The Buckeye Thread

[CanadianBuckeye]

I wonder if he's half single combed, I had a rooster that had a tall comb and large wattles hatch from eggs that had single combed hens. Do you have any hens with single combs? That might explain it. If you look at the combs of the champion roosters, you can see what the breeders are looking for in a comb. Actually I like your rooster's face (I'm no Buckeye expert either)- to me he's very handsome and looks like he has a nice colour. I really like his eye colour too.

 

[BlackBriars]

Thanks for the input guys.
Hellbender, that's what I suspected.
I have one pullet with a single comb. She is probably one of my best layers so far.
I was thinking it was kind of a half single also but don't know if there even is such a thing. He is already last on the cockerel depth chart so it isn't a great loss. He was the smallest of the 3 with the worst attitude, but now, he has hit a growth spurt and has nearly caught up, plus his demeanor with the girls has really improved.

He is 6 months old. I have thoughts of eating him for Christmas but am tempted to give him another 6 weeks or so for growth. Any thoughts on that? I figure as long as he is out of the breeding picture by late Jan I should be okay.

My girls were hatched last Jun 15. They are laying eggs mostly over 50 grams now with some 57 grams. Do you think it would be okay to hatch chicks from them this spring?

 

[Minniechickmama]

As always, it depends on the rest of him and what you want to breed to. I don't like the comb, but I have seen worse. I don't think it is a combination of single and pea combs, just an exaggerated pea with more prominent bumps than is desirable. I would like to see less prominence of the rows of bumps that make up the pea comb. If the rest of him is better than the others, then the comb is a small thing to worry yourself over. The big things are size and body type, does he fit the breed in those areas? Then you can start picking apart the little stuff. I have culled birds with worse combs and I have culled birds with better combs than this because I look at the rest of the bird first. He does have very nice eye color and a suitable head for a Buckeye for being a young male. I don't like the way the wattles are shaped, that roundedness, they should be more slight and less noticeable. He has a good beak and beak color too.

 

[hellbender]

One thing I have learned with both MY Buckeyes and Chanteclers...6 months is entirely too young to make absolute calls of the quality of a bird, over all. That's been my experience and I've notice some very dramatic changes in both breeds between 6 and 10 or 12 months.

 

[BlackBriars]

One thing I have learned with both MY Buckeyes and Chanteclers...6 months is entirely too young to make absolute calls of the quality of a bird, over all. That's been my experience and I've notice some very dramatic changes in both breeds between 6 and 10 or 12 months.

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.

 

[BlackBriars]

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.

 

[Minniechickmama]

One thing I have learned with both MY Buckeyes and Chanteclers...6 months is entirely too young to make absolute calls of the quality of a bird, over all. That's been my experience and I've notice some very dramatic changes in both breeds between 6 and 10 or 12 months.

Most definitely! After a few years you do pick up on what you can expect at about 6-months, but that is still early for me to make any absolute decisions unless there is something I find glaringly wrong with a bird.

 

[Minniechickmama]

BlackBriar, did you already show us pictures of the other two? What works well is a good straight-on side shot of them in good lighting. A photo straight down over the back too is good.

 

[BlackBriars]

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

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

BlackBriars looks like a nice flock, I'd be happy to have them.