Buff Orpingtons vs Australorps: Same Roots, Different Hens

Pick the Australorp if eggs come first and you’d like fewer broody hens. Pick the Buff Orpington if you want a bigger, softer bird that’ll probably sit on a nest of eggs for you. Turns out they’re close kin, too. Australorps were bred in Australia out of Black Orpingtons, so you’re really choosing between one old English breed pulled two different ways.

I rewrote this page from 18 sources, and you’ll find every one at the bottom. I took the breed facts from The Livestock Conservancy and from the breed pages of three hatcheries that sell both birds (McMurray, Meyer, Cackle). Seven university extension services cover history and care, and the CDC covers kids. Those hatcheries don’t agree with each other, and weirdly, a couple of them don’t agree with themselves, so I’ll tell you whose number each one is.

A word on the photos. Only the black hen at the top is an Australorp, going by her photographer, in a backyard run in 2012. No free photo of a Buff Orpington passed our photo checks. So the gold hens further down, the broody one included, are Saxon chickens, an old German breed, from one keeper’s yard in Germany, and so is the black hen at the end. The chicks are Saxon and Krüper chicks, the barred hen is a Dominique, and the eggs are just eggs.

The short version.

• Same roots. Australorps came from Black Orpingtons shipped to Australia between 1890 and about 1900, then bred there for laying.
• Size. A Buff Orpington hen runs about 8 pounds and an Australorp hen about 6.5, so the Buff is roughly 23 percent heavier by my math.
• Eggs. Every hatchery that rates both puts the Australorp level or ahead. One of them says 226 eggs a year in its chart and 281 to 365 in its answers on the same page.
• Broody. Everybody calls the Buff broody. On the Australorp, the pages run all the way from “No” to “Yes.”
• Weather. Both get called cold hardy. In summer the black bird needs shade, and so does the big fluffy one.
• Kids. Both get called calm and good with children, but the CDC says yours shouldn’t handle poultry at all if they’re under 5.

One Black Orpington, Two Breeds

It starts with a coachman named William Cook in Orpington, a town in Kent. Going by The Livestock Conservancy, he crossed Minorca roosters with Black Plymouth Rock hens, crossed their offspring with clean-legged Langshans, and put his new bird before the public in 1886. Illinois Extension agrees the first Orpington was a black one. Buff came later, and the American Poultry Association took the Buff Orpington into its Standard of Perfection in 1902.

Meanwhile, Black Orpingtons from Cook’s yard and from Joseph Partington’s went to Australia between 1890 and about 1900. English breeders were pushing the Orpington toward the dinner table. Australians wanted eggs, so they bred for laying and crossed in other breeds, White Leghorn among them. The Conservancy says the result “little resembled the Orpingtons bred in other countries.” Five main bloodlines came out of that work, and the Conservancy says they were “all bred to eliminate broodiness.” Hang on to that line, because you’ll see it again. The name Australorp settled in during the early 1920s, and the APA recognized the breed in 1929.

Illinois Extension sums it up in one sentence: “The Australorp is a production bred Australian Black Orpington, noted for its splendid egg production.” So when you set these two side by side, you’re looking at one family after more than a century of wanting different things from it. That black hen up top is the only bird on this page whose photographer called it an Australorp.

The Egg Numbers Don’t Agree

Here’s what each source says you’ll get from a hen in a year, in its own terms.

• The Livestock Conservancy, Australorp: “A backyard Australorp lays 250+ tinted to light brown, medium/large eggs a year.” It gives the Orpington no yearly number.
• McMurray, Australorp: 226 a year in its quick-stats chart. Its own Q&A (yes, on that same page) says “an estimated 281-365 eggs per year.”
• McMurray, Buff Orpington: production rated “good” against the Australorp’s “best,” with no average. Asked how many eggs a Buff lays in her life, it answers “Sorry, we do not have that information.”
• Cackle: 250 to 280 for the Australorp and 150 to 280 for the Buff, both marked “estimates only.”
• Meyer: 4 to 6 eggs a week for both breeds.
• University of Tennessee Extension’s Chick Chain sheet from Roane County: about 200 a year for the Buff. It doesn’t list the Australorp.

So every page that rates both puts the Australorp level or ahead. But no two of them agree on how far, and that’s pretty much the whole story on eggs. That 365 has a history. In Australia’s laying contests, the Conservancy says, a pen of six Australorp hens at Geelong laid 1,857 eggs in 365 days in 1922-23, or 309.5 apiece, and one hen later laid 364 in 365 days. Those were contest birds a century ago, not the pullets you’ll pick up at the feed store. I’d plan around the Conservancy’s 250-plus and Cackle’s 250 to 280, and count anything past that as luck.

Start of lay doesn’t line up either, from what I read. Meyer says 15 to 20 weeks for the Australorp and 20 to 24 for the Buff, while McMurray says 5 to 6 months for the Australorp and 5 to 7 for the Buff. As for the egg, the Conservancy calls the Australorp’s “tinted to light brown,” medium to large. Meyer lists large to extra large brown for both, and Georgia’s extension sheet says medium for the Australorp and large to medium for the Orpington. Cackle adds a line worth keeping: “a bigger hen does not always lay a bigger egg.” There’s more on a laying hen’s year in our post on Rhode Island Red egg production.

