Variety:
Black.
Standard
Weights: Cock-8-1/2 pounds; hen-6-1/2 pounds; cockerel-7-1/2 pounds;
pullet-5-1/2 pounds.
Skin
Color: White.
Egg
Shell Color: Brown.
Use:
Generally a very good egg producer with a fairly meaty body of intermediate
size.
Origin:
The Australorp was developed in Australia from Black Orpington stock. It is
smaller than the Orpington with a trimmer appearance.
Characteristics:
Australorps have intense beetle-green sheen on the black birds, dark eyes, deep
bodies and are very active. They are one of the best dual-purpose fowls, having
gained attention in the 1930s and '40s by being one side of the successful
AustaWhite cross. This cross of Australorp x White Leghorn became the successor
to purebred breeds on many Midwestern farms. Broodiness was a problem with the
cross and some markets discounted the tinted eggs they laid. Therefore, it soon
fell victim to the inbred hybrid crosses of "Hyline" and "DeKalb."
Australorps are good egg producers and hold the world's record for egg
production with one hen having laid 364 eggs in 365 days under official
Australian trapnest testing.
Reference:
Chicken
Breeds and Varieties (A2880), John L. Skinner, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Photographs:
Watt Publishing, 122 S. Wesley Ave., Mt. Morris, IL 61054 USA
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