Australorp chicken

Dual Purpose

Australorps are dual purpose chickens, they are good layers and also suitable for meat production. Their meat is very tasty and they are well fleshed with white skin. Australorp hens lay medium sized and light brown colored eggs. Hens can lay for a couple of years. Generally a healthy hen can lay about 200 eggs in a season. But most of the people who raise backyard chickens, keep some Australorps in their flock mainly for their beauty and gentle nature.

Health & Growth

Usually Australorp chickens become very hardy and they are long lived. They have a good resistance to the most common poultry diseases. All types of physical deformities such as bent toes or twisted beaks are less in well bred Australorp chickens. They can also adopt themselves well with low temperatures and cold weather. You can feed them the foods that you feed to your other chicken breeds. Don’t overfeed the laying hens. By overfeeding your laying hens, they will be fatty which will reduce their egg production rate. This happens much for Australorp chickens.

Temperament

As I have told before, Australorps are very gentle and well behaved. I think this is the main reason of why most of the backyard poultry keepers like them. Both hens and roosters are calm, quiet, friendly and it’s very easy to handle them. They are very suitable for both confined and free range chicken keeping methods. But ensure that your flock is not overcrowded in confined system. Don’t keep Australorps and other aggressive chicken breeds in the same coop. Because they can be injured by the other aggressive breeds. Instead make a separate coop or room inside the coop for them.

Australorp chickens are beautiful, calm and friendly breeds and very suitable for raising in your backyard as pets or for meat and egg production purpose. If you don’t have some Black Australorps in your flock, try to have some. And I am sure that, you will love them and they will definitely make you happy.