pictured in your link might be a type to aim for. To that end - I can either use all of our girls and breed for quite a few birds - THEN choose which to go on with as any breeder is supposed to. OR I can eliminate the girls/boy(s) that are "off" the most and just use the ones that are most correct and go from there. I can introduce a couple of actual BAs (purchase from "real breeders" - but how do I then find them? Again, I'm not seeing any of a type even close to that real Aussie thread). The ones' I'm seeing from breeders don't look enough different from my own stock right now to warrant the extra costs at the moment with most. But I've only just starting to look and make contacts... I was going to go through Rattlesnake Ridge, but since he's now out of the birds, I'll need to find other breeders.

As I learn the incubating "thing", I may look for shipped eggs, but for now will be most interested in chicks.

 

[getaclue]

BA's have completely black eyes. No discernible iris. The chickens in the photos have irises, so they are not BA's. The legs will be gray, and the bottom of the feet will be pink, not yellow. While those are pretty birds, and could possibly be a mixed breed, they are not BA's. Yes, Kurt's line had the true black eyes, as did Chet Hupp's line.

Our BA's look somewhat different than the Australian version, not due to Americanization, but because way back when we were allowed, and imported some of them, we were sent utility stock, not SQ stock.

 

[paintedChix]

Our BA's look somewhat different than the Australian version, not due to Americanization, but because way back when we were allowed, and imported some of them, we were sent utility stock, not SQ stock.

Are you a breeder of BAs and do you have utility or SQ stock? If not a breeder, do you know of any other breeders that have quality stock of either/both utility or SQ?

And can you point out to me the actual difference of utility and SQ stock? In a lot of breeds, I wouldn't necessarily want SQ stock. Why? Because it's my understanding that SQ stock doesn't lay the same nor do they have the same amount of meat (I do not know if this applies to BAs or not) for a dual purpose bird - which is what attracted me to the BAs originally along with their personalities. I happen to like "blue" birds, which is why I wanted to get the blue variety of Australorps even when i knew it wasn't an accepted APA variety of the breed. Using Orptingtons, I could see other color varieties being introduced into the actual Australorp breed by adventurous & dedicated breeders.

I was of the understanding that when we almost lost "our" strains of BAs that the breeders that had flocks and kept going just didn't utilize the same breeding programs as the Australians did. Australian breeders brought in other breeds (such as Orpingtons - one of the original breeds used to "make" the BA into a breed) to "improve" their show stock and then brought the qualities of their BAs back out. Am I misunderstanding that point?

Thank you for pointing out the eye coloration. I will work on that. With the pictures I provided and can provide more, are there other issues with these birds that I need to work on? As to culling & putting non-conforming birds out there - that's not an issue. I purchased a number of breeds to have different colored eggs in the basket and pretty birds to look at. The culls go to freezer camp for our family (4 households) and our pets' food (6 dogs - in 2 households; indoor & outdoor cats - 8 cats in 3 households).

They all DO have the slate colored legs with white foot pads EXCEPT for my roo here at home. His legs and toes have a red coloration, too. Have no idea where that came from - other than he likes to fly down from the roost and I'm wondering if it's actually bruising... I've noticed it in some of my other breeds as well that have yellow shanks and toes - the ones that roost up higher and fly/hop down from those roosts w/o using any type of ladder. I also didn't notice the red until it turned cold here - just recently. All the cockerels that have the red in their shanks/toes, different breeds, were hatched between April and June 2018. They are blue Australorp (1 cockerel of 2), 2 CLB cockerels (of 5), 1 RB cockerel (of 2). I have the Bielefelders roosts lower in their 2 coops - they don't seem to have the same coloration going on at all. I've not noticed this coloration in the pullets/hens - just the cockerels - all of whom are larger/heavier than the pullets/hens. Also, the coop/roosts of the Ameraucana is lower - and red coloration isn't seen in their slate colored shanks or toes either. The Ameraucana have never free ranged. We have both BBS and Lavender varieties.

 

[paintedChix]

Here are our 1st 2 BA hens. They were purchased at about 18months of age. The previous owner said that they were laying consistently for her, but they didn't for me - even before they went into molt in 2016. They were however pretty and friendly and easy to pick up and handle. They were why I wanted to get more BAs. They were hatchery stock, but the woman I purchased them from couldn't remember (or didn't want to say?) which one. One of them did lay better, but they didn't last long, once they were allowed to start free ranging.

