Buckeye Breed Thread

[Pathfinders]

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Ah yes, I know Eric well. Thanks.

 

[Pathfinders]

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Yep, we use it and see great results with it.

I am not attending the Crossroads either, more's the pity. Family obligations and a tight budget are keeping me home from pretty much all shows this year. ((sigh))

 

[Jake Levi]

I expect I will use turkey starter again this year with my new hatched Icelandics as they did so well on it last year. If all my hatches were with free ranging broodies I would use regular starter but that wont be so the turkey starter is what I will use to get them to the best start I can.

Ruffed Grouse also require a very high protein for the chicks, very few of them will make it on regular game starter. They are a dark muscled bird and the chicks have a very high protein need. One of the best breeders of them was here in Wa but he passed on a couple of years ago, he coached me through a hatch of them, beautiful and fun birds, if I raised anymore game birds they would be my first choice.

I notice that Sandhill PReservation lists Buckeyes, how do his compare to others?

I am either interested in hatching eggs, chicks or started birds. I do have two good incubators, one for incubating and one for hatcher.

 

[punky rooster]

Jake,
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I would see if chickielady or another breeder in WA has any, stay away from hatcheries if you want quality Buckeye stock.
Mitch

 

[Jake Levi]

Hi Mitch

Yes, that is preferable, to get from a private breeder, its about a given that with either Sandhill or Ideal the first order of chicks are going to have to be culled heavily, we can probably save at least a year buying from a private breeder.

I would much rather pay for six started ones from a private breeder then 50 chicks from a hatchery. It would probably just about balance out in what can be received in quality. And save time in the culling.

 

[OSUman]

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There are quite a few breeders that ship buckeye chicks

 

[Pathfinders]

I have shipped out to the West Coast several times, with fine results. But I'm not hatching now, and won't be again until spring.

 

[Jake Levi]

I wont be looking before April I dont believe, I will have my hands full this winter. Enough anyhow.

 

[Noncentzter]

I received 16 chicks from Laura back in May and didn't have any DOA!

 

[Tailfeathers]

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Hi Laura, sorry for the delayed response but just saw this as I was going back thru some old posts. I didn't know that MG could have different strains but it doesn't surprise me as I learned a BIG lesson a couple of years ago about Cocci and bringing in a different strain to your flock. If memory serves me right, there are like 14 or 16 different strains of cocci. Build a resistance up to your flock on one strain, then bring in another strain from importing chicks/birds from someone else, and BAM - now you got both sets of birds down with cocci. I imagine MG is no different now that you mention it.

As for the coops being too air-tight. No, I have two windows, a dutch door where the top half stays open all the time and the bottom half during the day plus a small fan inside to help circulate the air. Having said that, as for being "too moist", this is WA and there's just no way I can keep the coop dry for long. I'd have to be replacing the shavings about every other day come this time of the year and that would cost a fortunate plus not to mention not having the time to do so.

The two chickhouses may not get enough ventilation and I'm working on that. The birds are old enough now where I can leave the top and bottom doors open but even with that I'm thinking I may try to find some small little fan to put inside to improve the circulation.

However, having said that, I'm not experiencing the problem with all the birds. Rather just a select few so I tend to think it is more of a strength of immunity type thing. Time will tell.

God Bless,