Australorps breed Thread

[MMPoultryFarms]

There truely one of my favorite breed I bet I have 200+ chicks down right now on the ground. There peaceful passive and wonderful broody mothers. as far as egg production. I eliminated RiR's from my whole flock because they couldnt begin to keep up with my BA's there from terry britt steve jones line of twisted feather farms. Sadly he no longer sells BA's as he has done away with this breed last I heard

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Need help with a "lorp question! Got a new batch of babies today!

I ordered 7 straight run BAs and got 8, instead. All 7 look like the first chick, black heads, all. As did my 6 hens I raised this past year.
The other one has a lot of white on her/his head. Do we think it is a Black Australorp?
Figured, I knew who to ask!

The usual look:

the Other look:

Looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say!
Brightest Blessings!

 

[aveca]

they sometimes have solid black like that and sometimes they have the whitish grey fluff and white in beak, its just a trait. all of the white will dissappear by the time they are around 7 months old, they often have white wing tips but they will also fall off and be replaced by black..A lot of times the ones with white develope dark green sheen prefered..the black ones are a duller grey black both are good..that coulkd be a langshan or just about anything but the foot color as they get older will tell you..australorps have whitish greyish even pinkish sole to the foot.

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Thanks, aveca. I have seen the beak variants in color, in them all, and watched it disappear with my Big Girls (10 months old).
I had just never seen so much yellow/white on their faces before.
I forgot all about watching the leg color. Thanks for the reminder!
As this is only by second year of chook-keeping, I need all the help I can get!
Thanks a million!

 

[cubalaya]

i am watching my new ones hatch right now. 3 australorps, 3 delawares, and 2 cubalaya so far.

 

[kla37]

I have a question about Australorp size. I have 3, and they are from a hatchery. They were described as "big" but they are the smallest girls in my little flock. They lay beautiful eggs, and do so frequently. I'd like to get more someday but I'm more comfortable with bigger chickens. Are they supposed to be as big as say, a BO? Bigger? Smaller? They sure are sweethearts. Very friendly and sweet tempered. My avatar is one of them with my younger son.

 

[cubalaya]

a little smaller. an orpington roo could weigh around 10 lbs. and the australorp roo 8.5 lbs. they are friendly even as chicks. feed conversion is much better than orpingtons. they are good dual purpose chickens and look good in your yard.

 

[kla37]

Quote:
Thanks! I don't have any roosters, they aren't allowed where I live. My girls sure are sweet, they love to jump in laps and look in pockets for treats. I only have 8 chickens so I don't pay much attention to feed conversion. They are quite sprightly and energetic!

 

[happyhensny]

BA are definitely my most hardy and productive breed. The eggs are consistantly X-large - jumbo and they lay frequently and longer through the winter.

 

[kla37]

I don't weigh the eggs, so I don't know how big they are, but they are the biggest of the ones I get. They laid all winter, as did my BO and Barred Rock. Only one of my cochins laid maybe 3 X a week through the winter, and the other 2 cochins JUST started laying. I didn't pick those for eggs though, just for cuteness.