Buckeye Breed Thread

[naillikwj82]

Wieght question? When raising Buckeyes for meat, what has been your average wieght for cockerals at 8 and 16 weeks? Highs and lows would also be appreciated. thanks, jeff

 

[ocap]

Chris, Laura, or any experienced flock owners. If you get time can you give a quick overview of your maintenance schedule for dealing with internal & external pests/parasites? What you use? Time schedule for treatment & retreatment? It would be a big help to me and I am sure others as well.

Dan

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/729605/the-natural-chicken-keeping-thread-ots-welcome/6090
post #6099

John

 

[cgmccary]

Wieght question? When raising Buckeyes for meat, what has been your average wieght for cockerals at 8 and 16 weeks? Highs and lows would also be appreciated. thanks, jeff

This is not me actually averaging the weights of mine but simply an educated guess based on weighing lots of them.

At 8 weeks, my Buckeye cockerels average 2.5-3.0 lbs with a low being a little below 2 lbs. I look for a weight of about 2.5 lbs at 8 weeks or thereabouts. At 16 weeks of age, I would say they average somewhere about 5 lbs with highs of 6 lbs and lowest of just below 4 lbs. I look for a weight of about 4 lb 12 oz to 5. lb 12 oz as my keepers (with no hard fast rule).

I have learned not to be a stickler about the 8 & 16 week weight. I have had a cockerel at 16 weeks who weighed 6 lbs not make 9 lbs at 1 year old (and I have also had a 6 lb one weigh 9.5-10 lbs at 1 year old). Contrastingly, I have had a cockerel who weighed 4 lbs 12 oz at 16 weeks make 9 lbs at 1 year old. I have had many in the range of 5 lb to 5 lb 12 oz birds make the proper weight at one year. In other words, they can grow a little too fast in the beginning too -- there is correlation with 8 week and 16 week weights too -- roughly, they double their weight.

just my limited experience.

 

[franciena fancy]

$18.00 in R.I.

 

[vmdanielsen]

This is not me actually averaging the weights of mine but simply an educated guess based on weighing lots of them.

At 8 weeks, my Buckeye cockerels average 2.5-3.0 lbs with a low being a little below 2 lbs. I look for a weight of about 2.5 lbs at 8 weeks or thereabouts. At 16 weeks of age, I would say they average somewhere about 5 lbs with highs of 6 lbs and lowest of just below 4 lbs. I look for a weight of about 4 lb 12 oz to 5. lb 12 oz as my keepers (with no hard fast rule).

I have learned not to be a stickler about the 8 & 16 week weight. I have had a cockerel at 16 weeks who weighed 6 lbs not make 9 lbs at 1 year old (and I have also had a 6 lb one weigh 9.5-10 lbs at 1 year old). Contrastingly, I have had a cockerel who weighed 4 lbs 12 oz at 16 weeks make 9 lbs at 1 year old. I have had many in the range of 5 lb to 5 lb 12 oz birds make the proper weight at one year. In other words, they can grow a little too fast in the beginning too -- there is correlation with 8 week and 16 week weights too -- roughly, they double their weight.

just my limited experience.

How does one properly weigh a chicken? What kind of scale?

 

[Canieldonrad]

How does one properly weigh a chicken? What kind of scale?

Most scales will work in my opinion. What you would want to do ideally is place the bird into an enclosure(cat cage), weigh the bird in the container, then weigh the container and subtract the weight of the container. You may want to use a scale you can calibrate to the weight of the container.

 

[AinaWGSD]

We use a baby scale we picked up used at a local consignment store. We weigh our chickens "loose" but it sometimes takes several tries and we occasionally get an escapee. If you have a box or cage that will sit on the scale and zero the scale before adding the bird that would be easiest.

 

[MeanV2]

We use a baby scale we picked up used at a local consignment store. We weigh our chickens "loose" but it sometimes takes several tries and we occasionally get an escapee. If you have a box or cage that will sit on the scale and zero the scale before adding the bird that would be easiest.

I have a set of Digital Baby scales I use for lots of things. Weighing packages, weighing puppies, weighing fertilizer, weighing chickens. I never weighed a baby on them

Dan

 

[cgmccary]

How does one properly weigh a chicken? What kind of scale?

Better if you can put them in a round bucket, but I weigh mine loose too. It usually takes a couple of tries but they will stand on the scale. I use one similar to this:

http://www.target.com/p/oxo-11-pound-food-scale-black/-/A-14039349#prodSlot=medium_1_6

 

[Pathfinders]

Chris, Laura, or any experienced flock owners. If you get time can you give a quick overview of your maintenance schedule for dealing with internal & external pests/parasites? What you use? Time schedule for treatment & retreatment? It would be a big help to me and I am sure others as well.

Dan

Ok, I will now sheepishly admit I have never wormed my chickens.

Have never had them appear "light", nor noticed worms in their feces. I suppose I should, but have not done so.

I am however, very vigilant about external parasites. I generally treat for same at least twice a year, sometimes once a quarter.

For mites/lice, approved treatments include dusting with Sevin or Permethrin dust, or bathing with Permethrin. There's a lot of good info here (I posted about this on Twitter and my Facebook account this morning too):

http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/bookstore/pubs/MF2387.pdf