Attracted To Australorps

After two decades of breeding and showing, Ian Simpson and his daughter Louise are now the joint secretaries of the Australorp Breed Club

Poultry goes back a long way in the Simpson household. Ian’s father Ivan ran an egg-producing operation from the family farm, which was begun in 1954 and which Ian and his wife Margaret took over in 1989. But due to increasing competition from supermarket chains, the hybrid layers went in favour of diversification; letting out the ‘newly vacant’ poultry buildings to local businesses. Ian still sells eggs, but buys them in from a supplier these days.

Ian and his daughter Louise (now Carpenter) have been breeding and showing Australorps for over two decades and they are currently the joint Australorp Breed Club secretaries.

Australorps were given their title after some British Orpingtons exported to Australia were bred to have outstanding utility qualities. Of course, they lost some of the signature ‘abundance of feather’ in the process, but we Brits were so impressed with them that we imported some back, now under the name of Australian Orpingtons shortened to Austral-orps (or ‘Aussies’ as they are affectionately known over here).

As you may expect, the Australorps are still good layers and the order book is always full. According to Louise, people always want the large Blacks, but particularly the females with their hardiness and laying attributes. It’s not hard to see why – they are truly beautiful in the flesh with their iridescent beetle-green sheen plumage.