Buckeye Breed Thread

[bigredfeather]

What a BIG surprise I got today when I collected Buckeye eggs. That is a typical CD it is sitting on. I got one last week that was almost that big. That is the biggest Buff egg I had on hand beside it, not too shabby either. My Buffs lay big eggs like that everyday. I need to get an egg scale to weigh my eggs. Double yolker? If so, I think it is big enough to accomidate two chicks. I will find out cause it's going in the bator tomorrow.

 

[BuckeyeDave]

Quote:
I had one similar hatch out one chick and a partially developed chick was still in the shell, very fun to play with.

 

[poltroon]

Quote:
I applaud all the hatcheries and breeders who do such wonderful jobs shipping chicks! I would never advocate the PO stop allowing chicks to be shipped. The chicks we received were none the worse for their adventure through the mails. I am ordering more live chicks through the mails in June.

I still feel an egg feels less pain than a chick when it is shuffled around in the PO. I would rather my hatching egg yolk is scrambled and never develops than a chick is scrambled. When an egg is scrambled, there is no "dead chick" to "see it that way".

From that standpoint, I stand by my statement of egg shipping being more humane.

My feelings at the moment are rather like JoAnn's - we've gotten chicks through the mail and will likely do so again - but dead eggs just aren't nearly so sad as a box of 25 dead chicks. Considering that the alternative would generally be that the eggs are eaten, I just can't get too upset about egg mortality other than the general inconvenience of incubating eggs that don't work out and of the hassle of shipping and reshipping.

But certainly: charge appropriately for your time, your risk, and to do what it takes to ship them safely. And, of course, there's a much higher risk that the recipient will not handle them with due diligence or incubate them correctly and then blame you for it. It's a little more clear cut with chicks, who either arrive alive or don't.

Watching them hatch and being able to give them the advantage of going straight from the incubator to the brooder is pretty rewarding.

 

[poltroon]

By the way, any suggestions for great digital scales that are good for weighing eggs and chickens? Tracking stuff like weight and temperature has been really great for keeping my daughter connected with her chickens, for creating documents for her 4H notebook, and also just for getting her some science and an excuse to make charts. I was figuring I'd just get a digital kitchen scale, but have not settled on a particular one with the right price/performance ratio. I tried to use the existing scale, but it's not accurate enough to get the few grams lost each time between egg weighings.

 

[Pathfinders]

Quote:
And there's the rub. All I can do is ensure I'm getting good fertility from my birds (by hatching myself before shipping eggs), and packaging securely. After that, it's totally out of my hands! I have no control over:

- the USPS and how they handle the box
- the temperature of the places the box sits during shipping
- how clean the buyer's incubator is
- temperature and humidity in the buyer's incubator

And more. I've been shipping Buckeye eggs so that I could try to get these great birds in the hands of as many people as possible who seem to want them. And hatching eggs are certainly cheaper than chicks. But after my experiences this year I just don't think I'm going to ship eggs any more. Certainly not through eBay, where a disgruntled customer can damage my ability to sell there with one swift ding to the feedback stars.

I think from now on I'll stick to shipping chicks. I may change my mind next year, but for now, that's the end of sending out hatching eggs.

 

[heritagebirds]

JoAnn, I have spent ALOT of money(at least for me) on shipped eggs. I only had one batch that were completely scrambled in transit(I had other eggs that I set at the same time with a decent hatch rate). I have been perfecting my hatching techniques, also, as I found I lived in a climate too humid for regular incubation in the foam 'bators. I have a great batch going now, but it sure drives my electric bill up, too. I think that the cost for me to incubate a batch of eggs may exceed the cost of buying shipped chicks, which I am doing for the first time. I hope that they have a gentle ride!

 

[Schumar]

I am looking to buy some buckeye chickens for breeding and egg laying. [email protected]

 

[BuckeyeDave]

Quote:
Yeaaasssssumm, me too.

 

[BuckeyeDave]

Quote:
Well you came to the right place, I'm sold out until August but I am sure one of my fellow BYC'ers have some fine stock and would love to perpetuate with you.
Peace,
Dave

 

[Lotsapaints]

I'm looking too but I want them in the fall-California has such nice weather then and they can start laying early in the year for me