All About Chickens – The Australorps
Even many chicken enthusiasts have not heard of Australorps. This is somewhat surprising and embarrassing, because it is a wonderful breed of chicken with many excellent qualities. Here’s a bit about it and why it would make a nice addition to any home or farm.
This large breed is black, with black legs and black eyes. They are known for their beautiful, shiny feathers, which can appear green in sunlight. People often mistake them for the Black Jersey Giant, but there are two notable differences. For one thing, the Australorp is smaller, weighing between 6 and 9 pounds, depending on whether it is a hen or a rooster. They also differ from the Black Jersey Giants in the color of the soles of their feet. The shirts have yellow on the feet, while the Australorps have a pinkish white color.
Its name comes from its reproductive origin. It is an Australian breed derived from the English Orpington stock. It was deliberately bred as a utilitarian chicken for the dual purpose of providing meat and eggs. It was officially recognized as a breed in the late 1920s.
This breed is known for its prolific egg laying. It is rumored that a hen set a record by laying 364 eggs in 365 days. The record is in dispute, but one thing is not: happy chickens of this breed generally lay between 250 and 300 eggs per year, which means they continue to lay in winter. The eggs are light brown in color and will be medium to large in size.
As a dual-purpose bird, they are also good for meat. This is great if you plan to keep chickens as part of a subsistence farm. These birds are good breeders too, which means they will sit on the eggs and diligently care for them until they hatch. Since they are broilers, you can make good use of old laying hens or extra roosters.
In addition to being excellent suppliers of meat and eggs, this breed has a truly wonderful temperament. They are very friendly, a bit shy, and so completely docile that they are often kept as pets! If you think they may be too heavy for your kids to pick up, look for the rooster version of the breed.
This is truly an excellent breed to choose from no matter what your needs are. They are exceptionally winter hardy, excellent layers, breeders, and good meat birds. Another plus is that they generally don’t like to fly too high, so you can keep them in a fenced-in area without worrying about them getting away.
If you want to get some Australorps there are plenty of hatcheries online that will be able to send you day old chicks. They mail them as a perishable item (the chicks do not need food or water for the first few days as they get their nutrition from the egg). Make sure you can take them home as soon as they arrive, then follow the instructions the hatchery sends out with the chicks. Enjoy these really wonderful chickens!