Buckeye Breed Thread

[bigzio]

Nice pics and nice color LS...this is the color I promote as well.....Welcome to BYC! I hope you have a friendly experience here! Congrats on the wins.
bigz

 

[bayocum]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I'm feeling better about my $10 impulse buy at the feed store now :0). Those birds are great looking LS, beautiful coloring.

 

[Blueface]

I would have to agree LS...beautiful birds!

 

[LSBuckOE]

I'm even happier with how heavy and well put together the new young ones are. Hoping they throw just as well as what the breeder has at his place. Got close to two dozen from the pullet that got first this week, she went broody!

 

[tandersphoenix]

I butchered all of the birds I will not be using for this spring breeding and would have to say out of all the dual purpose birds I have raised over the years these are the best we have had. They have big breasts and big legs. Can't wait to try them out!

 

[cgmccary]

I butchered all of the birds I will not be using for this spring breeding and would have to say out of all the dual purpose birds I have raised over the years these are the best we have had. They have big breasts and big legs. Can't wait to try them out!

Buckeye is some of the best tasting chicken I have ever had and the thighs and breasts have ample meat -- never a shortage. In October, we went to what is called Mule Day in a nearby local community. Everybody brings a dish and we eat. Our Buckeye chicken-n-dumplings were a big hit. The pot looked like it had been licked clean.

 

[Tailfeathers]

What I have heard of folks doing is culling on the basis of eye color at 16 weeks old or younger. What 12 week old or 16 week old Buckeye has its adult eye color? Also, Buckeye eye color deteriorates with age.

Which is the case with all four of my breeds. The eye color changes dramatically.

To be honest, I'm not sure I can even remember what the eye color of a Buckeye chick is now. Seems like it was a grayish-yellow if I remember right. Anyways, eye color would be one of the last things I culled for exactly because of it's changing nature. There's a lot of other things I'd be looking for at 12-16 weeks. But that's just me personally.

God Bless,

 

[Pathfinders]

Part of my problem with critiquing a bird based on photos alone is that photos only show a small part of the story.

Photos can be very deceptive. Color can be off, black can show up that isn't there (as a previous poster stated.) The angle of a photo can make a bird look wider or longer or shorter than it really is.

To really assess a bird, you have to pick them up, feel their weight, feel the straightness of their keels, feel the depth of their breasts and the width of their chests, feel the straightness of their pelvic bones, things like that.

Photos only show half the story. It’s why a judge opens a cage and takes bird out when he judges it. If that weren’t important, they wouldn’t bother, they’d just walk down the line and make their decision based on looks alone. But looks are not all there is too it. Weight, feather quality, and all the rest is so important.

This is why I won't comment on someone's "line" whose birds I have never seen, much less handled. If I haven't handled your birds, I can't begin to make a comment on them, because I don't really know what they're like.

So when someone goes online and starts critiquing other people's lines and they haven't actually handled the birds, I say, take that criticism with a big grain of salt, because they may be basing their comments on hearsay, photos, and stuff they read elsewhere.

And no one should ever base their breeding program on how a given bird does at a show either. Anyone who does is doing themselves a disservice. Just because a given bird wins at a given show or two doesn't necessarily mean the bird should become the foundation for your breeding program. Maybe yes, maybe no. But there are other factors that should be considered as well. Remember, it's just one judge looking at your bird on one day. How does the bird look the other 364 days of the year? That is so much more important.

 

[Arielle]

I butchered all of the birds I will not be using for this spring breeding and would have to say out of all the dual purpose birds I have raised over the years these are the best we have had. They have big breasts and big legs. Can't wait to try them out!

What were the other dual purpose birds that you have raised over the years? And what line of buckeyes do you have?

 

[cgmccary]

Part of my problem with critiquing a bird based on photos alone is that photos only show a small part of the story.

Photos can be very deceptive. Color can be off, black can show up that isn't there (as a previous poster stated.) The angle of a photo can make a bird look wider or longer or shorter than it really is.

To really assess a bird, you have to pick them up, feel their weight, feel the straightness of their keels, feel the depth of their breasts and the width of their chests, feel the straightness of their pelvic bones, things like that.

Photos only show half the story. It’s why a judge opens a cage and takes bird out when he judges it. If that weren’t important, they wouldn’t bother, they’d just walk down the line and make their decision based on looks alone. But looks are not all there is too it. Weight, feather quality, and all the rest is so important.

This is why I won't comment on someone's "line" whose birds I have never seen, much less handled. If I haven't handled your birds, I can't begin to make a comment on them, because I don't really know what they're like.

So when someone goes online and starts critiquing other people's lines and they haven't actually handled the birds, I say, take that criticism with a big grain of salt, because they may be basing their comments on hearsay, photos, and stuff they read elsewhere.

And no one should ever base their breeding program on how a given bird does at a show either. Anyone who does is doing themselves a disservice. Just because a given bird wins at a given show or two doesn't necessarily mean the bird should become the foundation for your breeding program. Maybe yes, maybe no. But there are other factors that should be considered as well. Remember, it's just one judge looking at your bird on one day. How does the bird look the other 364 days of the year? That is so much more important.

Yes, very true. It is why I always ask if someone has weighed their birds . And what is the age when weighed? Weight also does not tell the full story but it helps. Just as a Buckeyes can weigh too little, I have had some that weighed too much. The SOP is a guide to the ideal weight, and one should strive to meet it for cockerels (8#), cocks (9#), pullets (5.5 #) and hens (6.5#). The outline the feathers portray, the color of the bird, its comb is just a part of the picture, and anyone can see these things, even a beginner. As Laura intimates, the body is what makes a Buckeye a Buckeye. It is learning to evaluate the body underneath the feathers which takes time and patience. I listen especially to those who butcher their own birds and who butcher a lot of them -- they truly know what they are seeing (and for me, I know what I am putting on my plate).