Tailfeathers: I have a question for you. This stems from my very poor memory and thinking that I somewhere read that the Buckeye had the "darkest Mahogany Red color" of any breed. I don't have a clue where I saw that but that is what sticks in my head. Then I read your article which says that the Buckeye is not as dark as the RIR.
So from there I went to the SOP. Interestingly enough, there are two different colors presented for the RIR - the SC being much darker than the RC. And the RC being similar in appearance to the Buckeye. Of course the written description is not much of a help. So I Googled "Mahogany Bay" in an attempt to see what that color looks like. Interestingly enough, this
http://ultimatefowl.wordpress.com/category/heritage-breeds/ came up in my search.
I believe many of my Buckeyes have been turning out too light of a red so I've been striving to breed only the darkest colored birds that fit all the other attributes of a Buckeye. I've been trying to get my birds to look at least as dark as the color of the cock you show and maybe even a bit darker although that is one nice looking Buckeye. In fact, I don't know what it is about my birds but it seems all my breeds need better leg color. I wish mine were as good as the one pictured. Anyways, this is not meant as a criticims but rather only as a comparison, I've been culling the birds that have the color of the females shown in the link above.
So, my question to you is, just what is the ideal "dark Mahogany Bay" color? I know color is secondary to type but type-wise I'm doing pretty well - IMO. I need to work on the leg color like I said and I think I remember seeing a few birds out there that are off-colored eyes but other than that the only thing I see a lot of in my culls is black showing up in the plumage throughout.
So anyways, just thought I'd ask if you could address this color question.
Interesting you bring up color as that topic seems to dominate in discussions. A SQ RIR (show quailty Rhode Island Red) should be darker than a Buckeye. In comparison to the Buckeye, a SQ RIR will appear to have a dead brown color. In contrast, a Buckeye will have more of a reddish glow. The best way to describe a "mahogany bay" is to say look at the color of a buckeye nut. As you are aware, buckeye nuts vary individually and on the nut itself. I have a 1910 SOP and in it are some color plates that are printed on very good quality paper so that the color has held up well over 101 years. It shows the difference between red, reddish bay, bay and mahogany bay. If any of you are evr going to be in my vicinity (show), let me know and I will bring it & show to you.
The pictured male you link is the proper color. In fact, he remains the best male I have seen. I acquired him from Don Schrider in 2007. Don hatched out 1200 Buckeye chicks that year and kept only a few males so perhaps 10 males out of about 600. That male has been my magic bullet ever since. The male I just acquired from Don this past weekend is not the proper color and his color is more like a RIR but he has great body type. The body of a Buckeye is very different from a RIR and you can mostly discern this my handling the bird and knowing what he should feel like.
You should
NEVER cull a Buckeye female based upon color. The pullet's body is the MOST important aspect. Second, I'd argue that the shape of her feathers on her back / rump (more rounded than pointed) and her eveness in color (its uniformity). In fact, expect most of your females to not be the best of color. The Buckeye is a male-line breed; the creator, Ms. Metcalf, said as much herself -- she said she liked the male's color and got the females as good as she could get them. The male also contributes two genes to color while the female gives only one (so another reason not to cull females for color). The female gives her sons their body. John Brown (Brown strain) argues that the female makes the type, and the male makes the color. Because folks are culling very good bodied Buckeye pullets for color, I am seeing more and more pullets with RIR bodies. For those of you who saw, the Claire Slomski pullet at Indianapolis was a pleasant surprise. She had the nice wide hips, good heart girth and heavy skull. She was a little too dark but her color was even.
Color is the easiest thing to correct. Don Schrider knows this and that is why he is not worried about his color. Some people also dismay about specks of black on the tips of the feathers. This can be caused by the grain and moisture in the grain at the time the feather is growing (and have nothing to do with genetics). A hen's hip bones not being turned in but being straight is important and how thick the ends are and the spread/ finger width between keel and hip. I choose my hens mostly on their shape and never on color. For example, my best pullet this year had green hackle feathers. There are some very respected breeders who would cull her just for that reason but evaluating her, she had the best body of any I bred this year. She was also the lightest one I had this year; I did not take her to sell in Indinapolis (although I did sell / trade at least 3-4 very high quality pullets. The other were not bad.
It is OK if others want to disagree with me. It is a matter of opinion.
Chris McCary
