BUCKEYES- a Lively, Gentle, Dual Purpose DIscussion Thread

[Fosmorefarm]

I did a search for chris and Buckeye chickens but I did not gat anything, just the BYC post that you mentioned him in. Where is he located?

 

[knittychickadee]

I did a search for chris and Buckeye chickens but I did not gat anything, just the BYC post that you mentioned him in. Where is he located?

Chris McCary is on the Buckeye breeder list found on the link in my signature, at the top of the list (in Alabama). He is also active on the Buckeye facebook group if you do Facebook and a link to that is on the bottom right of the page.

 

[Fosmorefarm]

I found I, I had the wrong spelling.
thanks

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Arielle how is your Buckeye flock doing? I am just starting out this year. I have 2 groups, one is around 16 weeks old, the other 8. Love them!

 

[Arielle]

Sorry about the misspelling of Chris' name--

I rather like the buckeyes. Kind to people, stand their ground with the new pup and put him in his place. The red is a rich chestnut and very pretty to look at. Have survived the coyote and hawks that thrive in this area -- my males free range. ( the girls have been cooped to keep safe and for breeding.)

I am appreciating the lower egg numbers, as I don't need an egg a day, and this allowes for more grazing and natural food gathering to meet their nutritional needs. Getting enough protein and calcium a day seems to be the limiting factors in -egg -a-day production. I'm starting to rethink all the corn, and soy and who knows what is in their pellets from the feed store as the labeling has become very broad.

I'm working toward more self sufficiency with the primary idea of better quality food into the birds to get better quality food out. High production is NOT my goal, but high quality food is my goal.

The buckeyes seem to be hardy.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Sounds great! it's good that you like your Buckeyes. I think they are an excellent all-around breed too. I feed mine pellets but mine free range, and I feed other goodies too. I did feed mine higher protein when they were chicks, 28% for the first three weeks then 23% until 18 weeks. These free range and get oats and millet, so their protein intake is less, but I was concerned that if I fed lower protein and then cut that with free ranging and oats and millet, it would be too low. I am pleased with how my chickens look and didn't seem to have any trouble with the higher protein feed.

 

[Arielle]

I too fet the higher p rotein when they were chicks.

All my adults are over 1 1/2 years old now so they get what they get. Figure their crop is big enough to fill up with all they need as their protein requirement is much less as adults.

THe boys are interesting. THey live in one big coop, then cant disperse fast tnough to their own little piece of property. Rather funny really. Each has their own property staked out and they defend their claim. THen at dusk they troop back into the coop together. lol

I think all the hens have stopped laying. Hmm. At least one hen stopped last week. ANd in the pen of 5 hens I get 3 eggs a day. Havent looked to see if all the hens are actuallly still laying, just on alternate schedules.

Love the shape of the eggs. More pointy, and shorter, than all my other egg layers.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

That's interesting, the Buckeye hatching eggs I got were long and skinny, torpedo shaped. The dark cornish hatching eggs were shaped like your Buckeye eggs. I'm still waiting for eggs, mine are still a bit too young.

 

[Arielle]

Remind me. Where did u purchase your buckeyes ?

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I have two groups, one from New Brunswick and the other from a breeder here in Ontario. The longest eggs were from Ontario. When I was checking for failed hatches, it seemed to me that the Buckeye egg yolks were very large for the size of the egg. so that bodes well for my future laying flock, which I'd like for eggs rather than meat.