Buckeye Breed Thread

[SteveH]

deleted by author with an apology for wandering off topic

 

[sekinkead]

Thanks for the great information Chris. I love reading your posts, I learn so much from them. I am still new to poultry in general and you know I got my cockerel from you. I must say that I absolutely love him. He is so sweet to the pullet that I also got from the Ohio National, but he is fiesty in the mornings.

I also got a trio of bantam Buckeye's and the girls absolutely love the cockerel I got from Chris. They snuggle up next to him at night on the roost. I need to get a picture and post it for all of you.

So I have some questions that you more knowlegable Buckeye breeders could answer. None of my Buckeye's have laid an egg in about 7 days, neither my 1 LF pullet or my 2 bantam pullets. Is that normal? They all act fine, no mites or anything. I keep their coop clean, give them fresh water daily and plenty of food. I know they are not prolific layers but I would think 3 or so eggs a week? Does it change when it gets cold and with less daylight? I am not worried about lots of eggs. I have other chickens that I keep just for eggs, but want to make sure they are ok.

As for breeding, I have the pair I got at the Ohio National and I ordered a dozen hatching eggs from Laura which are due 1/1/2010. I guess it would depend on how many pullets and cockerels I get and how they turn out before I can decide my next breeding step right? I had also thought about getting some eggs from JamesA to really get me started.

My kids want to show the Buckeye's and are very supportive of helping to better the breed and get more people interested in them, which is what I want to do to. I just want to make sure I learn all I can from you guys and to make sure I get off to a good start.

 

[CARS]

Quote:
I've had a mixed flock for the last few years, and yes. Short days and cold temps really effect my birds. I have a light in the coop that is on a timer to help with the daylight shortage. I up the protein in the feed by a couple %. And that seems to help. Some still don't lay like they should, but who can blame them. It's cold out there!

I've tried to pick breeds that tolerate the cold temps, but tolerate and thrive are two different things

 

[Pathfinders]

Laying is directly impacted by the length of the day. Since today is the Solstice, it is the day when there is the least amount of light per day. As the days lengthen, you should see your birds begin to lay more frequently.

As well, cold weather takes calories to keep the birds warm, which are then not expended on laying eggs. Some people do put lights on their birds to keep them laying 'year round, but my feeling is, since chickens only have X number of eggs they will ever lay in their lifetimes, I don't like to shorten their usable lives, so I don't put lights on the large fowl (I do with some of the bantams.)

Just give them a bit of time, when the days get noticeably longer and the temps warmer, you'll get more eggs.

 

[cgmccary]

Yes, ditto what both CARS (Christopher) & Pathfinders (Laura) say about the short days. Today, being the shortest day of the year, is when you expect most, if not all laying to have stopped. I am down to getting about 3-5 Buckeye eggs a day at this point from 21 hens (19 of them Buckeye; my Buff Orp stopped laying a couple of months ago and well, my Bantam OEG, she's at least 5 y.o. and lays maybe 60-70 eggs a year now, if that & goes broody a lot). There is an older Buckeye hen or two that are still laying an egg every other day and need to go ahead and have their molt.

Pathfinders: Some people do put lights on their birds to keep them laying 'year round, but my feeling is, since chickens only have X number of eggs they will ever lay in their lifetimes, I don't like to shorten their usable lives, so I don't put lights on the large fowl (I do with some of the bantams.)

Me too, I feel the same way as Laura about this matter. I don't put a light to come on to increase the day as I like to let the hen to get natural rest-- this is just my personal preference. I wonder if their egg laying in later years will profit from the natural rest. My common sense tells me it should. The hen replenishes her body during this time. I am also happy when my pullets lay at a later age & not the bare minimum because they seem to grow bigger & stronger before their first lay. My hens are large compared with a lot of the others I see. An older hen lays a large egg and from such a egg, should come a strong chick, my thinking-- and why I like breeding with 2-3 year old hens. Pullet eggs are always most vigorous on the hatching though.

I am glad, Sekinkead, that the cockerel is nice to the pullet. He probably appreciates her because I kept him isolated for weeks before the show & as I indicated before, he was at the top of the pecking order in the pen with the other males. he also always weighed the most. Some of my males have had a tendency to get most feisty in their first Spring & they become most protective of their hens. I'd love to see a picture of the large Buckeyes next to the bantam hens-- don't think we have any such pictures floating around anywhere that I've seen. Be careful as I have seen a 9 lb Buckeye rooster try and cover my less than a pound OEG hen. I've had to go over to knock him off to save her life.​

 

[jenjscott]

Quote:
Hey Chris, congratulations on that "president" behind your name.

Laura, do we call you Madam Secretary?

 

[JamesA]

Quote:
Hey Chris, congratulations on that "president" behind your name.

Laura, do we call you Madam Secretary?

Double congatulations from me to Chris and Laura.I feel honored to have birds from Chris's line and me and Roy to be keeping your roo's for you.I am going to do my best to help keep improving these great birds! I feel lucky to have such a great start with buckeyes and I hope with my pullets being line breed back to their parents we will have some great birds this spring.

 

[cgmccary]

Thanks. You are all way too kind. Yvonna took some pictures and sent them to me of the Best of Breed Cockerel -- thought ya'll might like to see him; some aspects are superb-- his shape (type), tail angle, his comb; all of them carried themselves well, like he does-- looks a lot like yours, doesn't he JamesA???:

 

[CARS]

I want to thank everyone for this thread. Whether you asked a question or answered the question, it has been a great thread. THANK YOU!

My plan for the future is to go with the Buckeye's and Hollands. My egg customer's like the brown and white eggs. I want to get away from a mixed flock. I want to have a self sustaining flock. Not necessarily a closed flock, but one that is consistent. Maybe that is too much to ask but I really think from reading and re-reading about buckeyes that I am making a good choice to achieve that goal. I may still screw it all up but at least I know it's probably not the bird's fault

These Buckeye's HAVE to be better than the McMurry exotic assortment I have... Not the breeds or hatchery's fault by any means. They just aren't for me. I like docile, useful birds

 

[JamesA]

Quote:
If you put him with my three I do not think I could pick him out.They all three look so close and look almost identical to Yvonna's roo.If you put your hands on them you can tell that one of mine sticks out a little more than the other two but they all 3 are super! I just set some eggs from these roo's father and sisters.I am wanting to get enough chicks to have plenty to pick from later in the spring.Thanks again for you and Roy giving me such a great start.I love reading and taking in all of the information you and Laura provide on this thread and others.