Australorps breed Thread

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Madhen80 said:
I need a bit of help from the experts. New to chickens. Chose Australorps to start with. I am going to cull some here next week. They are 16 weeks now, and still probably too small, but the roos have to go! They are terrorizing my d'uccle hens. Anyways, I need help with this one chicken. I was for sure all the ones with combs developed were roos, and then this little one caught my eye this morning, and I said aloud, by darn, I believe you are a pullet! Everything about this one says pullet except for the developed comb, again only 16 weeks old. So, I am asking the experts, Pullet or Cockerel? Thanks!






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I'm not an expert, but I don't see any pointed feathers, saddle or hackle, so I'm going to say pullet till it crows. ........stan
 
aveca said:
fuzzybuttsfarm you should show geoff some of your tiger creek aussies..great birds, we keep talking about them.. i knojw you threw in one or 2 but , it would be nice to show that there are some very good examples, including some orp crosses from different people that are impressive..i think the eye on tiger creek birds is really good..if you get a chance, can you post a few pics? you may have a while ago but im not seeing them now.
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Now you went and did it. You asked, you know how I just looooove to post pics. here you go. Click on pic to enlarge.





The above were taken in the barn with a flash.





It had been raining and has been overcast all day. The variation in the color is from the green sheen. Black is so hard to get good pics of.
 
Thanks for the pics,folks,
it's so hard to get the buggers to strike the right pose,eh? They seem to have nice sheen and nice dark legs and I agree about the eyes, Aveca. I hope your fussy girls go somewhere like this. The birds sooo remind me of our purebred Utility Aussies - the tail and face especially. It's only exhibition birds here that have the 'solid', rounded tails and clean, smooth faces just like the wattles and combs. There may be purebred Utility strains with clean faces that I've not come across but most are plum-colored, and I'm pretty sure they all have 'your' tails.When they were breeding 'up' to a bird suitable for a Standard to be accepted, they added to the Utility strains and if you look at pics of how the bird has been 'improved', it's the tail that's most obvious. They start off looking like yours. I'm convinced that more Orp. was added, some Cook-type, which appears to be 'extinct' both here and there, and some Partington, which has led to our 'too big ,too loose in the feather and too fluffy-thighed exhibition chooks - the sort of problems you commented on in American attempts to add some Orp. to your Aussies, Aveca. The 'too big' can be solved. A lot of our problems stem from attitudes expressed by 'gurus' such as Ray Conner, where they advise judges to favor the bigger bird because " It's harder to breed bigger ones." Old Ray, in my opinion,gets a bit schizo. his comments - caugt between Ray the Australorp breed-lover and Ray the ultra competitor for the 'glittering prizes'. For example, he says that he doesn't like to see thigh fluff from directly above a bird, but look at his prize-winners! I still think it's worth tring adding some Orp. as some are doing there. Aveca, ur negative opinions of these attempts based on the first cross or subsequent culling and breeding back to reduce the Orp. influence?
Cheers Geoff from Aus
 
We have all been fooled before. That bird is a tough one. The body shape and size says pullet. The comb and waddles at only 16 weeks says cockerel.
About two years ago I did have a similar pullet that mature fast in the comb and waddles way beyond her sisters and turned out to be a real nice pullet, so keep your fingers crossed. I also had small 7 month old who I thought was pullet and then began to crow! Within 3 weeks the comb and waddle just came out of nowhere! Yes, the bird was banded and marked so there was no mistaken identity. As stated earlier the crow or the egg will end the discussion.
 
look at those lucious hens! Man those are nice, yes getting the right pose is near impossible unless you stand them up and pose them..LOVE the fuzzybuttfarm tour,..great birds..they look like australorps, american version..there is no such a thing as too many aussie pics so dont worry about that..beautiful setup too..

I went out this morning and took a stab at taking a few pics..well its what it is...I powdered ben the aussie rooster last night..I periodically do that because the wild birds bring stuff in..so the powdery marks are poultry dust from me..plus hes a little fluffed up from the rubbing it in part...Ben has his own habitat lot like a zoo specimine..its huge, and it has rained a lot and the weeds are coming back..he munchs a lot of them so I like to leave some in there for him..

The smooth face really isnt seen here in US..It was considered a feminine trait in australia, a few of the show people were literally using sandpaper to enhance that look over there. I do have one hen that is rather smooth in the face, the chick below is a finnaly chick out of her but the rooster face is rough wiskers..he had dark black legs for 2 years, then they turned a dark grey, I have powder and vaseline on him now so they look even lighter.

im never going to win an award for photography thats for sure













I tried like mad to take a decent picture of the chick but so darned fast most are a blurr or feet and feathers







the habitat




another shot of ben pen..its big. they all get shade trees


 
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you know, looking at that, ben could almost pass at moments for an orpington..maybe hes just getting a little fat..i like the look of the tiger creek birds..they just look so classic..i love the eye on them.....i know that no one in recent times added orp to mine but maybe a ways back somone did..its hard to say..i never noticed befor these pics..

we used to have a hen that looked like that, large comb, wattles, but she laid an egg every day almost..that hen doesnt have the male tail , saddle feathers..
 
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