Buckeye Breed Thread

[bunnibird55]

I haven't been on this site in quite a while, but I just want to update how superb my Buckeyes are doing, especially in this terrible arctic cold we are having in NW Ohio. I got some eggs from Chris almost two years ago and have been working with breeding lines trying to get an idea of what is good and what is great! I hope I am going toward the great instead of just ok.... The Buckeyes are the first ones out of their coop in the morning and they muck around outside even in the snow. I did keep them in a couple days when the highest temps had wind chills of 4 degrees but my hens were so disgruntled they mobbed me when I opened the door.
I have kept them on 14 hour a day lights and they are still laying. My Buckeye roos are terrific - no frost damage on any of them while my barn of New Hampshires - lets just say their combs look like they have been dubbed this winter. When my Brutus Buckeye gets near the top dog NH roo - the NH backs right down and defers to Brutus instantly. Brutus isn't mean, he just pulls himself up real tall and Junior heads the other way. Never any bloodshed, but Junior knows he better hightail it out of that yard. The Buckeyes are everything I hoped they would be and more. My Buckeyes are better mousers than my barn cats. They find a nest of baby mice and the game is on!
They are very loveable to people and a couple of the hens are insistent on going broody. The eggs are beautiful and decent sized. Not as big as the Golden Comet hens eggs I used to have, but good, consistent, beautiful eggs. The breast meat - ehhhh - if I want a lot of that I just get a bunch of Cornish x to feed out. Buckeyes really are the perfect chickens for me as an all around bird!
Laura, I am going to have to reevaluate my feed since I primarily use Kent extra eggand had the first problem with a Buckeye hen getting eggbound several weeks ago. I have 15 Buckeye hens and this is the first one to have problems and I could not figure out why, but wonder if the change in Kent was the issue since nothing else has changed.

 

[Sagibaro]

Longtime lurker, first time question - I have a rooster that can't stand. He eats, he drinks, he's bright eyed and grouchy because I'm keeping him inside and he misses his ladies, but when he tries to walk he has the balance of a frat boy after a keg party. I was feeding the flock on a free choice mixture of scratch and 14% protein feed, but withdrew the scratch and upped to a breeder feed of 20% protein about three weeks ago when I realized the flock was plucking each other naked - he would defend his hens against anything but won't protect himself against them so he was the nakedest of the lot

. I noticed he was a little wobbly then, but didn't really think anything about it at the time. It was about a week ago that I brought him into the house because he could no longer get anywhere without falling flat on his beak. Does anybody have a clue as to what might be going on here? The rest of the Buckeyes appear to be the picture of health and have none of the symptoms he has.

 

[Pathfinders]

Longtime lurker, first time question - I have a rooster that can't stand. He eats, he drinks, he's bright eyed and grouchy because I'm keeping him inside and he misses his ladies, but when he tries to walk he has the balance of a frat boy after a keg party. I was feeding the flock on a free choice mixture of scratch and 14% protein feed, but withdrew the scratch and upped to a breeder feed of 20% protein about three weeks ago when I realized the flock was plucking each other naked - he would defend his hens against anything but won't protect himself against them so he was the nakedest of the lot

. I noticed he was a little wobbly then, but didn't really think anything about it at the time. It was about a week ago that I brought him into the house because he could no longer get anywhere without falling flat on his beak. Does anybody have a clue as to what might be going on here? The rest of the Buckeyes appear to be the picture of health and have none of the symptoms he has.

Sadly, this sounds like Marek's Disease to me.

 

[Pathfinders]

Laura, I am going to have to reevaluate my feed since I primarily use Kent extra eggand had the first problem with a Buckeye hen getting eggbound several weeks ago. I have 15 Buckeye hens and this is the first one to have problems and I could not figure out why, but wonder if the change in Kent was the issue since nothing else has changed.

Your birds sound like they're doing great!

I don't know for sure if a change in feed would cause egg binding, but certainly I would suggest adding more oyster shell to their ration. And include some apple cider vinegar to the water, a good glug (about two tablespoons per gallon) per water pan, to help with the uptake of the calcium in their systems. For some of my Leghorns, all the oyster shell in the world doesn't work without the ACV for some reason.

I hate it when feed companies change their formulas...

 

[aoccl]

Ya sounds like mareks and sadly euthanasia is the humane option. He will never get better and will eventually succumb to the disease since there is no cure for mareks.

 

[Sagibaro]

Sadly, this sounds like Marek's Disease to me.

****. And a few other unprintables. He's a sweetheart and I hate to lose him. Not to mention that I'm lousy at putting animals down - but, as I told the eldest child, the only open scenarios now are either I suffer a little bit or he suffers a whole lot, and a quick death is preferable to what he's going through.

I have to presume at this point that the entire flock has it, even if they're asymptomatic. Anybody have some resources on flock management in the face of Marek's? I just have your basic mixed backyard flock, Buckeyes, ducks, and geese. They were never going to set the world on fire, but they're very dear to me.

