Buckeye Breed Thread

[Chickielady]

Congrats Chris. What a nice bird. I will be coming back to study and compare him to my own birds once they reach maturity.




Sorry, just realized you asked me questions - if you read this tread you will see it is recommend to feed a meat-based protein ration to Buckeyes to achieve maximum potential. My thinking is, if a meat-based protein makes such a difference, straight meat in the diet will also be beneficial. All my chicken breeds love meat and get it as a treat, especially now when there are no bugs to be found.

I am comparing the Buckeyes to all the other birds I own, a variety of large and bantam breeds. From chicks to now they consume more than other breeds and leave little waste.

The Buckeyes do have access to free range, but we are in the middle of winter here - not much edible to be found unless I provide it.

Yeah, winter does not provide much in the way of bugs.
Especially this winter.
With the snow lately, there is grass when it melts, but not growing so fast.I
was thinking about that this morning:That chicks
raised in summer have access to more natural foods & proteins while winter raised are raised on feed proteins & treats.I give mine winter squash & cabbages.
They are feed Flockraiser and I beleiev that is a soy protien.
Outside of that, we have multitudes of very large night crawlers here in various garden compost piles which they have access to in good weather, but I have never given them meat.
What meat do you give yours ?
I use deer lung & scraps for dog food which I add oatmeal & vegetables to & bag for feeding my large dogs.
The intestines are discarded.
We have the heart & liver...no one could wrestle that from DH....just wondering what meat you use & how you prepare it for the birds?I do give
my birds scrambled egg & various other table scraps, or make pots of brown rice & pasta for them.
I think alot of us out here in the west have searched for a meat based chicken feed and have found none.
Do you use a meat based chicken feed & what is the brand name ?

 

[Stuck in the Coop]

Since birds are omnivores, supplementing the animal protein they need just makes sense to me. I feed my birds deer meat mainly because it is what I have in abundance, and doesn't cost anything. We gut the deer in the field and don't keep the innards. When we process the deer I feed some scraps right then, but save most in the freezer for later. I pull a bag out, thaw in the kitchen sink, then scatter it around outside to let chickens, dogs and cats grab what they can. The crazed reaction you get when feeding meat to chickens proves to me it is something they need and crave.

I don't prepare any kind of fancy stuff for the birds, they get table scraps and scratch with BOSS as treats. When I recently made ham and beans I threw the knuckle bones to the birds and they went nuts for it, picking all the bits off. And, yes, on occasion I do give them cooked chicken. At first that bothered me, but I got over it.

The meat-based feed I found was at my local farmers co-op (called MFA in Missouri) it is the Gamebird starter. The Co-op feed was actually cheaper than farm supply store and came in 50# bags instead of 40. You need to read the labels tho, not all gamebird feed is meat-based. It took me a bit of looking around before I found it. Hope you can find it locally.

 

[cgmccary]

Quote:
Tuscaloosa is from the same breeding pens as the eggs I sent you, Robin, so he is a brother to your bird. Interesting that yours was BB and CH American at your show. I hatched Tuscaloosa in mid-April so 9 months old. That whole pen produced a number of good males. I sold several just as good when I went to the Crossroads. Bob Gilbert got his pick and he picked the one I had planned to show at Crossroads if I had made it on time. They were a little young then but I thought Gilbert's pick was the best of the group. I then let one little boy from Ohio take his pick from a dozen I had there and to my surprise, the young man picked one every bit as good as Tuscaloosa -- hope he shows him. I kept Tuscaloosa back and another one from that pen at the last minute-- literally off the truck and put him back up. Their Sire was the one that won the American Class at the same show last year. I crossed him over some of my older hens, all 3-4 years old (so old proven hens). You remember how large the eggs were?

About the animal protein: IMHO, I believe that plant protein is fine but that some of their protein should be derived from animal sources. One year, I fed mine fathead minnows. I just threw them on the ground flopping around. The Buckeyes just swallowed them whole. When mad cow disease some years back caused the feed companies to change their feeds to a soy based protein only, many breeders noticed a marked decline in the fertility rates of their birds.

About spring time hatching: it is the natural reproductive cycle of a chicken to lay the most eggs in the spring and for the chicks to hatch, grow, eat the emerging bugs. etc. IMHO, I believe that you get you best results from hatching & growing in the Spring.

 

[Chickielady]

Since birds are omnivores, supplementing the animal protein they need just makes sense to me. I feed my birds deer meat mainly because it is what I have in abundance, and doesn't cost anything. We gut the deer in the field and don't keep the innards. When we process the deer I feed some scraps right then, but save most in the freezer for later. I pull a bag out, thaw in the kitchen sink, then scatter it around outside to let chickens, dogs and cats grab what they can. The crazed reaction you get when feeding meat to chickens proves to me it is something they need and crave.

