Buckeye Breed Thread

[BuckeyeDave]

Well guys, here is my saddest story in all of my years of chickeneering.

Last Thursday I went to the basement to check on the incubators and the hatcher, everything was perfect, the humidity, the temperature, everything. When I got home from work on Friday I once again went to the basement to do the usual and customary check but the hum... I could not hear the hum of the fans, I hurried down and found both of my sportsman incubators and the hatcher were powered down. Looking in through the plastic doors the temp inside was 53 degrees. My heart sunk and it felt like someone kicked me in the stomach. 3 Weeks worth of eggs, roughly 540 buckeye, black copper marans and chantecler eggs, dropped to 53 degrees during the incubation and hatching process. 1/3 of them was scheduled to hatch this past Saturday but not a single pip. Troubleshooting the problem I found that a $6 power strip failed. I am in the process of hard wiring outlets for the incubators and finding a good humidity/temperature/power alarm to install in them.

Please learn from my mistake, please for the sake of the chicks make sure you don't have a weak link like I did. Check and recheck, if you don't it will cost you more in the end.


P.S. Anyone I sold chicks to this spring, they might be a bit late.

 

[Intheswamp]

Hang in there, Dave. Another learning experience, eh? All of mine seem to come at a high cost, also. Thanks for sharing with us.

There's better days ah comin'!

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[heritagebirds]

Oh Dave, that hurts! Sorry to hear about it. I was upset when I lost around a dozen eggs to the power outage during the blizzard... Glad you isolated the problem.

 

[stuckinthecity]

Thank you for the links, and so sorry to hear about your eggs.

 

[CARS]

Dave that sucks, but things happen. Electricity fails and broody hens walk away. Life goes on.

 

[smithzoo100]

Dave, So sorry to hear about your losses!! Spring comes with so many blessings every year and tends to come with many losses as well. I know that it sure does here.... Thank you for the heads up on the power strip. I am off to replace mine tomorrow as I realize I have a couple that I have been meaning to replace for a while. Know that, while it doesn't change anything for you, our thoughts are with you.

 

[BuckeyeDave]

Quote:
This is exactly why I posted this story, find your weakest link and strengthen it. Learn from my mistake.

I feel bad for all of the dead chicks.

 

[poltroon]

I was reading the article in Backyard Poultry about the importance of breeding standard-bred poultry not only for the details of comb and color, but also for production qualities. It specifically mentioned the Buckeye and talked about selecting breeding stock in part based on the rate of gain and the importance of weighing and tracking immature birds as well as the final adult weight. Do any of you use this an important selection criterion? And if so, what ages do you consider important?

 

[jenjscott]

Except for picking my roosters from this last year, this is my first year to raise a lot to have to choose from. I will be keeping my eyes on everyone and marking anything special that I want to be sure and see how it grows out. Someone who did the weights at 8 and 16 weeks found the leaders to stay the leaders, so I will probably only do the 16 week weights. Last year I weighed late and I had 6-1/2 tp 7ish pound cockerels and 4-1/2 to 5 pound pullets. with a few exceptional birds. In general the weight was a fairly good indication, but one of my heaviest roosters was way to long and narrow. I used the ALBC criteria for selection as best I could as a newbie, and feel like this year I will be able to do a better job of selecting. Then the ones that make that cut stay around to see how their feathers and combs come out. Of course with this being my first year to raise a big crop of my own chicks, I am pretty excited to see how they come out.

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Dave... that is tragic to read about your hatch. I know the feeling on a much smaller scale but it's still sad to think about all those lives. The only good thing is that you were able to find the weak link.


Now a question about showing Buckeyes:

Laura, or anyone else that shows, is it common for a Buckeye to be pigeon toed?