Good stock, small size. Looking to quickly increase size

[goodb]

I have decent stock of Buckeyes that looks-wise is good. I've noticed however they are small size-wise and would like to increase that quickly. I'm looking to do this through a line of Red Ranger broilers. Would my goal be better achieved by using a male over my Buckeye hens OR females under my Buckeye rooster?

I also have 3 dark cornish pullets I have available for the same purpose. They are smaller than I hoped so thought I'd consider mixing in the Red Rangers. I have never intentionally crossed breeds before so thought I'd rely on others experiences to make a wise decision.

Thank you in advance,
Bryan

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Find Buckeye stock that is of standard size to breed into existing flock or replace existing stock. Otherwise selective breed for size.

You're asking for a world of trouble attempting to gain back the proper feather color and other Buckeye attributes if out cross is used.

 

[Gray Farms]

Find better Buckeyes to improve yours. Don't cross them. It takes forever to get them pure again. Check out this website www.americanbuckeyepoultryclub.com, they show a breeder listing page. That may help you find some better/larger stock.

How much smaller are yours than the APA standard?

 

[nicalandia]

I have decent stock of Buckeyes that looks-wise is good. I've noticed however they are small size-wise and would like to increase that quickly. I'm looking to do this through a line of Red Ranger broilers. Would my goal be better achieved by using a male over my Buckeye hens OR females under my Buckeye rooster?

I also have 3 dark cornish pullets I have available for the same purpose. They are smaller than I hoped so thought I'd consider mixing in the Red Rangers. I have never intentionally crossed breeds before so thought I'd rely on others experiences to make a wise decision.

Thank you in advance,
Bryan

Stay with the Buck eyes, cull hard and I mean really hard for body weight at 8 weeks of age and eventually you will end up with Giants, that is how a close line of White Rocks from Virginia Tech now grows broiler sized White rocks that obtain about 5 pounds at 8 weeks of age.

 

[nicalandia]

but if you must use the red broilers, dont use the males as they carry the recessive dwarf gene inherited from their dame(sex linked, the dames are dwarves to increase production per square meter of breeding floor, eat less and produce more chicks)..

 

[goodb]

Find Buckeye stock that is of standard size to breed into existing flock or replace existing stock. Otherwise selective breed for size.

You're asking for a world of trouble attempting to gain back the proper feather color and other Buckeye attributes if out cross is used.

Find Buckeye stock that is of standard size to breed into existing flock or replace existing stock. Otherwise selective breed for size.

You're asking for a world of trouble attempting to gain back the proper feather color and other Buckeye attributes if out cross is used.

That’s what I’m trying to avoid but also minimizing the effort. I may abandon this idea as it seems it’ll take longer than I hoped to get back to pure.

Thank you

 

[goodb]

Find better Buckeyes to improve yours. Don't cross them. It takes forever to get them pure again. Check out this website www.americanbuckeyepoultryclub.com, they show a breeder listing page. That may help you find some better/larger stock.

How much smaller are yours than the APA standard?

Thank you. I tried several of them in my area this past winter/spring but no one would help outside of one lady in Ohio but she claimed she wasn’t getting eggs on 20 March.

 

[goodb]

Stay with the Buck eyes, cull hard and I mean really hard for body weight at 8 weeks of age and eventually you will end up with Giants, that is how a close line of White Rocks from Virginia Tech now grows broiler sized White rocks that obtain about 5 pounds at 8 weeks of age.

I would like to know more about this please...

 

[Mosey2003]

I would also advise against the outcross.

As far as the culling hard, what you would want to do is set every egg possible for a season, hatch them all, and track their weights at 8 weeks of age. Keep only the very heaviest and cull the rest. Next year, do it again. And again. That's what you'd do to encourage a certain trait to be more prevalent - just keep breeding only the birds that show the trait (or progress towards the trait).

What are you feeding your chicks, btw?
There was a writeup done, it might be on the Livestock Conservancy webpage, that was done with Buckeyes specifically and it outlines that a breeder of them gave chicks to different folks (4h people if I remember correctly) and one in particular had much smaller birds than the breeder. He advised that he feeds very high protein for the first 8 weeks as this is the critical period for reaching their full genetic potential as far as weight/size. I've taken up doing this myself, and have my first real batch number wise going now. Should be able to report back in a few months. I fed a couple small earlier batches 28% medicated turkey/gamebird starter and was very happy with their growth and health. Just an idea for you to mull over - you may have decent size genetics in your current birds and not be able to really see it.

 

[Gray Farms]

There is a Buckeye breeder, who also shows them, near me. She told me once that she puts her feed in a pan for her chicks rather than the traditional "chick" feeders with the holes. She claims it helps them build muscle when they are small and growing as they have to jump into the pan to get their feed. Never tried it myself but she swears by it. And she raises some outstanding Buckeyes and wins her fair share of shows.