George & Rita

Australorp is short for "Australian Laying Orpingtons." The egg laying performance of Australorps attracted world attention when in 1922-23 a team of six hens set a world record of 1857 eggs at an average of 309.5 eggs per hen for a 365 consecutive day trial. Autralorps are black with iridescent blue-green tips on their feathers. Australorp eggs are light brown in color. They are very docile, making great pets. Ours are not fazed at all by the presence of the dogs and will eat out of our hands. I named George after the Abominable Snow Rabbit cartoon where he says: "I will love him and hug him and squeeze him and call him George." I've been waiting to name a pet George for years. My husband picked Rita, because he likes the name.

Updated on 8/20/07

Thanks for visiting George & Rita's page!

August 2007

We definitely have at least one hen, as this morning our very first egg appeared in the coop! It's pretty small, but in my understanding the first few eggs laid will be on the small side. Here's the first egg cracked open - gorgeous bright yellow yolk! It was very small, so I used it to coat chicken tenderloins.

Since we bought our chickens unsexed, it's been a waiting game to make sure we didn't buy a rooster or two! We can't tell whether it was George or Rita who laid it,but since George looks quite a bit more mature than Rita in comb development, it was probably her.

June 2007

George and Rita are our two new Australorp Chickens. They're about two and half months old right now. It's too soon to tell whether either is a rooster, so one or both may end up getting traded in for new versions of themselves in the fall. If they're hens (which most likely they are), they should begin laying in September or October.

So far, George & Rita show an inordinate fondness for Craisins. They also like the alpine strawberries that grow almost wild in my garden, windfall rasperries, and alfalfa sprouts. Their main feed is a generic chicken seed blend from the local feed store.

After we got George and Rita home, they lived in the dog's x-pen until we could build them a home. We built a chicken tractor, and a slide show of the process can be found here.

Stay tuned for more chicken stories!!