Australorp chickens are of Australian origin noted for their large size, moderately large and upright single comb with five distinct combs, black legs and beak, and white toenails. As of now there are two recognized colors by the Australian Poultry Standard, black and blue, though a third color, white, is recognized by the Australorp Club of Australia. In 1929, it was officially recognized by the American Poultry Association, but is found in only one variety - black.
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The Australorp is a hardy yet docile breed of chicken that has an ability to lay an average of 250 light-brown eggs per year. The breed made history in 1923 when six Australorp hens set a world record of 1857 eggs (average of 309.5 per hen) in a 365 consecutive day trial.
Australorps were born out of the Black Orpington chickens of William Cook and Joseph Partington imported to Australia between 1890 and 1900. The Black Orpingtons were used together with out-crossings of Minorca, White Leghorn and Langshan blood to result into what were called then as Australian Black Orpingtons (Austral-orp).
Like many other breeds of chicken, the Australorp also comes in both standard and bantam size. In standard size, males weigh around 8.5 lbs while females around 6.5 lbs.