Australorpe Chicken Breed

Hi there, I want to talk to you today about one of my favorite things, chickens

Today, I want to talk to you about the Australorp chicken breed, particularly Australorp chickens

It's one of, it's my husband's favorite. As you know, if you've been with the Farmer's Lamp for any length of time

we are divided, actually, believe it or not, in our favorite breeds. Now, I do love the Australorp breeds

it's my husband's very favorite breed. The Speckled Sussex is my very favorite breed

both for very similar reasons. I like the personality of the Speckled Sussex better, but he loves the Australorp

So, today I want to talk to you about the Black Australorp. This breed has one of the best

feed-to-meat to egg ratios. That's how much feed you give them, how much meat you're going to get, how much feed you give them

how many eggs they're going to produce. They are excellent foragers, and the roosters are one of the most

protective and alert to predators that I have ever seen. If you allow them to forage free range, and we have a post on the Farmer's Lamp about

free ranging, the pros and cons of free ranging your chickens, but not everybody can do that

But if you can, it's a great way to help cut your feed cost. You can give them

mealworms, grow your own or buy dried black soldier flies, is what we

do. We produce black soldier fly larvae for our chickens. I love the fact

that these hens are excellent mothers. Now, here again, they run side by side with the Speckled Sussex, as far as being great mothers

The best I've ever seen, actually. However, the Black Australorp has a special place in my heart, as far as

brooding and hatching out chicks. I'll share that story with you. Actually, it was the first Speckled Sussex that we ever got. This has probably been 20 years ago

or longer, actually. But anyway, they were both setting at the same time, and they were in side-by-side yards

And the Speckled Sussex, in one of her forays of getting up and doing a little free ranging, because you know, in the beginning, before they hard set

they will get up and move around a little bit. Well, apparently she came upon either a Copperhead or a Rattlesnake

We have both of those on the farm, and we don't know which. But she went back to her nest

and I checked on her when we went to bed, and she was sitting on her nest

So I said, okay, she's good, and got up the next morning, and she was in the same position that she had been in the night before

And I checked her, and she didn't move. And of course, she had

died in the night from the snake bite. And we assumed it was a snake bite, because there were no marks on her

There was no blood. There was nothing except for a swollen spot. So we assume that that's what it was

However, she had 12 eggs. And our Black Osteolorpin, our favorite one at that time, her name was Mammy, she had

12 eggs. So we said, well, why not just put them under Mammy and see how many she can hatch. We kind of expected that they might

not make it. The eggs might not make it, but we thought they're so early in the incubation process that maybe they will. Do you know that Mammy hatched out every single one of those eggs

And she loved them all hers, and it was the funniest thing to watch her walk around with 24 chicks trying to be sure everybody

had eaten one that had a little leg problem, because it was the last one that hatched. And

a hen will get up when the first chick that hatches is three days old

She has to leave the nest, because on day three, it has to eat and drink. So she has to teach it those things

But that night, I think it was, the first chick was like four or five days old, the last egg hatched

And it had a little bit of a leg problem, because it couldn't move around like everybody else, and they were running over it

and that kind of thing. But he did outgrow it. We were able to help him with that. But anyway

that's why I love the Black Osteolarp for hatching chicks. And we have

on occasion set two Osteolarp hens, and then just put everybody's eggs underneath them so that they could hatch. They are excellent

As far as hatching out chicks, they have great personalities. The hens are not aggressive

The roos are. They tend to, because they are so protective of their girls, he's not trying to be mean

My, or the biggest Osteolarp we ever had, he was very, very protective of his girls. And

I had a problem. I kept an old hoe handle in my chicken yard right by the gate, so that when I went in, I would just pick the stick up. It was more from my

confidence than protecting myself from him. I felt more confident, which kept him at bay most of the time. But I did get spurred a couple of times, and I just

went through the process of breaking him. And if you want to read about that process, we have an article, How to Break an Aggressive Roo

or How to Prevent Them from Attacking You. You take those steps, and it's not a one-and-done kind of thing. You will have to remind him, especially in Osteolarp

hey, these are your girls, and I don't want your job, but I am coming in here, and I am checking on them

So, that takes a little bit of work, but it's worth it in the end

One of the things we love best about this is they are a heritage breed. And if you've been with the Farmer's Lamp, or you've been on the Farmer's Lamp

you know we are all about heritage breed animals on our farm. We feel like it's

important for us, it is important to us, to raise these heritage breeds. A lot of them are on

extinct, threatened lists, and that kind of thing. The Osteolarp is an English

class, a standard type. They are six to eight pounds. This is the average, with the roos being on the bigger

end. Our big roos, the biggest one we ever had, he was actually 12 pounds dressed

