# Black Orpingtons or Australorps?



## jellybeaner

Hey guys! So we've had these chickens almost a week and the previous owners told us the two black ones were black orpingtons but after looking at pictures online I'm thinking they look more like Australorps to me. What say ye?


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## MistyV

To me they look soooo much alike. From google images, to me the orpingtons look to be a bit fluffier, so I can see why you would question it. They both lay brown eggs too, I'd personally just take her word for it.


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## Roslyn

Those are Astralorps. Orpingtons are super, duper, super fluffy


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## HomeSkillet

For what it's worth, they look just like my black Austrolorps.... but I'm no expert.


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## AlexTS113

Definetly australorps!


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## 7chicks

Looks just like my Lilah! Australorp.


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## farmhand

My vote is they are defiantly most surely quite probably "maybe" Australorps.


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## 7chicks

Okay, dug out my book of chicken breeds. Says: Australorp is an abbreviation of Australian Black Orpington. Result from stock birds imported into UK from Australia around 1920's and crossed with the Black Orpington. Also says they are not good fliers which Lilah has proved that wrong more than a few times. Couldn't find her one evening and in a panic running around the yard and even checking inside the house calling for her. Little snot saw me run right past her at least 3 times calling and never said a word! She was teetering on top of my flannel jacket hanging in the entrance. Being we stack our inside wood stove wood right there, the rack is hung extra high at around 6 feet. Ya, she flew up there!


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## VIVI

Very nice Australorps you have there. I really enjoy mine, lots of brown eggs. 

VIVI


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## farmhand

7chicks said:


> Okay, dug out my book of chicken breeds. Says:  Australorp is an abbreviation of Australian Black Orpington. Result from stock birds imported into UK from Australia around 1920's and crossed with the Black Orpington.


Now let me see if I have this correct. A Australorp is really a black Orpington????


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## HomeSkillet

7chicks said:


> Looks just like my Lilah! Australorp.


Who's the pretty bird on the right?


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## Roslyn

farmhand said:


> Now let me see if I have this correct. A Australorp is really a black Orpington????


Not really. People took the black orpington from the Bristish Isles and went to Australia. Once there, they bred these birds to their own specifications, since the bird was being called the Australian Black Orpington they renamed the new resulting breed/type the Austral-Orp to shorten and make more of a distinction between the two.

Related, but not the same.

It's a similar story to the New Hampshire Red. People took the existing Rhode Island Red to New Hampshire and bred it for their own purposes and the resulting bird is the New Hampshire. They are related, but now have their own different breeds.

Chickens breed and mature quickly, so they can be bred for specific needs within a shorter period of time and characteristics can be bred out, or improved upon either changing the existing breed or tweeking certain things like egg laying or broodyness.


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## Energyvet

That info was in Storeys book too, me thinks.


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## farmhand

Roslyn said:


> ...It's a similar story to the New Hampshire Red. People took the existing Rhode Island Red to New Hampshire and bred it for their own purposes and the resulting bird is the New Hampshire...


The story I heard was that New Hampshire people got tired of hearing about how great the Rhode Island Red was...


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## whitetail98

Yes I would definitely say that those black chickens are blk astrolopes. Orpingtons are very large, broad, square-shaped chickens and the ones you have pictured are slender. I have Orpingtons so I've included a pic of what they look like so you can compare:


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## jellybeaner

Thanks everyone! Based on pictures I was really thinking they were australopes so I'm glad you all agree. What do their eggs look like? I know they'll have brown eggs but today I got two brown eggs but one was speckled and the other egg one uniform color. We've had the hens for about a week and a half and today we got 4 eggs, two white and two brown! I'm excited they're starting to lay!


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## CrazyBirdLady12

They are Australorps. Orpingtons are really really puffy.


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