I had a feeling this group would have the answers, even if those answers wouldn't necessarily be what I wanted to hear. Thank you, everybody, for your help. I appreciate it.

 

[Pathfinders]

Ya sounds like mareks and sadly euthanasia is the humane option. He will never get better and will eventually succumb to the disease since there is no cure for mareks.

No no! Do not automatically cull. Chris has had birds who have recovered (I am sure he'll chime in here at some point.) He can tell you what he did (I have never brought one through it.)

And yes, sadly, Marek's is everywhere. It's at the feed store. Think about it, everyone who goes into the feed store likely wears the same boots they wear at home to do chores in, right? Most people don't think about it, they just throw on their boots and go stomp around. The feed store. Wal-Mart. Target. Wherever.

Which is why I have chore clothes and town clothes and I never mix the two. I never do chores in clothes I've been to town in. I never wear clothes to town that I've done chores in. I will not bring home something from someone else's farm. Or at least, I will do my level best to reduce the likelihood that I will.

But Marek's is pretty much everywhere, sooner or later if you have chickens you're going to bring it home with you from someplace. And you have two ways to go: vaccinate against it, or breed for resistance.

When I bred Dutch Bantams I vaccinated against it, because some breeds, and Dutch are one of them, just don't ever get to the point where you have enough resistance. Buckeyes do seem to be a breed that don't need to be vaccinated against it, or at least I haven't done so for the past four or so years. I might lose one or two birds to it a year, but that's nothing like I would have with the Dutch if I hadn't vaccinated them.

Now, I will say, I had a someone contact me who said she had what she felt was "epidemic Marek's" last year (which I had never heard of until she mentioned it) which claim she made based on her husband's (a physician) autopsy of some of the birds she had which died. Because they did not take their birds to a licensed or state vet lab, I cannot confirm or deny that diagnosis, and all I will say is, I am somewhat skeptical of this claim, as I have never heard of anyone having an 80% mortality rate from Marek's. But I wasn't going to argue with her at length. But personally, I need a little more proof than that to accept it as a valid diagnosis of Marek's.

At any rate, if you're willing to try, I know Chris can give you some tips on nursing him. But if you don't want to, and you feel he is suffering, then by all means, do the deed and do it quickly. I am sorry you're in this position, we've all been there and it's a hard place to be. My sympathies.

 

[Sagibaro]

No no! Do not automatically cull. Chris has had birds who have recovered (I am sure he'll chime in here at some point.)

Anything that grants Rudy a reprieve I'll go for!

On BYC's front page today: Chicken Health For Dummies. Timing is everything

.

 

[cgmccary]

****. And a few other unprintables. He's a sweetheart and I hate to lose him. Not to mention that I'm lousy at putting animals down - but, as I told the eldest child, the only open scenarios now are either I suffer a little bit or he suffers a whole lot, and a quick death is preferable to what he's going through.

I have to presume at this point that the entire flock has it, even if they're asymptomatic. Anybody have some resources on flock management in the face of Marek's? I just have your basic mixed backyard flock, Buckeyes, ducks, and geese. They were never going to set the world on fire, but they're very dear to me.

I had a feeling this group would have the answers, even if those answers wouldn't necessarily be what I wanted to hear. Thank you, everybody, for your help. I appreciate it.

Marek's is ubiquitous and everybody should assume that their flock is exposed. It is carried by wild birds and it is everywhere, worldwide. Because one bird has the symptoms does not mean that all birds will get it. You may never see it again or you may have a bird here or there or then, a lot of them. There is not treatment. You can vaccinate chicks at one day old or any age but it will not guarantee immunity. Once on a premises, it will always be there. The virus is long lived (decades) and nothing kills the virus (not bleach, not oxine, not soap, etc.)

I would lose an average of one bird a year until year before last year, I had two birds come down with classic Marek's. First, they are unsteady on their feet. This slowly adavnces until they cannot stand at all. They are not in pain but then lose control of both legs completely and then their wings. They will get to where they cannot reach their food or water. When they lose total control of their legs, I usually mercifully end it. Year before last, however, both a pullet and cockerel came down with Marek's. Both reached the point they could not stand up and just when they were on their last day or two (separate times), BOTH stood up and just as gradually as they lost control of their legs, they just as gradually got control of them again. Both lived and thrived. The pullet started laying and the cockerel grew to size. btw, yes, I had the state lab confirm it was Marek's I was experiencing. It is true that a survivor will carry the virus -- but if it is there & everywhere anyway, carried on dust and dander, then what difference does it make? I had no losses to Marek's last year - none. I have been breeding from older birds so they are birds that have been exposed to marek's and it did not effect -- a natural immunity which I prefer. Everyone should assume they have Marek's.

I hope this helps you.

 

[Sagibaro]

To add, Rudy doesn't appear to be suffering. He's got a healthy appetite and has figured out he can stand up if he braces himself in the corner of his box, where he can catch a glimpse of his hens through the sliding glass door. Then he scolds me for not letting him out. If dedicated nursing can get him through this, then he's got it.