Buckeye Breed Thread

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
I bought mine from a breeder. They are gorgeous birds though!!

Perhaps they need something. A mineral or vitamin. Or may be bored. Try hanging a cabbage or something.

 

[vmdanielsen]

I have tried cabbage....they won't touch it. MY buckeyes came with the pecked spots on them...little did I know at the time what they were. They have plenty of space. They come out of the coop and run to go under the porch. 9 chickens and about 10'X 28' under the porch and 100 ft of additional fencing. Though they only go where I have shoveled and under the porch. I like them to eat some pellets first( or if it has been really cold warm oatmeal, kefir and a few sprouts).Then they get plenty of scratch (boss and oats). They should not be too bored, but who knows?

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
I bought mine from a breeder. They are gorgeous birds though!!

which breeder?

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
Try a wild bird seed bell. They should like that and it will keep them busy.

Were they crowded at their previous home?

 

[vmdanielsen]

I think they were crowed(I mean crowded) for a time, as they were getting accustomed to one another (which I actually think what started the pecking). There were some mishaps that prevented me from picking them up as originally planned. They are beautiful birds. Friendly while not being needy. The roosters are watchful and respectful. I am very happy with them.

I bought suet and was going to make them some suet and seed forms and hang it in their pasture. Will the suet be too soft? (hhhmmm maybe not it will freeze!) Do you think that after the hens feathers grow back that they will continue pecking? I do plan on hatching eggs from them in a few months.

Any thoughts welcome!

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
Bad habits are hard to break. But if you have given them lots of room, toys to play with and proper nutrition, they should no longer be interested in pecking each other. The suet with seeds should do the trick. The suet has protein. We had some buckeye bantams pick the male bad. Once I got him well....and got Jacob (7) to feed the correct feed, the issue was over. the hens no longer pick his feathers.

 

[cgmccary]

When mine are young they are very crowded. I have some 8 week olds that have very little room right now (as they are still indoors-- about to go out). Even when crowded, mine have never feather picked. As I have stated here many times, I feed all my birds Game Bird feed. I never feed them anything below 19% protein. The chicks feed is 30%. At 8 weeks, I switch to 19%. I think the key is a good quality feed and one that has animal protein.

My grown birds free range too though, and I have seen them catch mice and lizards. A few eeks ago, one of the Buckeye hens was running with something that looked like a rat. When I run her down, I saw that she had caught & killed a chipmunk. And they ate it!

 

[vmdanielsen]

Quote:
Bad habits are hard to break. But if you have given them lots of room, toys to play with and proper nutrition, they should no longer be interested in pecking each other. The suet with seeds should do the trick. The suet has protein. We had some buckeye bantams pick the male bad. Once I got him well....and got Jacob (7) to feed the correct feed, the issue was over. the hens no longer pick his feathers.

Indeed, habits are hard to break. Let me tell you what I feed. Please critique! Green mountain organic layer pellets free choice (Corn based, soy protein). one, 1/4 lb hamburg every other day cooked with breakfast (when it is cold something cooked and warm[oatmeal, cooked hulled millet etc]) boss and whole oats as scratch. Will add suet/seed balls today/tomorrow. And of course free choice water (except at night because it was causeing ice buildup on the ceiling). I am out at first light to give them their H2O and feed. They do not have any artificial light.
Thanks!

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

The Roo is from JamesA formerly of this site. He has nice color I think, but is not filling out the way he promised to this summer. The 4 pullets are from Sand Hill Preservation. I would call the Sand Hills hatchery quality, They just are not up to the pics I see here.

Nothing against Sand Hill or JamesA, as they all looked great on pasture, it is probably something I have done. They never picked a feather while they were outside. Could they just be adjusting that badly to their winter quarters?

The roo is as pecked as the hens, around the base of the tail on all of them. Some have lost side neck feathers. It does not have the over-mating pattern.

The other pens are slightly more populated for the space, but this Buckeye pen is the most panicked when we go in to care for them. More flighty than I expected. They were quite friendly outside. It is almost like something is making them more nervous.

I have checked for mites. We have not put poison out for rodents, so they should not have gotten a poisoned mouse or anything.

They get scratch BOSS daily. I keep looking for ways to reduce boredom in all the pens. I think they are missing greens more than protein.

I can still use the roo in the sex-link project we plan this spring. At this point, I think I will skip hatching Buckeyes from these birds this year. Something is just not right, and until I can figure it out, i'd better hatch from the other breeds. I should be able to get some from Urch to give a comparison this spring.

 

[vmdanielsen]

Quote:
cg,
can one get organic game bird feed? I may have to make the choice of getting organic or regular feed that contains GMO's. Thought I would try the hamburg first. Have also considered supplementing with cat food. I am still in the expierimntal stages. Thank you for your thoughts!
Ginny