Australorps breed Thread

[ronott1]

Just wondering, is it normal to have a sharp decrease in egg production during August? My 9 hens were giving me 5-6 eggs a day all thru Summer, then one went broody, and my egg production dropped to 2-3 a day. None of the others have gone broody, but the eggs just aren't coming.
It isn't hot at all, in fact we have only had a few days above 70 degrees F, so I am really puzzled by the drop.
Any thoughts?
(4 hens are 2.5 years old, 3 are 1.5 yrs old and 1 is not yet a year old, but has been laying since February)

They may be ending their egg laying cycle and will have their first molt for the 1.5 year old hens. Egg color is lighter? More feathers on the ground? The 2.5 hens will be coming down on the egg laying curve quickly at 2.5 years. You should google the egg laying curve.

Hopefully they will not all molt at the same time. Mine have slowed down but then again it was 107 just last week here. They are picking up and my pullets are starting to lay more now.

It is also the time of year for mites. They will stop laying if there are parasites.

Ron

Ron

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

They may be ending their egg laying cycle and will have their first molt for the 1.5 year old hens. Egg color is lighter? More feathers on the ground? The 2.5 hens will be coming down on the egg laying curve quickly at 2.5 years. You should google the egg laying curve.

Hopefully they will not all molt at the same time. Mine have slowed down but then again it was 107 just last week here. They are picking up and my pullets are starting to lay more now.

It is also the time of year for mites. They will stop laying if there are parasites.

Ron

Ron

The 1.5s are getting ready to molt, for sure. Yes, many of the eggs have been lighter in color.
I knew the "big girls" would be slowing down, it just happened so suddenly!
Thanks bunches for the reply!
Good that my broody is setting on what I hope to be replacement hens for some of my 2.5 y/os.
9 eggs and high hopes!!!

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Let me know how the broody hatch goes and post pictures of the Mom and babies!

Are yours from a hatchery? I like that you have a Broody.

Ron

 

[BlackPanther]

Does anybody know how many Australorp colors there are and what they are?
On the first page it says that Australorps come in white, blue, and splash -- all I have ever heard of were the black ones.
I'd love to get some information on this -- I would like to get an Australorp rooster but I'm not permitted to have a black one!

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Let me know how the broody hatch goes and post pictures of the Mom and babies!

Are yours from a hatchery? I like that you have a Broody.

Ron

I sure will! Having babies on the farm is so amazing when they are "Mum-raised"!
All but one of my hens are hatchery hens. One was born here from a clutch my last broody hatched, last Fall.
My first broody was killed by a predator and I was so worried we might never have another. But lo and behold, Mathilda decided to set (with a vengence) at the beginning of the month, so I saved the precious few eggs we had and gave them to her. The future of my flock is sitting under that grumpy old hen!
That makes 2 out of the original 6 hatchery pullets who have gone broody for me.
I have been thinking long and hard about the economy of keeping hens past their prime, and how long I could afford to do it. Mathilda has always had the most aggressive personality (I really thought she was going to turn out to have gotten past the sexers at the hatchery and been a roo) and since she has never been friendly, I assumed she would be the easiest for me to dispatch.
As it happens, being prone to broodiness, she may well have earned herself the right to retire here, and live for as long as nature decides.
My first egg-layer, Gladys has a guaranteed spot, no matter how old she lives to be or if she ever lays another egg again.
The other 3...well, one has become an egg-eater, since her shells got very soft this summer- she lays an egg every other day and eats it...not good egg math for me, the Flock Mistress. She will be first into the stewpot, it seems.
The other 2, I guess they will be next.
It's hard, but it is the life I signed up for when I decided to be a "farmer".
Thanks again for the help.

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Does anybody know how many Australorp colors there are and what they are?
On the first page it says that Australorps come in white, blue, and splash -- all I have ever heard of were the black ones.
I'd love to get some information on this -- I would like to get an Australorp rooster but I'm not permitted to have a black one!

Just out of curiosity, why aren't you allowed to have a black one?

 

[ronott1]

Does anybody know how many Australorp colors there are and what they are?
On the first page it says that Australorps come in white, blue, and splash -- all I have ever heard of were the black ones.
I'd love to get some information on this -- I would like to get an Australorp rooster but I'm not permitted to have a black one!

I have seen pictures of Black, White, Blue and Splash.

Youre Spouse won't allow a Black one? The BA's are really special looking with the red face, comb and wattles. They also have a green sheen in the sun.

Black is also better for predators. White ones are easy for Hawks to see. You migh be able to find some Blue or Splash but they are rare.

Have fun!

Ron

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Mine are a year and a half old Hatchery BA's from Cackle. I started with 5 but one died of liver prolapse related to fatty liver disease. None of mine have gone Broody, so now I have a Silver Gray Dorking to see if she will go broody.

The Egg eating like this is a natural behavior. The hen will check to see if the egg is hard enough and if it isn't she will eat it. Egg eating is rare. I thought I had some but after worming and extra calcium I haven't had any eaten in months. I also sneak them some granulated kelp. I get it from Azure Standard.

