Buckeye Breed Thread

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Yes Chickie dear, I do follow this too!!! I feel in love with your Bucks when up there. If I ever get my pens actually past the planning stage =:~) so I can see what is what and where -- I would have a few of these. I started showing livestock with Duroc (mahogany pigs) and loved our Irish setters (again mahogany) and the Barnevelders are just Mahogany in pin stripe.....

Thanks for giving me a pic fix. cyber hugs and more hugs.

k/

too little $$$, too little time, not enough chickens?

Ahh I was just going to say you were espeeing on me...good to see you here!
And yes, I owe you for the Barnie trade!!!!!!

You cannot get more Mahogany than this:

This is Daddy....a sweetheart too!

 

[Zola]

I have a small flock of Buckeyes that are just about 4 years old now. We bought a dozen female chicks from Meyer's to see if raising chickens suited us, and it did. We love our girls!

We have lost a couple of the original flock, and acquired a couple of strays, a leghorn female and a gorgeous rooster. Chanticleer is a REALLY, REALLY good rooster, and does a fantastic job with his hens--Leghorns are not known for their foraging ability, and he has managed to train this hen to forage as well as her larger brethren. He is also very gentle--we suspect he might have been raised as a fighting cock and got turned loose because he's not the least bit aggressive.

Since our initial trial worked out so well, we want to start raising Buckeyes in earnest. I want to build a new, bigger coop and get about 25 more chickens. I want to get a couple of roosters so I can breed them--what I might do is get the birds from two different sources.

What I am trying to find out is how old the hens have to be before they begin to lay. I looked back at our records of these girls, and we had gotten them in June 2008 and they laid for the first time in February 2009, meaning they were about eight months old. Is that the average age or do they usually start laying earlier and it was just the time of year that caused the delay?

I'm trying to figure out when I should get the chicks if I want them to start laying in early spring. I also want to find out a little more about slaughtering. I am under the impression that it goes more by weight than exact age--if the chicken wasn't big enough to eat at a certain stage, it was perfectly okay to give it a bit more time.

At what age do you need to use slower cooking methods? Ideally, I'd be able to start my chicks, let the hens lay through the summer and slaughter excess roosters as they were big enough and cull the hens at the end of the laying season.

I'm also a little worried that Chanticleer won't react well to another rooster, although we should have more than enough hens to keep two boys happy. I'd be really pleased if Chanticleer trained one of the Buckeye roosters to be as excellent a protector as he is!

Your thoughts and maybe a few links pointing me in the right direction for the technical would be great.

I did do a search on the web, but I'm having a hard time finding specifics.

 

[bigshawn]

Quote:
Yes Chickie dear, I do follow this too!!! I feel in love with your Bucks when up there. If I ever get my pens actually past the planning stage =:~) so I can see what is what and where -- I would have a few of these. I started showing livestock with Duroc (mahogany pigs) and loved our Irish setters (again mahogany) and the Barnevelders are just Mahogany in pin stripe.....

Thanks for giving me a pic fix. cyber hugs and more hugs.

k/

too little $$$, too little time, not enough chickens?

Ahh I was just going to say you were espeeing on me...good to see you here!
And yes, I owe you for the Barnie trade!!!!!!

You cannot get more Mahogany than this:


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/50801_my_wffwinter_brisk_2011_012.jpg

This is Daddy....a sweetheart too!

Very nice......

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
It seems you got the chicks in June, that would put them at POL in Nov-Dec when there is so much less daylight hours, and they stop laying.
All chickens do.
They need to have at least 14 hours of daylight (any light) in order to lay'
You could have put a light on a timer in your coop, to come on at 5 AM & go off at 5 PM and thereby give them time to roost after the light shuts off.
Without light, they stop laying.
Normally, Bucks will begin laying at 5-6 months of age, and are very good layers at that!
Processing for meat is a choice you have to make as to what kind of carcass you are looking for?
Stew & soup can be any bird of any age.
Tender for bar be cue ?
Cockerals precessed should be done (in my opinion) about 3-4 months of age, after that they go to soup/stew.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Just wanted to add to chickielady...
I did butcher a few of my extra boys at about 6-months and they were gorgeous! Of course, they didn't bear the meat you would see on a CRX, but still they did not disappoint. They dressed about 3.5-4 pounds each and were clean. At 6-months they are really filled out. They do have a good amount of breast on them, especially compared to the Australorps and Cochins I had butchered with them. Even my hens, when you pick them up, you can feel a good breast on them too.

I don't think anyone would dislike Buckeyes once they try them out, and I love that a woman made them happen

 

[Zola]

Quote:
We just love ours. I was pleasantly surprised at how smart they were, and as free-range, they do an amazing job on bugs! Maybe I'll get a straight run of females in January/Feb and get the roos a few months later so they're ready to slaughter in the fall.


We'll let our current girls live out their natural lifespan, they did a great job being our teaching flock!

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
I think that the ultimate meat deal with Buckeyes, would be caponizing unneeded cockerels at maybe 10 weeks of age...what say the rest of you?
The only thing I hate about caponizing is there is no anathesia........the process makes me think the bird is in fantastic pain!
The last time I witnessed a caponizing, the bird struggled to be free, but once learned it could not go, just laid there un flinching despite what I felt should be very painful....has anyone here caponized Bucks?

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
We just love ours. I was pleasantly surprised at how smart they were, and as free-range, they do an amazing job on bugs! Maybe I'll get a straight run of females in January/Feb and get the roos a few months later so they're ready to slaughter in the fall.


We'll let our current girls live out their natural lifespan, they did a great job being our teaching flock!

Just waite til they see a mouse or rat!!!!
They go nuts trying to get it & fight over it!
Edited to add: I watched a group of about 20 assorted sex chicks about 3 mo old, grab & play keep-away with a gardener snake about 18" long...finally a young cockerel just lifted it up and swallowed it down like a long piece of spaghetti............I was trying hard to get it away from them...too late.
he ate it!
And was fine!

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Ahh I was just going to say you were espeeing on me...good to see you here!
And yes, I owe you for the Barnie trade!!!!!!

You cannot get more Mahogany than this:


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/50801_my_wffwinter_brisk_2011_012.jpg

This is Daddy....a sweetheart too!

Very nice......

Thanks...and wanted to say DH wants some of your signs!!

 

[Minniechickmama]

Quote:
I think that the ultimate meat deal with Buckeyes, would be caponizing unneeded cockerels at maybe 10 weeks of age...what say the rest of you?
The only thing I hate about caponizing is there is no anathesia........the process makes me think the bird is in fantastic pain!
The last time I witnessed a caponizing, the bird struggled to be free, but once learned it could not go, just laid there un flinching despite what I felt should be very painful....has anyone here caponized Bucks?

I am thinking I may try caponizing this year. I want meatier boys for the freezer. So, if I get a chance to do this, I will be doing my obvious cull Bucks along with them.