Australorps breed Thread

[groche]

Woops! Last post was for Rachel. Don't forget to click on my pics to get more detail.
Cheers Geoff from Aus

 

[aveca]

OMG!!!! those are stunning Geoff...just put those in a little package marked NY USA..hee hee..look at the faces and shape...this just made my day...made me sad too..you are too far away..

Mandatory cute shot of first hatch for the year

Hi folks,
a few Aussie pics as promised.
At 6 weeks

These were hatched very early season in a mate's 'bator. Only 9 chicks but none have any obvious faults at this time, though a couple with bent 'bator toes I'll pass on as layers. Seem to be more cockerals than I'd like though! All have good colored beaks, legs and feet and there's not a dodgy comb amongst them. Good so far, with many many more in the pipeline. Hope you enjoy the pics.
Cheers Geoff from Aus

 

[aveca]

Lovley..she does look little more like ours.. nice eye on her.. keep that line going geoff.

Hi Aveca,
you expressed interest in the pullet I acquired that is supposedly a purebred Aussie from the rare, early Judson Utility line. I think it may be legit. as she's certainly a more refined bird than is usual with our commercial/feedstore 'Aussies'. She has a good comb and good leg, foot and beak colour. She has a nice Aussie green sheen. That's about where the resemblence to my Exhibition blood birds ends. She's much tighter feathered, face is sharper and even at around 14 weeks old you can see that she'll never be as large as my big girls. She seems to have all the attributes of what folk here see as a good layer. It's too early to tell, but with no obvious faults, with none in the other pullets in the sale pens either, I'm hoping she'll add some positives to my blood. Of course, it'll be an experiment, maybe a little like your 'secret project'. Ha! Ha! I'll keep the experiments seperate to avoid doing anything disastrous to what I already have. I'll certainly follow your suggestion of using the best of her sons to focus on tighter feather. It was a bit of a bugger to be told by the seller that a few serious breeders had bought birds from him to "Tighten up the feathering". I'm not alone! I reckon that the son-breeding idea slipped my mind because there's a big part of me that says I should breed the Judson line pure as well, to help keep it alive. Need at least a cock to do that, and another pen and ........Enjoy!






Interested in any comments, especially if you spot something I've missed. It's hard from a few pics, I know, and she's so young. Have to put her on the growth pills!
Cheers Geoff from Aus

 

[groche]

Aveca, meant to post a back view to show how lean she is. Glad you like my babies. Pretty pleased with the next hatch of 20 or so...so far! Can let you have the two chicks with 'bator toe cheap. Be ok for breeding. Ha Ha! Seriously wish I could send 'em to you. Cheers Geoff

 

[aveca]

.drrrrreeeeaaam chickens.. that pullet does look like you took her ot of one of our back yards..i posted a pic a while ago of mom and bee bee..he was very round lot like yours..not as nice a face, but not too bad, coming along..i will see if i can find the pic again..so you see, i still play with it..

 

[dpresk01]

I have a question for fellow Australorp owners actually. I'm starting my first flock with one Australorp and 4 bantams. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but now I'm a little worried that given how much bigger my aussie will be, that she might overly dominate the other hens. Is this a common problem? I always hear about how docile and friendly aussies are, which is one of the reasons I wanted to start my first flock with one, so that leads me to hope there won't be any major issues.

 

[Chickadoodoo]

These are my two australorps ( cant really see they second one lol hiding under a wyandotte ) but they are with their 3 best friends the wyandottes lol

 

[aveca]

the bantams usually boss the australorp around..

here is a stout aussie baby that came out this year..i liked his wide body and better head and eye so i kept him. he didnt dissapoint..now that i have seen geoffs babies we still have long way to go with this..but they get just a little better evey year..i just powdered him while he was in and easy to catch.



..



.

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Hi Dee,
welcome to the thread. The vitamin advice seems sound. A very experienced commercial poultryman mate of mine advised me to 'put a slurp of Pentavite in their drinking water and don't use chemically treated water to do it!" Not sure whether you have Pentavite there, but it's just a common liquid multivitamin for kids - human ones! He also recommended adding powdered milk to the mash "if you can get them to eat it. If not, get milk into them any way you can." There is a woman here who does all the markets with her "Laying Spice Blend." It's just a 'secret' blend of common food spices such as cummin, chillie etc. She told me that it raises the body temp. and encourages laying, especially in cold climates. She advised me not to use it in summer or hot weather. Perhaps someone can give more accurate spice info. My older Aussie girls go more into graceful decline rather than all stop laying at once. This is my experience with Isa type 'breeds' that basically have planned obsolescence built in so you have to buy more every 3 years. If yours are feedstore 'Aussies', rather than purebred, they may have this tendency too. Good luck!
Geoff from Aus

Thank you Geoff.
I do add cayenne to their feed as well as flax seed. I already have their replacements, at 8 weeks old. I was just hoping they might, as you say, gracefully decline, so I might be able to justify keeping my faves a bit longer.
As it is, my husband is looking for dinner if he can't have breakfast...

 

[CarolynF]

I know I love my 8 little girls too. They all have their own personalities and I can't wait for them to grow up to see what they'll be like.

That's exactly what I said when my daughter was growing up!