With Hatchery birds you should still get eggs from them for a couple more years. Most likely you will start losing them naturally so you may not have to retire too many of them. I watched a video on raising chickens and the person(she is on BYC from San Francisco) retired the hens at 2 years. She made soup out of them. I did lose a Golden Comet that was 21 months last month. She stopped laying last October. She had Mareks cancer. My Mom said I should have gotten rid of the free loader but she was too nice of a hen for that.

I will have to look up where you live in Oregon.

Bye,

Ron

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Mine are a year and a half old Hatchery BA's from Cackle. I started with 5 but one died of liver prolapse related to fatty liver disease. None of mine have gone Broody, so now I have a Silver Gray Dorking to see if she will go broody.

The Egg eating like this is a natural behavior. The hen will check to see if the egg is hard enough and if it isn't she will eat it. Egg eating is rare. I thought I had some but after worming and extra calcium I haven't had any eaten in months. I also sneak them some granulated kelp. I get it from Azure Standard.

With Hatchery birds you should still get eggs from them for a couple more years. Most likely you will start losing them naturally so you may not have to retire too many of them. I watched a video on raising chickens and the person(she is on BYC from San Francisco) retired the hens at 2 years. She made soup out of them. I did lose a Golden Comet that was 21 months last month. She stopped laying last October. She had Mareks cancer. My Mom said I should have gotten rid of the free loader but she was too nice of a hen for that.

I will have to look up where you live in Oregon.

Bye,

Ron
I just saw the thumbs up on the kelp, so thought I would add more. Mine won't eat it straight, so I mix it in with their feed--1/3 of a cup into 6 ish pounds of feed or Chicken Wheat. The Kelp has a lot of really good things in it.

I looked up your town and it is close to one of my favorite places--Florence Oregon. My wife is a teacher and we went there for a week long work shop in the mid 1980s. The last time I was there they had built an Indian Casino, but I still love that Town.

Ron

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Mine are a year and a half old Hatchery BA's from Cackle. I started with 5 but one died of liver prolapse related to fatty liver disease. None of mine have gone Broody, so now I have a Silver Gray Dorking to see if she will go broody.

The Egg eating like this is a natural behavior. The hen will check to see if the egg is hard enough and if it isn't she will eat it. Egg eating is rare. I thought I had some but after worming and extra calcium I haven't had any eaten in months. I also sneak them some granulated kelp. I get it from Azure Standard.

With Hatchery birds you should still get eggs from them for a couple more years. Most likely you will start losing them naturally so you may not have to retire too many of them. I watched a video on raising chickens and the person(she is on BYC from San Francisco) retired the hens at 2 years. She made soup out of them. I did lose a Golden Comet that was 21 months last month. She stopped laying last October. She had Mareks cancer. My Mom said I should have gotten rid of the free loader but she was too nice of a hen for that.

I will have to look up where you live in Oregon.

Bye,

Ron

Thanks a million for the tip on kelp! I will implement this immediately! I happen to have some.
We are located on the central coast, about a mile from the ocean, hence the super-mild temps during summer.
My first BA hatchery broody was broody after laying about 50 eggs, one a day til then. She was born to brood. I was sick to have lost her. My "Big Plan" to raise chooks shot down in flames.
But now, a second one has gone broody at 2 and a half. I have put golf balls in the nests to encourage the others.
One of my 1.5 y/os is "cluck clucking" but barely has enough feathers to keep herself warm, so I think she is just molting and being a weirdo.
I am happy to hear about the soft egg eating being normal. I am not happy about the loss of eggs when so few are laying. My husband, the big egg eater on this farm is not patient about not having his gorgeous brown eggs for breakfast.
Don't give up on the broodies. I put 2 plastic snap-together easter eggs (pink and purple polka dotted) into a nest and this is what got Tilda going, I think. I also added the additional golf balls to the nest Molly the egg eater likes to lay in, thinking if she pecks the golf balls and no yum yums come out, maybe she will get bored and stop.
Sorry about the loss of your hens. That is always so sad.
I am super-psyched about the new clutch. I meant to get replacement pullets (in the absense of a broody) this spring, but money was too tight, and I just couldn't swing it. They would be laying right now, so it is a big bummer for me. But, Mother Nature smiled on me, and I have another chance at a few pullets in the next clutch.
I process my own roos, so they will be coming around just in time for chicken and dumplings for winter. My luck with more pullets than roos has been atrocious. Last year I got 8 straight runs and ended up with 5 roos. But I did get my gorgeous Maximus from that lot, so it was worth it. When AliceAnn hatched her first clutch, I got 2 chicks, a pullet named Penelope and a roo, formerly known as Perseus. he had to be stewed because he and his father could not get along, and Perseus was beating the daylights out of Max.
Prior to that, Max had been a bit of a handfull, and he even wanted to challenge me a time or two. We had just gotten past that when Perseus became so aggressive. I made the decision to process the son, as I had already worked things out between me and the other roo, and didn't want to have to face it with another upstart.
It has been such a learning process with these chooks, but I love it and they are such a joy to me.
Thanks again for all the help!