Broody Is the Real Split

A broody hen sits tight on a nest and quits laying. If you want chicks without an incubator, that’s a gift. If you want eggs in the fridge, it’s a nuisance.

On the Buff, nobody hedges. McMurray rates her “extremely likely” to sit and calls Buffs “excellent setters.” Meyer says “very broody,” Cackle’s chart just says “Setter,” and Georgia’s sheet calls Orpington hens “excellent mothers.”

On the Australorp? Honestly, the pages are all over the place.

• McMurray: “not very likely” to sit.
• Cackle: “Broody: No” in the chart, then “They may go broody” in its answers further down that page.
• Meyer: “Broody: Yes.”
• The Livestock Conservancy: the old bloodlines were bred to get rid of broodiness, yet today’s birds “are generally considered good sitters and mothers.”

One buyer’s review on McMurray’s Australorp page says almost all ten of their birds went broody. That’s one flock, sure. Still, I wouldn’t take “not very likely” to the bank if I were you.

Arizona’s extension service spells out what a broody spell costs you. She stops laying, she may sit for 3 to 6 weeks if you leave her be, she can lose a lot of weight, and in summer she’s at risk of heat stroke. To break her, Arizona suggests a “broody jail,” a wire-bottomed crate with food and water but nowhere to nest, usually for 3 to 7 days. Cackle’s FAQ says about the same thing, a wire cage in the light for 3 to 5 days. The hen in that photo is a Saxon, and her photographer says she hatched those two chicks herself. That’s the job a Buff Orpington is known for.

How Big They Get and What They Eat

I found the same figures for the Buff Orpington in four places. Hens weigh 8 pounds and roosters 10, going by the Conservancy and all three hatcheries. For the Australorp, the Conservancy agrees with Meyer and Cackle on 6.5 pounds for a hen and 8.5 for a rooster. McMurray’s chart says 5.5 and 8 (it’s the odd one out), and its write-up gives pullets 5 to 7 pounds while calling Australorps “very large birds.” The Conservancy calls them “medium-weight.” Going by the common figures, a Buff hen carries 1.5 pounds more than an Australorp hen, about 23 percent, by my math.

The thing is, she looks even bigger than that. Meyer says Buffs get called “Big Buffs” because they’re “loosely feathered and appear to be heavier than their true weight,” and Tennessee’s sheet says nearly the same. Illinois Extension traces that loose feathering to Cochin blood in some early Orpington strains. By contrast, the Conservancy describes the Australorp’s feathers as “fairly close-fitting.”

Bigger birds eat more. Kentucky’s feed guide says “Typically the larger the chicken the more feed they eat,” and that brown-egg hens, being bigger than the commercial white-egg strains, eat more feed. It doesn’t give a number for either of these breeds, so I won’t make one up. Both handle a pen, with a catch. The Conservancy says Australorps do fine in confinement if they also get some foraging, and warns that “If they are kept only in confinement, they may get fat.” Cackle says Buffs often tolerate confinement better than more active breeds, given enough room and clean bedding.

We did the same weigh-up for the Rhode Island Red against the Buff Orpington, and for the Buff Orpington against the Buff Rock, if one of those is on your list too.

Winter Combs and Summer Shade

Cold is where these two agree. Meyer calls both “Hardy in all climates.” McMurray rates the Australorp’s cold tolerance “best” and the Buff’s “excellent,” and says the Buff’s full plumage makes her an excellent winter layer. Georgia’s sheet says both can take cold temperatures. If you’ve got hard winters, neither breed is a bad pick by any page I read.

Both carry a single comb, though. That’s the part that freezes. Dr. Jacquie Jacob of the University of Kentucky writes that frostbite becomes a problem at “single digits and below,” mostly at night in a cold, poorly ventilated coop with damp bedding. Combs and wattles go first, and roosters get it most because their combs are bigger. If it happens to one of yours, warm the spot slowly and skip the hair dryer or heat lamp. She also points out that heat lamps are a potential fire hazard. Her real fix is your coop itself, kept dry with enough ventilation, and our post on coop insulation has more on that.

Heat is where they split, and not cleanly. The Conservancy says that “Due to their black color,” Australorps do best with plenty of shade in warm weather. Cackle says dark feathers absorb heat. Meyer, though, says the breed is known for heat hardiness and for laying on through hot weather. I’d call McMurray’s answer to a buyer in central Florida the middle ground. Give them plenty of shade and water, it says, and they should do fine. The Buff has her own summer problem. Cackle says her big body and full feathering make shade and airflow “especially important during hot weather.”

A Mississippi State Extension story from June 2026 lists panting and drooping wings as the first signs of heat stress in chickens. A hen knocked off laying by heat could take a month to get back to normal, so you don’t want to let it get that far. Poultry specialist Jessica Wells says to keep shade available all day, add ventilation, and give them “drinking water that is cooler than the air temperature.”

Calm Birds and the Pecking Order

The old version of this page called Australorps flighty and bossy. Nope. None of the sources I read says anything like that.

