4 days of reading every spare minute I had and way too late into the nights and I finally reach the end! And what an incredible education I have on Buckeyes and chicken husbandry in general! Thank you dear Buckeye fanatics for this amazing thread and thanks to Janet Hatch for recommending I peruse it. As I went thru the thread I have copied the most important (to me) comments and am going to sort them into categories for future reference (feed, sexing, selecting breeders/culls and medical) I know I will refer to your wisdom frequently - just wish I had noted who said what as I saved them
We will be acquiring Buckeyes from Janet soon. This has started as a 4-H project for my daughter, but I can already see it will become a obsession. I consider us extremely lucky that Janet lives about 30 miles away and what luck finding her on BYC Missouri thread. I just worry how we can compete against her other birds sold to MO 4-Hers
So now my questions - at what time would you advise getting chicks for showing in 2012. Our fair season begins in late June to mid August. I'm impatient and want them
now! I have the facilities to house them over winter inside til feathered, but worry about the little time they will get to free range with MO winters.
Opinions on allowing cats and dogs to consume culled birds? I had a cat pull one out of the burn barrel and allowed her to keep it since it's the circle of life, but will this lead to them stalking the birds? (not really a Buckeye ? but you are so knowledgeable I wanted an opinion for when I do cull young Buckeyes)
And lastly - we harvest and butcher several deer each fall. Opinions on feeding the scraps to the birds? Figures I found show 3 oz venison = 26 grams protein. I always save/freeze scraps for my dogs and feed them raw or boiled. Do I need to cook the meat for chickens? Seems the raw would be better, but I'm unsure.
Again, thank you to everyone for the huge amount of invaluable information here - I feel like I know each of you in some ways.
Candice
