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.
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.