Buckeye Breed Thread

[FireAntFarmer]

Do chickens eat FireAnts?

I have no idea! I have read on this forum that some people do indeed have fire ant eating chickens. I kick the mound and give it a spray of Cedarcide Best Yet for an instant knockdown and they die and retreat. They really hate the stuff!

They usually come back up a few feet away but with a lot less vigor and numbers. After every rain, I go on a search and destroy mission as they bring their larvae to the surface of a new mound. This is where I can do the most damage with the instant knockdown.

Since cedar is supposed to be bad for the chickens respiratory system, I'm not sure what I will do when I have chickens.

I may try the knockdown and then cover it up with 5 gal buckets for a few hours.
I have a weed burner coming that I will try to use as an instant knockdown.
Amdro is the only "permanent" method I use and I would have to isolate the chickens from that as well.
I don't think they can be beaten so I intend to simply keep them down under the surface trying to survive and away from my chickens. That's all I know to do until someone comes up with something that really works and is organic enough for my tastes.

 

[007medic]

FAF

Try this sometime: get a good sized spade, go to one mound and in one pass of the spade get as much of the active mound as you can and go dump it on its neighboring mound, do likewise to the dump-ee taking a spade full from it and deposit on the original mound. What happens is that the transplants and the home-town crew go to war. We've used this non-chemical method to GREAT effect in our pastures, especially in spring when the cow has a calf. Sure, it doesn't eliminate the mounds completely every time (only sometimes), but the "knockdown" as you call it is dern quick and effective.

J

 

[FireAntFarmer]

FAF

Try this sometime: get a good sized spade, go to one mound and in one pass of the spade get as much of the active mound as you can and go dump it on its neighboring mound, do likewise to the dump-ee taking a spade full from it and deposit on the original mound. What happens is that the transplants and the home-town crew go to war. We've used this non-chemical method to GREAT effect in our pastures, especially in spring when the cow has a calf. Sure, it doesn't eliminate the mounds completely every time (only sometimes), but the "knockdown" as you call it is dern quick and effective.

J

You know, I have heard this before and I don't know why I haven't tried it. Next time I have a couple of healthy mounds I'll give that a shot!

I just have to be quick and smart with it to make sure I don't become collateral damage in that war!
Thanks!

Edit: I have 27 eggs rockin' and warmin' in the bator...can't wait for the first candling to see what I have....Should I check for signs of life at three days or be patient and wait for 7 days? I even read someone that says wait till day 10. This is all new so any help from anyone is helpful, even if it is just an opinion....we all have one.

I have way too many....

 

[AinaWGSD]

I'm impatient, and nosy, so I tend to candle pretty often. I check at 3 days, then again at 7. The breeder I got my buckeyes from doesn't candle before day 14. I don't toss any until after day 10 though, and if there's any question at all I leave them in there. I've been fooled before, eggs I've thought haven't developed but wasn't sure enough to toss have hatched for me. I've also heard too many stories of people tossing eggs at the end of the hatch only to go out later and find a live chick in the garbage! And brown eggs can be tricky to candle, especially if this is your first time. You can usually see development at 3 days, but sometimes it's so faint that it's easy to miss.

You might find it helpful to have a pencil handy to mark the eggs that you think may not be developing. Then compare notes next time you candle and see how you did. I always keep a little notebook next to the incubator and make notes on all my hatches. Usually I record temp and humidity (particularly when I was hand turning the eggs, I recorded each time I turned) in addition to notes on how many eggs seem to be developing and what I saw when I candled (veining, movement, etc).

 

[ben is a terror]

trying to find Buckeyes in NJ

 

[FireAntFarmer]

I'm impatient, and nosy, so I tend to candle pretty often. I check at 3 days, then again at 7. The breeder I got my buckeyes from doesn't candle before day 14. I don't toss any until after day 10 though, and if there's any question at all I leave them in there. I've been fooled before, eggs I've thought haven't developed but wasn't sure enough to toss have hatched for me. I've also heard too many stories of people tossing eggs at the end of the hatch only to go out later and find a live chick in the garbage! And brown eggs can be tricky to candle, especially if this is your first time. You can usually see development at 3 days, but sometimes it's so faint that it's easy to miss.

You might find it helpful to have a pencil handy to mark the eggs that you think may not be developing. Then compare notes next time you candle and see how you did. I always keep a little notebook next to the incubator and make notes on all my hatches. Usually I record temp and humidity (particularly when I was hand turning the eggs, I recorded each time I turned) in addition to notes on how many eggs seem to be developing and what I saw when I candled (veining, movement, etc).

Thank you for the clear, concise advice! Extremely helpful indeed!
I'm sure I will be fooled by some of them, so I will be taking pictures and bringing them here for the more experienced to look at.

 

[007medic]

At our place we usually don't candle until after day 10. Waiting usually means that being able to see what is likely to hatch vs what is likely not to hatch is very plain. 'Course it's warmed up enough that the broodies are doing all the work for us now so all we have to do is watch the calender

 

[Pathfinders]

trying to find Buckeyes in NJ

Hey Ben, check your Private Mail here for some options for breeders in your area.

 

[Pathfinders]

Just wanted to let you all know that thanks to some diligence on the part of Janet Hatch (thanks Janet!) we were able to find the great-grandson of Mrs. Nettie Metcalf herself, Randall Lee Dawson, and his wife Anne Marie. They have allowed us to give them an honorary membership to the American Buckeye Poultry Club (I sponsored it myself, as the founder I felt it was the least I could do), and we're going to help them find Buckeyes for the coop they are building out in California (I have offered to send them some chicks for free too!)

So very excited to have "met" them online, it's like touching a little bit of Buckeye history! Anne Marie and I chatted for a while on Facebook yesterday, she is just the nicest person you can imagine, and it was just such a treat all around.

So thanks again to Janet for "finding" them, and a general huzzah!

 

[ocap]

Just wanted to let you all know that thanks to some diligence on the part of Janet Hatch (thanks Janet!) we were able to find the great-grandson of Mrs. Nettie Metcalf herself, Randall Lee Dawson, and his wife Anne Marie. They have allowed us to give them an honorary membership to the American Buckeye Poultry Club (I sponsored it myself, as the founder I felt it was the least I could do), and we're going to help them find Buckeyes for the coop they are building out in California (I have offered to send them some chicks for free too!)

So very excited to have "met" them online, it's like touching a little bit of Buckeye history! Anne Marie and I chatted for a while on Facebook yesterday, she is just the nicest person you can imagine, and it was just such a treat all around.

So thanks again to Janet for "finding" them, and a general huzzah!

WOW !!!