Buckeye Breed Thread

[heritagebirds]

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Where is that from?!?!?

Poor Sheep!

Monty Python.

No worries, no sheep were harmed in the making of this video.

Ah, I should've guessed. I love those guys...

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

My hatch is completed, 3 Speckled Sussex and 4 Buckeyes from JamesA.

Waited a long time on the last two, but when I finally gave up and opened them, there was nothing developed. I don't know what i thought I was seeing when I last candled.

Anyway, the Buckeye chicks are gorgeous, and I am very happy to have these 4 out of the 12 shipped. The failed eggs all seemed to have scrambled yolks, so there is mis-handling somewhere between Georgia and Wisconsin. How were the PO folks to know the impact of moving that box in that way?

 

[Pathfinders]

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I can't tell you how many mis-handled boxes of eggs I've had this year. I've had to refund or reship at least ten orders of eggs, and I wrap them awesomely (if I do say so myself.) And often people expect to get 12 chicks out of 12 eggs, which just never happens (in my experience.) I've decided to rethink shipping hatching eggs because of all the unhappy customers this year, really not worth it I don't think.

((sigh))

 

[heritagebirds]

Last year my first batch of Buckeye eggs were so scrambled...I candled at 10 days and they all looked like they had broken pieces of glass in them(sounds weird). The second batch was luckier and I had five pullets hatch.

Congrats JoAnn!

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

How are we to get the starter birds of a new breed if no one ships hatching eggs? Those of you with nice birds, please help us who want to get started!

We have received boxes of live chicks in the mail and were lucky to have no deaths, but the spouse feels that is less humane than shipping eggs (I agree). The very forgiving spouse and sons quickly calculated the high individual cost of the 4 chicks. They now state we should only hatch our own eggs, but we would only be able to hatch the breeds we already have. And there are so many pretty chickens out there!

So I am really glad to have these 4 buckeyes. We are scheduled to get 11 Buckeye live chicks from Sand Hill in June. This should be a nice mix to get us started.

We may still be looking for fresh blood in time. I hope everyone does not get discouraged and stops shipping eggs! I suppose I should figure out what breeders are in driving distance....

I don't even blame the PO staff in this case, the box probably got normal handling, not intentionally shook or crushed. I pasture my poultry, I expect greater losses than someone who keeps their birds in Fort knox type coops. It is just a function of the process, and we have to understand that we will have imperfect results. Incubation itself seems more of an Art than a Science.

 

[jenjscott]

This is why all the ebay sellers state they cannot guarantee hatch rates. I figure if i get between 25 to 50 percent I have done well. In my experience, the larger the eggs, the harder shipping is on them.

I think too many people expect you to make up for losses that are not your fault. Replacement within reason, buyer pays the postage. If they start to develop but quit, not your fault. If they never start, who knows? I always send a generous extra amount, because I know there are going to be losses.

 

[BuckeyeDave]

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I strongly disagree.

So you really think 33% survival is more humane than 100%? I doubt if the dead chicks see it that way.

If chicks are properly packed and kept at proper temperatures (with heat packs and not shipping in the heat) they arrive just fine.
Last year I shipped a crap ton of chicks (60+ shipments) with a very high success rate and this year I already received 150+ chicks through the mail with minimal loss. You even admit in your previous post that you had no deaths with shipped chicks.

You were happy with a 33% success rate with hatching eggs sent through the mail, if the breeder hatched out the very same eggs they would have had a 85%+ hatch rate on the same eggs. So in turn you actually killed 50% (in this case 6) of the chicks you purchased because you felt transporting eggs instead of chicks was more humane. Really?

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

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I applaud all the hatcheries and breeders who do such wonderful jobs shipping chicks! I would never advocate the PO stop allowing chicks to be shipped. The chicks we received were none the worse for their adventure through the mails. I am ordering more live chicks through the mails in June.

I still feel an egg feels less pain than a chick when it is shuffled around in the PO. I would rather my hatching egg yolk is scrambled and never develops than a chick is scrambled. When an egg is scrambled, there is no "dead chick" to "see it that way".

From that standpoint, I stand by my statement of egg shipping being more humane.

Please do not be insulted! I can understand this being a touchy issue when the PO sometimes considers disallowing the shipment of live chicks. I would not want to mislead someone into thinking it is a terrible thing in general. We all do know of specific cases where live hatchlings did not fair well in the postal system, often through no fault of postal employees. Again, just a function of the process.

 

[Sagibaro]

I was going to report that I had two chicks that had pipped, but I can't....

One pipped, and one tore out of its shell like it had just heard there was a fire sale on chicken starter

.

One hatched, one pipped, eight to go

.

 

[heritagebirds]

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Awesome!