Australorps breed Thread

[Davaroo]

i have just found this group and was wondering if you ladies or gents can tell me if this rooster I have is an Australorp or not. I have looked at the Marans too and to me they look like them too LOL
sooo confused. They were given to us from a lady who dropped them off at our Horse Rescue along with her horse this winter.


I know the little one in there is not one of she is a Banty of that breed.
thanks for the help
deana

They have the right look, thats all I can say. See the green 'beetling,' that sheen to the feathers? Thats a trait. The black legs too.
The overall stout body also makes me think they are.
For lack of a better answer, I'd think they were A -Lorps.

They are some bigguns, thats for sure!

 

[huppfarm]

howdy, on the outside they appear to be Austras, check for skin color which is white and the bottoms of the feet should be pinkish white, any yellow in the skin or bottoms of feet is not purebreed Australorp. If you plan on breeding with any of those males, use the one that has the darkest eyes, he is more true to standard and will pass on the gene to the offspring.
have fun!
Chet

 

[Davaroo]

howdy, on the outside they appear to be Austras, check for skin color which is white and the bottoms of the feet should be pinkish white, any yellow in the skin or bottoms of feet is not purebreed Australorp. If you plan on breeding with any of those males, use the one that has the darkest eyes, he is more true to standard and will pass on the gene to the offspring.
have fun!
Chet

I think like Chet - they are possibly A lorps. This also means they may be mutts and just show a lot of the A-lorp traits.
White skin and pinkish feet, then. Add that to the list.

 

[tigercreek]

Chet mentioned the eyes, they should be large, round and very dark black. You might have some Jersey Giants there?? Just a guess. .....stan

 

[plantcityhomestead]

I am thinning out my flock to improve the quality, and I would like your opinion on my rooster. He has great green sheen to his feathers, white skin, dark eyes, dark shank, and the bottom of his feet are white, with just a tiny bit of yellow. He is huge. Much taller than my Delawares and Orpingtons. He is calm and good with the hens. I am getting rid of all the roosters that do not meet type, what do you think?

 

[huppfarm]

howdy, you have all the traits......the yellow in the feet bothers me but , I would like to see more pics of him standing on flat ground to see the shape of his back and the stance of his tail. What you want for show and breeding is a nice gradual "U" shaped back with a tail that does not stand up beyond 40 degrees.

A pic of his comb strait on looking at his face to see the straitness of his comb also looking for any side sprigs.

What I teach my 4-H poultry project kids is 1. feeling for the width of the back which will tell you the health of the bird. You want to run your hand down the bird's back with your thumb on one side of the bird and your forefinger on the other side. If your bird's back is very wide and your hand is stretched out, you have a good healthy bird. On the other side of the coin, if your thumb and fore finger are close together then your bird is not well or conditioned.

2. place your chicken's back aganst your chest or stomach with one hand, take the other hand and feel the keel or breast bone for straitness........strait is good, crooked is bad. You want no bad or negative traits to end up in your future flocks and judges will take points off for defects at a show.

wash those feet and see if the yellow is just some dirt, you want pinkish white. Yellow feet or the traces of yellow can be Jersey Giant or mixed breeding.

check for straitness of toes, crooked toes will also show up in the flock later on.

Many folks just enjoy having chickens no matter what they are or have, not caring about any kind of standard, just having them for the sheer pleasure of poultry antics, eggs and meat.

Those who are a little more serious about the "Fancy" tend to follow the standard set up by the American Poultry Association.

Anyone can own birds, not everyone can own great birds! That is all about dedication to your flock and the quality that you strive to obtain.

looking forward to some more pics! I hope the info was helpful

 

[cubakid]

Doesnt seem too bad. Really should be standing on the ground for people to tell what the body actually looks like, though. The back should be a medium length with a nice concave sweep up the tail. The tail angle should not be to high... I'm thinking less than 50, I don't have my standard handy . Id like to see the leg length too. He shouldn't have langshan legs but he shouldn't be fluffy near the ground.

 

[cubakid]

Also something important is the width in the saddle region and tail as well. You want the tail to look like a tepee. You want the last feather on each side of the tail to be like 4 inches or so apart and gradually lessening width as you go up the tail.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/279470/the-wyandotte-thread/2140

Good examples

 

[aveca]

yes Cubakid is right.. there are many componants to the entire picture
.the bird has to be curved beak to tail and as you said width in saddle is so important..,, the tail should have a neat well formed appearance and good tail tenting behind and viewed from the side.. as well as depth in chest area. they should not have a cutaway chest...certian things can be fixed..some are harder to fix..you can try to take some more photos ..if you look at the SOP..the picture really helps, they are called the great bird of curves.

Davaroo, take some pics of that hen in the background and the rooster in the middle..
the birds in that pic look like they could be considered australorp to me they look like some orpington cross but could be jersey, one has super light eye..somone added buff or plymoth ? it just looks like buff added at one time or another ..it has old time buff orp build like chet said foot sole color and skin color would tell....the one in background picture is better over all.. the hen just from what little you can see is really nice..the super nice tail fan , but cant really see the rest of her, face comb ect..the perfect chicken hasnt been hatched , well some come close..but love to see that hen out front. the judges stand back and get thier first impression then they move in and start picking them and eliminating , that first impression that they get over all balance ....like to see the rest of her.

 

[countrybuffs]

I am very interested in having the proper body type of chickens. I currently just have hatchery chickens, but sometime in the distant future I may get into showing. Could you please explain the main differences between Orpingtons and Australorps? I know Orps are part of the foundation for Australorps. I also know about the large black eyes, but I want to know about body type, etc. Thanks.