Awesome Australorps -- Because "Medium" Doesn't Mean "Boring"

[3KillerBs]

My Belle, queen of the flock. She glides around like a duchess! Very very tolerant alpha but no question shes in charge. (I think shes my avatar, i need a new pic) View attachment 3250718
View attachment 3250716

Beautiful lady.

I'm focusing on my blues, but I do think that the bright black feathers and bright red faces are absolutely gorgeous.

 

[SourRoses]

The real question is if they have accents?

My mom is an Aussie herself and has always told me that black absorbs the heat. I asked her a while back, why are so many heat tolerant chickens black? She told me to ask someone else

 

[The Tiny Homestead]

Yes, nearly everything in the Australorp SOP is "medium" but that doesn't make these beauties average or ordinary or commonplace -- it makes them iconic

IMO, they're as close to a perfect backyard bird as you can get.

Post your Australorp photos and stories here. It's time to give these awesome birds the recognition they deserve

I have 3 hens and I love them. They are very alert and very friendly. Even the rooster I had would eat gently out of my hand, but he was attentive and a good defender of the ladies. The eggs are as beautiful as the birds. I can't think of a single downside to having them. To me it's all plus.

 

[nuthatched]

Mine were the broodiest things! They tag teamed it, for 6 months I had some sort of screaming, black monster in the nest boxes.
Mt. Healthy has Splash australorps, I'm very tempted.

 

[3KillerBs]

I can't think of a single downside to having them. To me it's all plus.

The only thing the *might* be improved about them is to have more color variety. That's why I'm starting my Silver-Laced Australorp(ish) project.

Not to supplant the Australorps, just to supplement them.

Mine were the broodiest things! They tag teamed it, for 6 months I had some sort of screaming, black monster in the nest boxes.

So far all my Australorp broodies have been gentle, fluffing and growling, but letting me handle them. Not like the Java, who bites ferociously.

 

[Regina Larsen]

Beautiful lady.

I'm focusing on my blues, but I do think that the bright black feathers and bright red faces are absolutely gorgeous.

Blues are just lovely

 

[KellyJ74]

Yes, nearly everything in the Australorp SOP is "medium" but that doesn't make these beauties average or ordinary or commonplace -- it makes them iconic and awesome!

Seriously, the Australorp perfectly fits my mental model of what a chicken ought to be. They have an alert, upright posture, but not unnaturally U-shaped like a Langshan. They're broad and solid, but not so round as to have that feathered basketball look of their distant-ancestor Orpingtons. They have large single combs that aren't so large as to fall over like a Leghorn's. Everything about them is in nice proportion without any extremes.

Their temperament is as moderate as their physical characteristics, being active and alert but not flighty or wild. They get along well in the flock. None of mine are cuddle-pets, because I don't raise them to be that way, but they're friendly and follow me all around as I tend the coop and run. I only have experience with about 8-10 Australorp cockerels and one mature rooster so far, but mine have all been polite and well-behaved and, while any breed has it's outliers, they don't have a reputation for human-aggression.

The hens are good layers, though some do go broody, and reliably provide medium-to-large, light-to-medium brown eggs starting on the early end of the average.

They're tolerant of heat, coming through my steamy North Carolina summers without problems and reputedly take cold equally well, though I have no direct experience of it.

Most Australorps are black, but blues are available from a number of US hatcheries and whites exist, though they are very rare.

IMO, they're as close to a perfect backyard bird as you can get.

Post your Australorp photos and stories here. It's time to give these awesome birds the recognition they deserve!

This makes me so happy to read. I've got 2 pullets and a cockerel that are Australorps and was really conflicted about keeping the boy. They're only 4 weeks old right now, but he's the sweetest, most gentle bird. It's good to know that, hopefully, he won't be a hormonal psychopath.
I'm curious if there is a specific way I'm supposed to treat him so he stays respectful, but still watches out for the flock? Right now, he's with a mix of breeds in the brooder, but I let them run around the room every day and will offer dried meal worms or dry oatmeal and he'll put a claw gently in my hand, take a couple nibbles, then call the ladies over and stay close while they're eating. I don't cuddle him, but will pick him up and touch his beak, neck, feathers and feet, which he doesn't care for, but also doesn't object to.
I wasn't planning on keeping a rooster, but I'm absolutely in love with him. For now
Here's our boy.

 

[3KillerBs]

It's good to know that, hopefully, he won't be a hormonal psychopath.

There's no guarantees with roosters, but one thing that is said to help is to raise them hands-off so that they don't come to think of you as part of the flock.

Experienced people here taught me to walk through my males -- not in a challenging way, but as a casual, matter-of-fact thing. Think of yourself not as top bird in the flock but, rather, as The Giant Who Brings Food. You are a force of nature that sometimes shares their space like a horse or a cow so when you move through the birds should get out of your way.

I actually keep some spare buckets and other loose pieces of coop furniture in the coop and run on purpose so that I can intentionally pick one up, walk through the space the male is standing in, and put it down somewhere on the other side.

Another thing that is said to help is to have adult hens in the flock or, even better, an adult rooster so that the up-and-coming cockerels learn proper chicken manners. But if your little boy is already tidbitting that's really promising.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

I think I might have had an austrolorp. she was 8lbs. I used to call her hickety pickety. her name was Sparkle. she had a twin sister named Charcoal, but Charcoal died of bumblefoot.
here's a pic of her (sparkle)

 

[3KillerBs]

I think I might have had an austrolorp. she was 8lbs. I used to call her hickety pickety. her name was Sparkle. she had a twin sister named Charcoal, but Charcoal died of bumblefoot.
here's a pic of her (sparkle)

What a pretty hen!

Australorps *shouldn't* have any white on them so she may have been a mix, but she's a lovely thing.