The Buckeye Thread

[Minniechickmama]

What she said was something like this, "They should be so dark a red so that when viewed from a distance they appear black."
According to the SOP, they should be a rich mahogany bay. That isn't as easy to visualize or agree upon as the RIR color description - "lustrous, rich dark red".

 

[stryker]

It has been about 15 years since I have seen a buckeye seed.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I have one small Buckeye tree but no seeds ever........ I wonder if they are self pollinating?
My younger cockerels are growing out nicely, but I think their colour may be a bit light. More red than bay...... but pretty all the same!
Minniechickmama, about the hens- I see some photos where the hackle of the hen is darker than the rest, and also where it looks almost like the feathers are laced. While I really like the two-toned look, I assume it's not correct? should the hens be exactly the same dark red as the roosters, very even coloured? Or is it almost impossible to get that in the hens? Is it true that the hens get lighter with each moult?

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have one small Buckeye tree but no seeds ever........ I wonder if they are self pollinating?
My younger cockerels are growing out nicely, but I think their colour may be a bit light. More red than bay...... but pretty all the same!
Minniechickmama, about the hens- I see some photos where the hackle of the hen is darker than the rest, and also where it looks almost like the feathers are laced. While I really like the two-toned look, I assume it's not correct? should the hens be exactly the same dark red as the roosters, very even coloured? Or is it almost impossible to get that in the hens? Is it true that the hens get lighter with each moult?

It is NOT correct to have the neck feathers on the females or males darker. However, it does happen. Ideally, which is what we all shoot for with breeding but isn't easy, is to have a dark, even shade of mahogany bay throughout the bird.
As for the hens getting lighter? The only time they should get lighter is just before molt as their color is fading out all over their bodies and those old feathers are dying and losing their moisture and color. However, they should molt back to the same dark color they were as younger birds. Now, notice I use the words IDEAL and SHOULD.
I have a couple of pullets I have kept back that do have some black in their necks. So, why would I keep them? Because I have a couple of young males that I want to try breeding them with who do no express that black on the surface, and are a little lighter than I would like to see, in hopes that their offspring will be better than either parent.
My goal is to breed toward the ideal/SOP, and sometimes, that means doing it in steps with some, maybe even all my breeding stock. In any breeding flock, you will have two categories of birds, those who are show birds, and those who are breeders. Sometimes those two are the same bird, but often they are not. So, the goal to keep in mind whenever breeding is, can this pairing produce better offspring than the parents?
The next question would be, does this flock/bird, have enough good traits to continue breeding it, or would the time to get it close to the ideal/standard be too long?
I look at type first and foremost. If the bird has a narrow head, if it has too short of a body, if it has a very low tail angle, if it has a short keel... those are things I would be looking for. I only cull on color for things I really don't want to deal with at all, like lacing on the back - they are gone. Light, orangey colored pullets - gone. Cockerels with an odd looking head and face - gone. Cockerels who are noticeably, visually smaller than their 'brothers'.

I think any breeder who has been doing it for a few years or more will tell you, in time you will see what is happening with your flock and make that call of what you will and will not accept in breeding stock. I was so unhappy last year with my cockerels, I culled every one of them. Were they bad? There were probably a few in there that most people would have thought were acceptable, but I wanted to scrutinize them closely to attempt to eliminate some things I found unacceptable to keep around.

There is an old poultry breeder who said something like, your flock will only be as good as the weakest traits you allow to be in your flock. Sometimes that means accepting traits you don't like and will work on, sometimes it means getting rid of everything and starting over. It all depends on what you are willing to work with and for how long?

 

[stryker]

Here is a perfectly good example of a buckeye that is in molt. She was never that mahogany bay color but I hope she gets out of it so I can get eggs..

 

[Minniechickmama]

Most of my hens are coming out of the molt now. There are a couple of them that I want to get rid of still. I have more than I care to keep over the winter right now. Perhaps when I am ready to sell the extra pullets of the other breeds I have around still to finish growing and pick the few I am keeping, I will just advertise those extra hens to go with them.
None of them are really laying except one pullet. They are on pasture without extra light. I will give them all a couple of weeks then start the lights and have my breeding pens separated out. I have to install the new timer though since the old one pooped out on me this Spring.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Thanks minniechickmama Lots of good information in your post. I'll pick the best rooster and the best hen from my tiny flock, and we'll see how the chicks turn out! I'm really starting to see the value of hatching lots of chicks.

Stryker I can see the difference in colour between the old feathers and the new in your moulting hen. I'm still waiting for my first egg......

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I've got some questions about eye colour. My second brood has the wrong eye colour- orange. They are just over 4 months old. How variable is the eye colour within the breed? if I cross to a different line with good eye colour, can I expect a range of shades in the chicks? Or will they trend one way or the other (ie. stay too light even in the cross?)

 

[JoshU]

4 months is too early to worry about eye color. It can take up to 8-12 months for their adult eye color to be known.

 

[Minniechickmama]

If they have orange already at 4-5 month, then I would expect they have the reddish bay by 8 or 9 months.
Young birds always have yellow that changes with age, it is if they stay yellow that is what I would be concerned with.