Buckeye Breed Thread

[buckeyefever]

Thank you Jen, Kathy & Dave for your advice.

Dave, the bottom of my coop is not dirt so I can't do the deep litter method. It would be nice to be able to do this in the dead of winter, though.

 

[PortageGirl]

My coop is a wooden floor and I pretty darn near do the deep litter method. I just checked it today after 9 mos since last clean out and the base is good and dry. If you have good ventilation, and you keep some DE going on, as well as adding some extra shavings as you go, it never gets messy down there... or mine doesn't anyway, though I guess it could depend on how many birds you have in a given space. I have a poop board under the roost, so that keeps a lot of the moisture out that way but still!

 

[BuckeyeDave]

My base is concrete and in another coop it is aluminium (refrigerated truck body kept the flock above 40 degrees all winter!!). The litter was 12" deep before I removed it this spring, just keep adding sawdust, DE and sprinkle with scratch grains whenever it gets a bit crusty and life is good, it's better for your chickens too!!

 

[buckeyefever]

YAY! Thank you! The extra warmth in the winter is what I'm after and now I find out I can do it!

 

[BuckeyeDave]

Quote:
Muahahahahaaaaaaaaa....... my secret is out.

Late last year I bought a used delivery truck body from a customer who sells and repairs them. The cost was $1,000.00 for a 8' X 7' X 26' insulated chicken coop, delivered. I got a load of gravel and laid out a nice base and placed the body directly on the gravel. I then put a 55 gallon poly barrel in there with a pump to pump water to the waters so I'd only have to lug a hose out of the basement once a week. I then added the birds and even on the coldest days when it dropped below zero the chickens kept the coop above freezing opening and closing the doors and windows to regulate the temp and humidity.

It was AWESOME!!!

It worked so well that I am adding 2-3 more this coming year.

 

[PortageGirl]

You do have keep an eye on things if you have a wood floor, not pretending it's not an issue! It may take a few tries to get the balance right. If you don't pay enough attention you might be doing some serious repair work. Now... this thread has gotten pulled well off the proper topic so I'll try to steer it back to BUCKEYES!!!!

 

[foxflower]

My buckeyes hatched!

So far I've got 7 out of the 14 shipped. I may get one more today. Some of mine are have a stripe on the head and back, and some don't. Is this normal, a sign of poor breeding? I noticed that some chicks whose pictures are on this thread also have some striping, so hoping it's normal

Here's a pic.

 

[Pathfinders]

They look fine. Remember, with the mix of breeds used to make up the Buckeye, you will get some variation in chick color. As long as they feather out correctly you'll be fine. From whom did you purchase the eggs?

 

[foxflower]

I bought them off egg bid. He got them at auction and didn't know their history. Theire quality is going to be questionable, but the timing was right to get them in the bator four by daughter's b-day. Also, I am new to hatching shipped eggs, so these and some favs were my shipped eggs test hatch. Got 5/6 favs, but only 7/14 buckeyes so far...pretty respectable first try I think. I'm glad they look okay for now. We'll see this fall what they look like for real....

I really wanted to try these because it gets so cold here and they might be ok around the kids here. It's still

here! Hopefully garden can go in before June.

 

[buckeyefever]

Quote:
Oops...sorry for the detour!