Recent content by BlackBriars

I've had injuries just like yours Opie. They were caused by reaching into a hole where the arm barely fits in an attempt to retrieve something. Not by some noble struggle to save your pet chicken from a Bobcat that makes it's living by inflicting major damage quickly.

Thanks both of you. I will post pics of them and we can all pick them apart together!

Brandy and Emmy Roo. Once you leave my immediate yard, there is brush, woods and old overgrown fields in every direction. It is basically the wild west beyond 50 feet from my front door. There are coyotes, racoon, opossum, bobcat, wild boar (feral hogs), snakes and rodents abundant, yet...

Beautiful chicks. I ordered 50 hatchery Ancona pullets along with 50 Penedesenca pullets to free range. They are scheduled to arrive June 10.

I just read this entire thread. A few days ago I decided to add a substantial number of thrifty, free ranging egg layers to my flock of Buckeyes. I wanted white and brown egg layers. The terrain here is pretty wild and wooly with the only open grass area immediate being my yard. The rest...

Beautiful Birds! I want some...

I'd put chick #2 firmly in the pullet camp. Leaning cockerel on #1. I'd toss'em a bag of turkey grower.

I have 10 month old hatchery Buckeyes. At 6.5 months I butchered the smallest cockerel and a pullet. He was noticeably smaller than the other cockerels and made the leanest chicken carcass I've ever seen. It was akin to wild game in fat content and weighed 5lb 7 oz. dressed. He free ranged...

To me, these are the most impressive Buckeye pics I've seen. Beautiful birds that illustrate the hidden potential of the breed.

Thank you. Yes, #3 in the background. I'm thinking at this point, #1 or bust as far as breeding, and even then, he may be a poor choice. I really need to find a good cockerel so I have some options. How old should my pullets be before hatching eggs from them?

Yes, this is the bird I think much superior to the others at this point. This is cockerel #1. Cockerel #2 was very slow to feather, and has a slighter build with less width and breast development. Cockerel #3 is smaller yet with even less bulk, he is the one with the comb issue.

Thank you CB. Try these Minniechickmama.

I will try to get those tomorrow. There are some pics about 5 pages back but the birds, they are changing.

The sun is glaring off his eye making it look weird. His legs have turned really red. His bad girls drinking from a mud hole. Again sun glare on the eye.

Well, that takes him off the menu for Christmas! I better build some more pens. Thanks Minniechickmama. I want to breed as close to standard as my little flocks genetics will allow. I will try to get some good pics of cockerel #1. I think he may be a winner.