We've had issues with both hawks and marauding "stray" dogs digging under our pasture fences (even with hot wire strung on the bottom).

 

[paintedChix]

My interest developed due to the two above and then I got two more through our feed store (Privett Hatchery, NM). I had those girls for 2 years. I'm pretty sure the coyote we saw got them just recently when our free ranging girls were out during the day.

Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures of either of them - just some pics taken from a distance and/or above them as chicks. When they started laying - they were both consistent and had large, light brown eggs. They laid through their first winter. I don't think they ever were as "nice" as the original two I purchased as mature hens, but w/o pictures I can't prove or disprove that, LOL.

I had read/heard that BAs were good dual purpose birds that will work in both confinement and free ranging (though I did lose all 4 of our hens while free ranging - right around 2 years of age in different years) and the fact that they are said to lay through the winter are the reason I wanted BAs.

I like blue birds, which is why, when I found out that Privett Hatchery had them, I put in a special order for 12 pullets and 2 cockerels. My mom passed right before they were scheduled to arrive, so I asked the feed store that ordered them for me to go ahead and put them up for sale with their regular shipments. BUT when I arrived home a few days later, they were still available and I purchased what was left of the lot - 19 total - 14 pullets/5 cockerels. Of those, I lost 3 cockerels & 3 pullets. The pics I posted with the wrong eyes are from those birds. I DO have some that have all black eyes. I don't know what other breed the hatchery may have used to bring in the blue coloration. I know that the pullets that are laying now - have a bit of a color range on the eggs - from dark cream/tan to a "golden" brown. They are not yet all laying, nor are they consistent yet. Pretty much all of them have upright tail carriage - not the Australian style of shorter and more curved downwards. Ours also have slightly longer backs. The pictures I posted previously of the blues are ones that are at a neighbors coop (used to be our property).

These two girls have the black eyes, dark shanks and toes, nice lacing in the blue feathers. They are in my coop here at my house and they aren't laying yet at all.



The cockerel with these two (& 3 more pullets) doesn't have the solid black eyes but instead has the dark chestnut coloring with the showing dark iris.

I have taken the Bielefelders out of this coop, but still have an Orp pair (Lavender) and a Xbred barnyard pullet in it. The eggs so far have been VERY light in color - not sure who laid them other than pretty sure not the bantam (too large and she should lay a blue egg). Soooo... will have to pull Orps & bantam out to know for sure who is laying, but since the 20th of January there hasn't been any more eggs in this pen.

I will have to get better pictures of each individual bird. On the cockerel, you can see where his shanks are lighter in color. That is where they are red right now (bruising?). The lighter shanks may correlate with the different eye color as well - I'm not sure. I'll be headed out shortly to gather eggs and check everyone. If I'm able to get decent pics, may take a couple days to get they online.



All the chicks had full dark eyes at least until 8 weeks of age. Didn't get good consistent photos after that until November when I originally took 4 pullets (the 4 head shots that I was told are not Australorps at all) and a cockerel over to my neighbors' empty coop. I then took 2 more pullets over there after that - 1 of which has the full dark eye and very nice lacing on her blue feathers. Not sure where her body shape and tail carriage are.

I am looking for good quality BAs. I would love to have a flock of them and to be able to use them to improve my blue variety. I DO want both black and the blue's as well. I do understand how the blue coloring works with breeding. I would also be willing to get some black Orpingtons from a good breeder (those are hard to find, too!!) that I could incorporate. I understand that this "project" could be 5-7 years in the works. I have no problem with NOT selling any eggs or chicks UNTIL I have them where I want them and where BA breeders don't then tell me they are no where near breed standards. Not sure, however, that I'm interested in showing any... Too many nightmares from what I'm reading/hearing/seeing - when I've gone to some of the shows in our area.

Edited to add - would keep these girls just for eggs and prettiness. Maybe even keep raising birds from their resulting eggs - for meat and eggs. I just will make sure that I don't market them as Australorps but as a barnyard cross (like Ameraucana who don't meet breed standards or correct variety coloration, are called EEs even if purebred).