When we had to cull him and, you know, process him, he was 12 pounds

So, this is just an average. I think our average hen was probably six to seven pounds

Their rarity of this breed is recovering. When we first started keeping them

they were threatened. Now they're recovering. So, if you are interested in heritage breeds, we have some articles on the Farmer's Lamp talking about the different heritage breeds

And visit the Livestock Conservancy, and they will, they have a list there of all the endangered

breeds, and pick some of those when you're purchasing new chickens, or when you're starting your flock

And just give them a helping hand. The purpose of the Osteolarp is

meat and eggs. That is called a dual purpose bird. That's all that we raise, because we are sustenance farmers. We're not backyard chicken keepers

And that's not good on us and bad on them, or bad on them, us, and good on them. It's just the differences in chicken keepers

So, we are sustenance farmers. That means whatever we raise, is for our food. Okay

So, that's why we raise dual purpose chicken breeds, because they are our meat, they are our chicken supply, meat supply, and eggs

Now, in the United States, black is the only variety that the ALBC

recognizes. In other countries, the black, the buff, and the golden are recognized as official

Osteolarp breeds. The name Osteolarp is a combination of the Australian black Orpington

Prior to settling on the Osteolarp, the breed had several different names, but

due to the progress of developing the breed in Australia, they are now the national bird of Australia. How cool is that? That you have a chicken breed as your national

I just think that's so cool. But in the early 20th century, William Cook

he had the Orpington chick. He's known for the Orpington chicken breeds, and they are a great breed

The goal, he was trying to produce a dual purpose bird that could make it in Australia's harsh climate

So, he crossed the Orpington with the Rhode Island Reds to improve their ability to

get bigger eggs. And in England, the Orpingtons were already bred to be a good meat bird

So, the Australians wanted to try and breed a bird that was not only good for meat, but also was a prolific layer

So, the English Orpington was crossed with great layers like Rhode Island Reds, the Minorcas, the White Leghorn, the Langshan, and the Plymouth Rocks

And so, over time of their trial and error of the breeding

process, they came out with this wonderful dual bird. It's great for any homestead, any backyard breed

We are talking about here in the U.S. that the Blacks are the only recognized variety

They are excellent layers. They hold the world's record for 362 eggs

I'm sorry, 347 eggs in 365 days. And that was in the 1920s

I think that record has been broken. I may be wrong, but I believe it has not been

So, like I said, they are excellent layers. They lay large brown eggs, and I mean, you know

large brown eggs. So, if you're looking for a layer that's, they will

in extremely cold climates, they will slow down in the winter, but they do not quit laying in the winter

Like any breed, they'll slow down when they're molting, but they don't ever really quit

laying, and that's just one of the things that we love about them. My best hens

give me five to six eggs a week the whole year round

They, like I said, they will lay during the cold and dark of winter, unless it's extreme

Let's see, last year, year before last, somewhere in there, a lot of the hatcheries

suffered a lot of losses and lost a lot of their breeding pairs because of illnesses that were going around

and other reasons. But, so if you're ordering an Australorp, order from

a reputable hatchery. If we have to order, we order from McMurray's

or find a local breeder that has Australorps that will sell you some young hens

That's the best way to do it, to avoid the stress on the shipping chicks

But, a friend of ours, actually just right down the road from us

they bought some black Australorps at Tractor Supply two years ago now

and we were down visiting, and I was looking at our chickens, and I said

you know, those aren't Australorps. And she said, yes, they are. I bought them at Tractor Supply, and they're black Australorps. And I said, well, three of them are

She had 12. And she said, how do you know that? And I said, well, their feet aren't black

and their eyes aren't black. And they had golden eyes and yellow feet

So, come to find out, it was from the hatchery that the Tractor Supply had bought from

They were trying to redevelop their strain, and they had interbred and didn't do a very good job of it. I don't know

what hatchery it was or anything, and I wouldn't expose them if I did, because everybody's struggling. I'm just saying

be sure that you get a real Australorp if you want to get these great results

Now, they are great brooders. We've already talked about that. So, if you are ready to set

a nest, when she gets 10 eggs, she's going to set. Their excellent mothers are very attentive to their brood. They tend to not trample their young

They're excellent teachers, excellent teachers, and they're extremely protective. My hens are

they're used to me. I handle them a lot. But when they have chicks, I know not to try and handle them, because she

will eat me up if I try to handle them. So, just be aware of that. But they are very protective mothers