• The Livestock Conservancy calls the Australorp “Active, yet gentle” and “friendly (even the roosters),” a good breed for kids who show in 4-H.
• McMurray says Australorps “are quiet, gentle, and stand confinement well.”
• Meyer calls them docile, quiet birds that are great for handling and children.
• Cackle says they’re “usually not as flighty as many lighter breeds.”

Buffs get the same praise. Georgia calls the Orpington “the big friendly bird,” Meyer says Buffs are “the perfect breed for children,” and McMurray calls them “large, stately birds of quiet disposition.” Georgia adds a catch, though. Its sheet says Orpington hens are so easily handled that they get “easily bullied.”

That matters if you’re mixing breeds, and it’s a bit of a worry with a big gentle bird. Penn State warns that “Mixing different ages and sizes of poultry or birds with different traits may promote pecking.” When you bring in new birds, it says to split the pen with a wire wall for at least a week, add the newcomers to the perch at night, and watch. It also lists 2 square feet a bird for large breeds from 16 weeks on, to keep crowding from turning into pecking. Our posts on pens versus runs and roost ideas cover the room side of it. The barred hen in that photo is a Dominique, going by her photographer, sharing one run with a black hen and a buff one.

Calm or not, the CDC says not to let children younger than 5 handle chicks or other poultry, because young kids are more likely to get sick from germs like Salmonella. Keep an eye on your older kids around the flock, and have everyone wash with soap and running water afterward.

What Comes in the Chick Box

Buff Orpington chicks are yellow. Meyer lists the chick color as yellow, with legs that are orange while they’re chicks. McMurray calls the down “a soft light buff color,” and Tennessee’s sheet says “light buff or straw colored throughout.”

Australorp chicks are black with white. McMurray describes them as “black with a good deal of white in the underparts and small white patches around the head and wings.” Meyer says their feathers have white tips from hatch until they’re grown, and Cackle says a few white feathers in the first two featherings are normal, with solid black by about 6 months. So if you see white on a young Australorp, don’t worry.

None of the pages I read says you can tell pullets from cockerels in these two breeds by the color of their down. Cackle lists 85 to 90 percent gender accuracy for both, and its FAQ guarantees female chicks at 90 percent and suggests you plan for up to 10 percent males. If roosters aren’t allowed where you live, have a plan for one. On October 26, 2026, McMurray charged $7.15 a chick for one to five pullets of either breed, and Meyer showed $4.72 on both pages, sold out that day.

The chicks in the photo are Saxon (the yellow ones) and Krüper (the black ones), 25 days old, standing in for the two colors you’d unpack.

So, Which One?

Here’s how I’d sort it, going by what you want from the flock.

• Choose the Australorp if eggs are the point. Every hatchery that rates both puts her level or ahead, and she’s the lighter bird to feed.
• Choose the Buff Orpington if you’d like a hen to hatch chicks for you, or a bigger bird for the table. McMurray suggests butchering Buffs at 16 to 20 weeks.
• Either one works if you’ve got kids and cold winters. Both get called calm, and both are rated cold hardy.
• In a hot summer, either one needs shade and cool water, the black one especially.

And if you can’t decide, the Conservancy says Australorps “do well with other breeds with like temperament,” and every breed page I read calls the Buff calm or docile, so your coop can hold both. One last thing about that black hen, since I promised to be straight about the photos. She’s a Saxon, not an Australorp, and her white earlobe gives her away. The Conservancy and Meyer both give the Australorp red earlobes.

Sources

• The Livestock Conservancy: Australorp Chicken.
• The Livestock Conservancy: Orpington Chickens.
• Murray McMurray Hatchery: Black Australorp (prices read October 26, 2026).
• Murray McMurray Hatchery: Buff Orpingtons (prices read October 26, 2026).
• Meyer Hatchery: Black Australorp Day Old Chicks.
• Meyer Hatchery: Buff Orpington Day Old Chicks.
• Cackle Hatchery: Black Australorp.
• Cackle Hatchery: Buff Orpington.
• Cackle Hatchery: FAQs.
• University of Georgia Cooperative Extension: Which Breed of Chicken Should I Put in My Backyard Flock? (PDF, January 2009).
• University of Tennessee Extension, Roane County: Learn About Your Chick Chain Options (PDF).
• University of Illinois Extension: History of Breeds.
• University of Kentucky: How Much Will My Chickens Eat? (ASC-191, PDF).
• Jacquie Jacob, University of Kentucky, on the Poultry Extension site: Frostbite in Chickens.
• University of Arizona Cooperative Extension: Nine Common Reasons Your Hens Aren’t Laying (az2186).
• Penn State Extension: Poultry Cannibalism Prevention and Treatment.
• Mississippi State University Extension: Protect backyard chickens, livestock from extreme heat (June 16, 2026).
• CDC: Backyard Poultry.

Sources checked October 26, 2026. The 1.5-pound gap and the 23 percent are my math from the weights the Conservancy and the hatcheries give. Prices change, and those are the day’s. We aren’t vets. If a hen looks sick, call a vet who sees poultry.

Related read: How to Raise Chickens for Eggs — Instant PDF download. Secure checkout by Stripe