Dear Dave,
Here is the article for you, once you read it I am sure it will be clear what I was saying. Here it is, in its entirety:
Poultry Press Article 6/10/13
The American Buckeye Poultry Club’s President and Vice President are up to their ears in alligators this month, so the task of writing our monthly column has fallen to me, Laura Haggarty. I’ve been busy this year hatching chicks and raising birds, as always. I was able to get a few more hatches out than I’d counted on because we’ve had a lovely cool spring this year, and that’s been a good thing.
One question that seems to come up around this time of year from folks is, “How do I tell if it’s a pullet or a cockerel?”
Here’s how I reply:
I generally find I can start to determine gender at or around 12 weeks or so, sometimes earlier. A good way to try to determine males from females is to look for saddle feathers.
Hold a bird with the head facing you, looking down on it so you can see its back. When you look at the feathers just in front of the tail, which are called the saddle feathers, are they pointy, or rounded?
Pointy saddle feathers mean it's a male bird, or cockerel. Rounded saddle feathers mean it's a female bird, or pullet. Same thing with hackle feathers.
As well, hackle and saddle feathers of males will be glossier than females, whose feathers will be duller and less shiny.
Cockerels generally have thicker shanks; bigger, redder combs; and are generally larger and heavier than pullets of the same age.
I find it very advantageous to separate out the sexes as early on as I can, because the larger cockerels do tend to be pushier when it comes to food and water, and I like to give the pullets an equal chance to get at the feed.
As well, I find that by removing any gender issues, it keeps the cockerels from getting too randy, and keeps them calmer as they are growing out. I try to move the pens of males farther away from the females as they grow, so they eventually cannot even see or hear the young females. Out of sight is out of mind, as the saying goes.
One other thing I realized this month, after I wrote a blog post about it, was that it seems many people are unaware that Buckeyes, like any other breed of chicken, will fade in color if exposed to direct sunlight. Because many people who breed Buckeyes do like to let them day range (myself included), we have to deal with the damage sun does to the feathers, which tend to bleach out somewhat.
Interestingly, some lines/strains of Buckeyes have a tendency to fade much more than others, so as always it is important to know what lines/strains are in the birds you purchase from a breeder. Some folks have suggested that using paprika as a feed supplement will ward off the effects of sunlight on the feathers, as this is commonly used in the horse world for this purpose. While feathers and hair are both made of keratin, I don’t know for sure if this would work, and will need to experiment with it before I can pass judgment on its effectiveness. And if you show your birds, you can always keep them inside if you’re worried about them fading in the sunlight. It’s just that easy.
One other thing to note about color in your Buckeyes, about which I’ve seen incorrect information being posted online, is that the presence or lack of slate bar does NOT predict the overall color of the bird. Some folks insist that you have to have really strong slate bar to have correctly colored birds. Nonsense! I’ve had light birds with more than adequate slate bar, and correctly colored birds who were totally lacking it, so when folks make that sort of claim I always shake my head, because it’s simply not true.
And above all folks, I’ll also reiterate, make sure you’ve got your type down first before worrying overmuch about color. Make sure you have read the current Standard of Perfection for Buckeyes (not some old version from 1918 or something), which can be found here, at the website for the American Buckeye Poultry Club: http://www.americanbuckeyepoultryclub.com/Standard.html
and get your birds correct with type: correct wing carriage; tight combs; rather long, broad, sloping backs, etc. Then you can worry about color.
And in the meantime, keep hatching if you can, and grow those youngsters out to be healthy, happy Buckeyes!"
Now. Nowhere in that article do I suggest or imply or even say that I am "trying to keep the coloring lighter than what Nettie truely (sic) intended. "
Far from it. Just read the article and you will see that what I am saying is, and which all
experienced breeders of colored poultry know is,
that sunlight fades the color from feathers.
It's just that simple. Of course I strongly encourage people to choose and breed birds that have color that matches the Standard of Perfection, that's what everyone who works with Buckeyes should do. As the SOP says, the base color should be an
"even shade of rich mahogany bay."
But any bird, red, black, yellow, even white, will have color that will suffer if exposed to the sun, that's just a given. That was all I was saying in the article.
And I agree completely, that those new to the breed should do their homework and find source birds that are purebred Buckeyes, not those that have recently had an infusion of blood from other breeds (like Dark Cornish, or Partridge Chantecler, for example), as adding such other breeds in to the Buckeye breed carries with it a ton of problems that can take years to breed back out again.
Doing your homework is always a good idea, on that we totally agree.
