Buckeye Breed Thread

[Blueface]

Cute article in the poultry press regarding color my friend. Can you remind me what the tail angles should be? I don't have a copy of the SOP readily available at the moment. Should buckeyes have flat backs from the base of the neck ttoward the tail or should they have more of "hump" or curvature? I've seen several pics of buckeyes that are more "humped" in the back recently. I'm just curious if that trait was acknowledged in the SOP. Rancor....cute choice of words, not seen in everyday dialect. Hatred/malice is a bit strong. Rather disapproval is a better fit in terminology.

I agree that type is extremely important even more so than color. But when considering type; tail angles must be taken into account; I mean after all they are directly related to type. Furthermore, I've often found it hard to paint the barn if the color was never available to begin with.

Oh what a wonderful bird to breed!?!?!?!?!?!

Best wishes in the up-n-coming brood season.

 

[Chickielady]

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X2--Absolutely true!!
P.S. The bird seen in my avatar is 4 months old.
I raise on Start n Grow until about 2 weeks, then went to half & half with flock raiser for a week to acclimate against Cocci...after that Flockraiser 100% and on free range with ALOT of garden treats, squash, pumpkins, corn & greens.
Four weeks & out in the world after bugs & grass.
As soon as my birds get on pasture, they rarely ate any feed.
I have said before, of 12 Buckeyes, on pasture, I added MAYBE 1 cup of feed (Flockraiser) per day to their feeder.

They'd much rather have grass & mousies

 

[Tailfeathers]

Ok, I've got a question and this may seem strange but my curiosity has gotten the better of me and I just have to know if anyone else has experienced this.

It's a long story but the short of it is that I acquired mites last year and it started with my Buckeyes. I thought I had gotten it eradicated and seemed to have for a spell but we've had some unseasonably warm weather here and they're back.

I have a half dozen or more different breeds along with various EE's. Some birds have a few mites on them, some none at all, and the Buckeyes seem to get infested - I mean just flat plastered - with them. So, here's my question, have any of you who have other breeds ever encountered this? I mean, have y'all noticed that the Buckeyes seem to attrack the mites more than other breeds?

Btw, these are the little red mites that stay on the bird. I've already knocked the population down on the birds but it's gonna take me another two weeks I bet to get the problem eradicated again. Boy howdy! Do I hate mites!!!!!!!!!!

God Bless,

 

[Chickielady]

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No. But I DO have dust bathes in all my coops...and I must say, all breeds I have LOVE their dust bath.
I started this when I came here & noticed there was NO dry dusted place to bathe for the birds.
Each of my coops has a dust bath IN IT, or under it.

In this pic you see a coop floor, a 5 gallon bucket fitted for feed, and in the distance, a dust bath.
Looks small, but actually holds quite a bit.
I go to Home Deot, and get their middle moratr pan....and add 2 shovels of PLAY SAND, and 2 FEED SCOOPS od DE, and half a can of poultry dust.
This in between using Eprinex @ 6 mo.
My birds are constantly bathing.
And we have NO BUGS!!
Tailfeatherz.if you want more info..contact me.

Edited to add: I have usually found 3 or more birds bathing at a time.............in the mortar pan.
It requires a cat pan "spoon" to clean out any Poop or straw that might get scratched in....I clean all my coops daily...and the birds love the dust bath!!!
Given the natural way to cleanse themselves...they will do so.
Here in Western WA where it so WET..there is no dry place for them to bathe...so I gave them a bath!!!!!!!

 

[Tailfeathers]

Thanks Robin. One question for you, do you find the birds turn over the pan much?

I am currently taking the birds about every third night and giving them a dust bath myself. I've got a big plastic garbage can full of DE. I just put the birds in it and then rub them down good with DE. That lasts about 3 days and then I repeat.

I've been trying to think about what I can do for a dust bath in the coop but hadn't come up with anything yet because I thought the birds would just knock over whatever I put in the coop. Come summer, I've got two big tractor tires that I'm gonna cut the top off off. Then I plan to bury just the bottom in the ground and fill it about 3/4 full of DE, real fine sand, and some dirt. Mostly DE though. Of course I'll have to build some structure over and around it in order to keep it dry but I'm hoping that will do the trick. I'll put one with the upper coop and one down below with the lower coop.

Btw, what is the "poultry dust" you refer to? Where do you get that?

And for what it's worth, I went years without ever having a bug of any kind on my birds. Then wouldn't you know it, I brought them home on my Buckeyes from the 2010 Winter Brisk.