They have these black feathers that are absolutely beautiful. They're iridescent in the sun. They have a green to them. It just flashes in the sunlight

They are absolutely beautiful. They have single cones. The roosters have very large cones and waddles

They don't have feather legs. They're not crested, and they have four toes on each foot. And somebody might say, well, I want to know that

It's just interesting facts about the different breeds, and we have different breed posts on the farmer's lab that you can

go and see. So, on the ALBC, the Australorp breed standards are

it has to have a very upright stance. It carries the tail real high, and if you've ever seen an Australorp rooster, you know exactly what I'm talking about

I mean, they look proud. The breast is full and well-rounded, and they have a very deep, very solid body

The waddles, the earlobes, and the comb are all red. The comb is upright, and it has seven points. Sometimes it'll have, you know

six or five, but most of the time the average is seven. There's no feathers on them. Their legs are black or a very

dark bluish color. They have four toes. We already said that. The skin on the bottom of the foot is white

as is the meat of the Australorp. It's not a black-skinned or black-fleshed breed. It's just a black breed

Their eyes are shiny, jet black, and the beak is very dark

It is mostly black on the end with maybe a deep yellow

close to the mouth, but it may even be black all the way back

They are absolutely beautiful birds. They're very hardy. The roosters, like I said, they do have very large cones and waddles

so if you live in an area where you get a lot of freezing temperatures, you may want to just put some

coconut oil or something on them to protect them from frostbite if you live where it's extremely cold

He's very aggressive about his hens. So, like I said, we talk about how to break that in a Post on the Farmer's Lamp

Now, the hens are large and the roosters large, so this is a large breed. So, when you're building your coop and you're, you know, getting their area

set up, they need at least four square feet each inside the coop

Now, it's better to have as much space, too much space, than not enough space if they are confined. Okay, if your birds are free-ranged

then you don't have to worry about having, you might get away with two to three feet for each bird

because all they're going to be doing is coming and laying their eggs and going to roost

They're not going to be confined in there, which is when they need the more space

The standard perch area for this bird is eight inches. So, the standard perch area

is considered to be eight inches. Now, that's going to be too tight for these birds

They're going to probably need 10 to 12 inches. So, that means, what I mean by that

I mean that when you're setting up your perches, if you have black

Australorp birds, you need to be sure that your roost has 10 to 12 inches for each bird

Okay, now, standard size nesting boxes are fine. Our nests are 12 by 12

People use, you know, cut old tires in half, use crates, anything like that, whatever you want to use. I mean, there's no

set, this is the only way to do it thing in chicken keeping. It's just, it's just part of homesteading. It's

absolutely wonderful. Do whatever works for you and for your flock, but 12 by 12 is a standard nesting area and she'll do fine with that

Now, I don't care if you have 10 hens and 10 nests

They are all going to want the same nest and they will fuss at one another. You might get them that they lay in two or three nests

They might spread out a little bit depending on how many hens you have, but they are going to fight over this. I don't know what it is about them, but they want the same nest. So

they're going to try and double up and that you might get some eggs that are damaged, but

just be sure they have plenty of nesting spaces and just let them work it out. That's what I do

They are cold hardy. We have friends up in the panhandle of Idaho that have australope birds and they do very well up there

They are heat tolerant. In the deep south, we have australope hens and

they do very well. Of course, there are special circumstances that you have to, you know

if you live in a really cold area, you have to protect them from the wind. You have to

protect them from frostbite. If you live in a very hot area like in the deep south in the summertime

they have to have shade. They have to have fresh cool water. So, you know, there are things that you have to do, but that's with any breed

They can bear confinement, but they prefer free range and if they can fly out, they are going to fly out

The hens are docile. The roos are docile. I don't want to give them a bad reputation. I mean, they're pretty docile

but when it comes to protecting their girls, they can become a little aggressive. So, they're excellent setters. They're very quiet and gentle

but now they do not like being held. They will come up and talk to you. I have one girl that wants me to pick her up out of all of our birds

but as a general rule, they don't like being held. They don't mind you talking to them

If you sit down, they will come up beside you, but they do not like being held

So, if you're interested in a dual-purpose bird that lays a lot of eggs, has excellent meat production

a nice disposition, this could be the breed you're looking for. They're hardy. They're easy to care for, great foragers

They take confinement better than some other larger breeds. What can you say

about this black chicken breed? It pulls its own weight on the homestead

It's one of our two favorites. So, if you're considering adding a new breed to your flock, I would really highly recommend the black ostrillort breed

Until next time, safe and happy journey