Lacona, New York, United States
Posted Oct 20, 2016
The first decent egg-laying birds we bought were a mixed flock of Rhode Island Red and Black Australorp pullets. We put them into our rolling chicken coop, which was built on the frame of a farm wagon and had a short coop above and a fenced yard below. Every day we rolled it onto new grass so the hens could have a fresh clean space to forage in while also being protected from predators and kept out of our gardens.
Both the Reds and the Australorps were healthy, decently productive, and enthusiastic in scratching up their yard and also eating whatever bugs and food scraps we had to spare. But the Reds couldn't seem to figure out how to get up through the hatchway and into their coop in the evening. They'd perch on the frame below it and seem unhappy. The Australorps, on the other hand, figured it out and flew right on up. When those hens grew old and we bought in a new batch of Rhode Island Red and Buff Orpinton pullets, we left one older Australorp in with them to show them how to get into their house at night. It worked, eventually.
We also noticed that the Australorps had good winter egg production and extremely calm temperaments; they didn't tend to bully the other hens or to peck us.