And on that note, I'll end with this... I hear folks talk all the time about how they don't want to take their birds to a show for fear of bringing something home. I've always been able to tell them that I think their fears are unfounded for the most part because the folks I know would never knowingly take a sick bird to a show. I still believe that. However, that being said, at the last show a month ago this week, I must've seen at least 6-10 coop cards that had a check mark with the word "vent" beside it. That means "check vent" or, in other words, the judge saw mites or lice on the bird! I talked with one of the judges and she showed me what she does. Literally, it is just a quick fluff of the feathers near the vent. Doesn't take a second. She said she only writes "check vent" on the card if she sees something in that amount of time and isn't spending anymore to search. So that ought to tell ya something.

Now I can't imagine someone taking birds to a show knowing they have mites or lice but obviously it's happening. All that is to say I'm asking everyone to try and find a way to encourage everyone to be a little more careful in looking their birds over and, even more so, in making a concerted effort to educate/inform/advise/counsel others to be fastidious in their efforts toward not transmitting anything at a show. I would also ask that folks let the judges and show superintendant know that they should be more steadfast in removing birds that are not only obviously sick but also are found to have lice and/or mites.

Obviously, you can tell I'm not a happy camper nor pleased to have to go thru this ordeal again but, while I can certainly understand something getting overlooked and an exception to the rule, when there are a half dozen or more coop cards that reflect a bird has lice/mites and nothing was even done to remove the bird, I just think that's too much.

God Bless,

 

[vmdanielsen]

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[A Nonny Moose]

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I was going to write a response to the above, but in the process of doing so realized who the writer was and decided it wasn’t worth either the time or the effort. The article in question didn’t deal with conformation… it dealt with hub-bub that has been going on re: color.

Good article Chris, keep up the good work.

 

[Chickielady]

Tailfeatherz...
yes I too remember seeing all the cage cards with "vent" written on them.
I have been to some shows where birds looked dull, huddled, and inactive, and seen a few with signs of leg scale as well.

To answer you other q:
No way any birds can dump the pan over.
It is about 8" -10" tall, 2 1/2 feet wide & about 3 feet long.....I add 2-3 shovels full of "play sand" which is fine & dusty despite saying it is washed.......
then 2 feed scoops of DE, and mix well....then top it with at least 3/4 can of poultry dust (permithrin)
I have found at times, up to 3 hens in the bath at once.
They love it!
I have to sift foreign stuff out once a week or so, if the bath is on the coop floor where shavings/hay can get kicked in...I use a cat pan spoon to sift the stuff out so the bath is clean & 'fluffy' again.
Have to keep the bath out of the rain, and ideally place it where it is somewhat elevated off the floor to prevent stuff getting kicked in.
The only other issue is started birds usually have no idea what the bath is...and I have found they love to roost on it's edge and poop in it...no big deal but it can be annoying to have to sift the poops out...
Once grown a bit they get the idea that it is not a roost...

 

[Chickielady]

tailfeatherz.............I went out just now & snapped a few more pics for you & others to see.
These mortar mixing pans come from Home depot & are much deeper & larger than a cat litter pan.
They come in a smaller size and a larger size.
This size is the middle size & was about $5 as I recall.
I started using them about 2 years ago as it is so muddy here we too had a "volcanic eruption" of mites during the rainy season.
This never happened in dry months as the birds would make a beeline for their dust holes on the hill, or under the house

We can often hear them under the kitchen kicking pebbles up on the floor

I was hand dusting birds and with so many it was a real pain & messy and with pure DE it is not good for either myself or the birds to breathe due to all the silica qualities in the lungs........
I had this idea...and it has worked fantatsic...no mites here.

I have a few bathes under the new coop:

Interupted her morning bath
These bathes under the coop stay clean for weeks..whereas the ones on the coop floors get shavings & straw kicked in daily & need to be elevated...some large bricks or 2x8 type legs...

Last pic is an empty pan........blue bucket is 1 gallon so you can see the size.

Seriously, this sytem works very very well!
here is a pic of the poultry dust, add at least 3/4 can per bath..along with 2-3 shovels of "play sand" and 2-3 big feed scoops of DE:

 

[Blueface]

Quote:
I was going to write a response to the above, but in the process of doing so realized who the writer was and decided it wasn’t worth either the time or the effort. The article in question didn’t deal with conformation… it dealt with hub-bub that has been going on re: color.

Good article Chris, keep up the good work.

But you gave at least some effort to write something

. I didn't disagree with the article in no way shape or form. I mearly called it cute. I actually agreed that type was more important than color. But at the same time color has got to be close. If a RIR wasn't its dead brown color, but a lighter red color. It wouldn't be considered the BB at any show, even if its "type" was nearly flawless.
I was asking about tail and back conformations as related to type. The article clearly mentions type and I was asking his opinion. Being who I am and some of the noise I've made. I doubt he will reply. But it will provide ideas of what to write next month....or not.