Buckeye Breed Thread

[buffalogal]

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Congratulations on such handsome birds and your even prettier partner.

 

[Blueface]

Thanks for all of the compliments. It was a strong finish to a great year showing!

 

[buffalogal]

.

 

[PortageGirl]

Here's a couple pictures, not great pics, and prolly would have been nicer on a sunny day too.

Do they have too much black on them? I need to get some of my hens.

 

[Chickielady]

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Laura at our show here was Judges:
William Wenger (WA) & Ramona Trombley (BC)
Most everyone I spoke with has never met these 2 judges before.
Paul (forget his last name!) also a judge, was clerking...I feel it was a great show.

 

[Tailfeathers]

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Ok, that reply just went out to cyberspace somewhere. Let's try this again,

I was waiting for someone else to reply as I don't particularly like to criticize other's birds. But since you asked, I'm assuming you'd like a straight answer in order to help you with your selections. So, yes. IMO the bottom pic shows way too much black/blue in the breast and thighs. I would not use him.

God Bless,

 

[Tailfeathers]

Thanks to Robin for posting the pics of the Buckeyes at the WFF.

I believe there were Buckeyes represented from three different breeders. I think there was was 4 or 5 cocks/cockerels and 3 or 4 pullets. I would like to see more Buckeyes exhibited in future shows but all in all it was a good showing as it was not all that long ago that you didn't see any Buckeyes at the shows. Some of you know that Dennis Pearce had Buckeyes but since his illness and then his later passing, I hadn't seen any Buckeyes at all other than mine until this past March when one of his sons brought a couple to the Cascade Spring show.

Believe it or not, I had my cell phone on me and could've taken some pictures but I didn't even think of it. Never crossed my mind. Besides that, I don't know how to get them from my phone to the computer.

All in all, I thought the birds were all very nice looking. Congrats to Robin again for taking BB with her nice cockerel. She mentioned he came from eggs that Chris sent her and, while I haven't had a chance to look yet, I'm anxious to go look at my records and see if the cockerel I took is from Faux's lineage. I think he is but not sure as he might be from Janet. It'll be interesting to see as the two birds were almost identical.

In fact, I talked with three different judges so I could find out what made the difference and what I need to focus on next year. All three told me the same thing and basically in a nutshell told me he just wasn't old enough and developed enough in comparison. The hackles on my RB cockerel weren't quite as full and you could see daylight through some of his tailfeathers that hadn't quite developed fully yet. But from what else was there, other than size and maturing a bit in the chest, there wasn’t much difference between them. I'm guessing there was a month or two at the most difference in age. The March show should be interesting when I take these birds again as they will be fully developed and matured by then. Plus I have another cockerel that is a month or two behind the one I took that I think will beat this one as he's very similar except he has much more yellow ochre in his legs.

Speaking of yellow legs, while I was pleased to take 1st Place amongst the females, I pulled a real boneheaded move and got the wrong bird off the roost last Thursday night. I didn't notice until I was blow drying the silly thing that I'd gotten the wrong bird. I have one hen out there that has absolutely gorgeous yellowish-orange legs. I'm not exaggerating when I say that her legs seem to glow when looking at her from a distance. I had planned to try and catch her Friday morning but it took me longer to get the ducks rounded up than I expected. So I got distracted and forgot all about it until I was already at the show. Btw, she looks very much like the Open Class pullet in the pic by Bluface.

Leg color is something that I'm really watching now as I also lost much of the yellow in my Welsummers. It was one of those things that just wasn't on my radar and before I knew it, I'd lost the color. Then I come to find out that yellow is a recessive gene and therefore it is imperative that both the mother and the father are contributing as they should. I pass that little tidbit on in the hopes that it might help someone else prevent losing their leg color. I know that diet does contribute to the color but I'm also convinced that genetics plays a large part because all my birds are on the same thing and I've got a couple of Buckeyes and a couple of Welsummers with significantly more color than the rest.

God Bless,

 

[PortageGirl]

Quote:
Ok, that reply just went out to cyberspace somewhere. Let's try this again,

I was waiting for someone else to reply as I don't particularly like to criticize other's birds. But since you asked, I'm assuming you'd like a straight answer in order to help you with your selections. So, yes. IMO the bottom pic shows way too much black/blue in the breast and thighs. I would not use him.

God Bless,

Oh yes, I asked Tailfeathers! It confirms what I was thinking anyway! I have another roo with good body type, I'll take a critical look at his coloring. Thanks!

 

[bobbi-j]

Hello Buckeye breeders! I posted a topic asking this question before I found the thread.... I'm considering getting some Buckeye chicks in the spring. I don't really know anything about the breed except that from the pictures I've seen, they're beautiful birds. I'd like to have a dual-purpose flock. My birds free range, and I live in MN so it gets cold here. Are they cold hardy? What do you feel are the strongest and weakest traits of the breed? I'd like to know everything I can about them before I make a final decision.

ETA - I won't be showing them, just raising them for my own purposes.

 

[PortageGirl]

Not skinny, so they deal with cold well, small combs so they deal with cold well, not grouchy when confined so they deal with being indoors during cold well... need I go on?