About the Buckeye, one breeder at the Ohio National a few weeks ago told me (and I agree), "the Buckeye is a farm chicken, a homestead fowl, that we clean up and bring to the show." That is literally true. Mine are running around in the pasture, the barns, the forest, the front yard, all about.
Our Javas are like this. They'd be all over the place if it was safe for them to free range without me outside with them - I'm not running a buffet for coyotes. And they just love hopping through the barbed wire fence to play in our neighbor's hay pasture.
We've eaten one cockerel already and will be eating another one soon - he is the runt and so will not be bred. Not to mention being a snarky butt. The one we ate already - I wasn't sure I could eat these guys but after having him draw blood - no problems eating him!And he was good!
Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread
- Thread starter Robert Blosl
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Nicely done! In dogs, when I would see one I really liked, I would want to know whether it could move
Even dogs with standards that don't really call for movement (Toy breeds mainly, but certainly not all) should be sound, IMO, and should look good going by, going away, and coming toward. When I have birds I think approach the SOP, I will beg for opinions This year's acquisitions are strictly hatchery laying flock, next year I hope to have better for breeding. Reserved some Speckled Sussex chicks from Tony Albritton for next spring, he has no adults available, and hoping for some Leghorns from Duane Urch. I intended to wait until 2014 for Leghorns, but am heeding the warning he may not be around forever.Alvin is very beautiful, BTW, shame about the dark shanks issue.
I kinda figured you would. But most people aren't you and don't care that much about chicken preservation. That is another thing in your favor - tell a breeder that up-front, and it may win you some brownie points. It would with me anyway
Now if I could just get my chickens to pose instead of running around like lunatics after bugs all the time. I swear they never stop moving.
One thing I have done, when I've managed to get some decent shots of our chickens, is to turn the photos to black and white. That has helped me be able to disregard color and look better at type and see what I'm supposed to be seeing.
Oooooooooooooooooooooh *writes that down in my notebook*. I know your post wasn't directed to me, but the black and white transition for type specifics is a GREAT idea! Where'd my pen go...
- May 19, 2009
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There is only so much that can be told from a picture, the least is color. The color can appear different depending on the light so I don't judge color in a photo (unless it is something obvious, like black spots where there shouldn't be any -- but that would not trump body type for me. If asked to look at photos, I always ask the age of the Buckeye and its weight in the photo. In a photo, if possible, I look at thickness of shank, thickness of skull & whether or not the tail is pinched or not. Pictures capture just a moment in time and how can you control stance & pose? so a video would be better I suppose. The best way to evaluate, of course, is hands on -- compare birds of all the same age, do the pullets separately (and I like to do them first) from cockerels. None of the hands-on traits can you discern very accurately from a photo (but these are the most important for me): Measure heart girth, compare skulls' thickness (to each other), width between legs, keel to pelvic bone width, width between pelvic bones, thickness of pelvic bones, straightness of keel, keel length, length & width of back & whether it tapers or goes all the way to the end, check body depth, AND WEIGH. I also look at feather quality overall. Only after agreeing that the body type is better do I look at comb, color, tail angle, etc. [comb, color & tail angle come last for me unless tail angle denotes some defect in body which is usually not the case]. For show, of course, I look for birds who have not messed up their feathers in some way such as broke their wing feathers or tattered sickles (my geese do this to the cockerels). Also, Buckeye Cockerels beat their wings like the great apes, and you can hear it a half a mile away so those wings take a lot of punishment.
There is only so much that can be told from a picture, the least is color. The color can appear different depending on the light so I don't judge color in a photo (unless it is something obvious, like black spots where there shouldn't be any -- but that would not trump body type for me. If asked to look at photos, I always ask the age of the Buckeye and its weight in the photo. In a photo, if possible, I look at thickness of shank, thickness of skull & whether or not the tail is pinched or not. Pictures capture just a moment in time and how can you control stance & pose? so a video would be better I suppose. The best way to evaluate, of course, is hands on -- compare birds of all the same age, do the pullets separately (and I like to do them first) from cockerels. None of the hands-on traits can you discern very accurately from a photo (but these are the most important for me): Measure heart girth, compare skulls' thickness (to each other), width between legs, keel to pelvic bone width, width between pelvic bones, thickness of pelvic bones, straightness of keel, keel length, length & width of back & whether it tapers or goes all the way to the end, check body depth, AND WEIGH. I also look at feather quality overall. Only after agreeing that the body type is better do I look at comb, color, tail angle, etc. [comb, color & tail angle come last for me unless tail angle denotes some defect in body which is usually not the case]. For show, of course, I look for birds who have not messed up their feathers in some way such as broke their wing feathers or tattered sickles (my geese do this to the cockerels). Also, Buckeye Cockerels beat their wings like the great apes, and you can hear it a half a mile away so those wings take a lot of punishment.
I know how nerdy this sounds but I'm going to ask anyway - if the dark gene is there, is it a recessive that you can never breed out?
Quote: I got my original Buckeyes from him in 2005-06 and recently, I got a trio of La Fleche from him (and very happy to get some). I managed to lasso Duane to judge our Buckeyes at Ohio National (although he did not judge the rest of the American Class which never sets you right). He looked in good health & sound mind at ON. It was important for me that he judge the Buckeyes this year. He knows the breed exceedingly well, is overall a superb judge of poultry and hugely responsible for their continued existence. I also like the fact that he keeps his breeds pure and does breed other things into them.
Preferred method? I mean, to me it seem a sling scale would be the only way to get a good weight on a chicken, but I've never weighed a chicken.
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