I don't prepare any kind of fancy stuff for the birds, they get table scraps and scratch with BOSS as treats. When I recently made ham and beans I threw the knuckle bones to the birds and they went nuts for it, picking all the bits off. And, yes, on occasion I do give them cooked chicken. At first that bothered me, but I got over it.

The meat-based feed I found was at my local farmers co-op (called MFA in Missouri) it is the Gamebird starter. The Co-op feed was actually cheaper than farm supply store and came in 50# bags instead of 40. You need to read the labels tho, not all gamebird feed is meat-based. It took me a bit of looking around before I found it. Hope you can find it locally.

I have been looking for a few years.
The feed we got years ago was all fish based protein, now it is all soy, and Genetically Modified...........I hate it.
I have 3 siblings and all have had to change their dogs food due to excessive wheat & soy as used for protein.
They have pedigree Scottish Terriers, german shepards, shitz tzus...and NewFoundlands.
and several rescue dogs, all have suffered from "hot spots" rashes, itching & diareah to the point where now they are buying fresh rabbit meat & feeding raw.
I myself am deathly allergic to both soy & wheat gluten, so breathing the feed dust can put me away for up to 3 weeks or more.
I will study more of the game bird feed you stated.

But my dogs get our deer and elk scraps.
And a friend who raises dogs gets the hides & larger bones.
I do feed my birds table scape meats, but never guts as we do not want that lying about to attarct predators nor do we know what parasites might be in there~~ although I must say we have the cleanest deer & elk here, no gameyness, fresh green grass, no sage.
I also have no issue with my birds putting on nice weight & girth....they are absolutely gorgeous !
I am feeding my birds as instructed by the breeder I got them from.
Thanks for your reply!

 

[Chickielady]

Tuscaloosa is from the same breeding pens as the eggs I sent you, Robin, so he is a brother to your bird. Interesting that yours was BB and Reserve American at your show. I hatched Tuscaloosa in mid-April so 9 months old. That whole pen produced a number of good males. I sold several just as good when I went to the Crossroads. Bob Gilbert got his pick and he picked the one I had planned to show at Crossroads if I had made it on time. They were a little young then but I thought Gilbert's pick was the best of the group. I then let one little boy from Ohio take his pick from a dozen I had there and to my surprise, the young man picked one every bit as good as Tuscaloosa -- hope he shows him. I kept Tuscaloosa back and another one from that pen at the last minute-- literally off the truck and put him back up. Their Sire was the one that won the American Class at the same show last year. I crossed him over some of my older hens, all 3-4 years old (so old proven hens). You remember how large the eggs were?

About the animal protein: IMHO, I believe that plant protein is fine but that some of their protein should be derived from animal sources. One year, I fed mine fathead minnows. I just threw them on the ground flopping around. The Buckeyes just swallowed them whole. When mad cow disease some years back caused the feed companies to change their feeds to a soy based protein only, many breeders noticed a marked decline in the fertility rates of their birds.

About spring time hatching: it is the natural reproductive cycle of a chicken to lay the most eggs in the spring and for the chicks to hatch, grow, eat the emerging bugs. etc. IMHO, I believe that you get you best results from hatching & growing in the Spring.

So far, fertility is still 100% even in this weather we are having.I
have considered a cod liver oil sprayed on feed in spring...right now, I am letting them all rest.
We have extensive fish based industry here on the coast where I am...and that will be my main focuse on feed.

 

[Chickielady]

P.S. I do indeed remember the big eggs you sent me, and I am getting the same from my pullets now !
Outstanding birds, even in this blizzard !

 

[cgmccary]

Robin, you Buckeye was CH American Class at your show? Reserve LF?

 

[BuckeyeDave]

Congrats Chris. What a nice bird. I will be coming back to study and compare him to my own birds once they reach maturity.




Sorry, just realized you asked me questions - if you read this tread you will see it is recommend to feed a meat-based protein ration to Buckeyes to achieve maximum potential. My thinking is, if a meat-based protein makes such a difference, straight meat in the diet will also be beneficial. All my chicken breeds love meat and get it as a treat, especially now when there are no bugs to be found.

I am comparing the Buckeyes to all the other birds I own, a variety of large and bantam breeds. From chicks to now they consume more than other breeds and leave little waste.

The Buckeyes do have access to free range, but we are in the middle of winter here - not much edible to be found unless I provide it.

I had the same dilemma, I want to feed my birds great raw meat but what do I feed them, everything is so expensive and the least expensive are the large roasts... SO... I spoke with our local butcher shop and asked him about buying some "scraps" for my chickens and dogs. His immediate reply was "how about some sawdust"? He then explained to me that they clean out the band saws after cutting steaks and chops they have a clump or two of finely cut meat left over, they would usually sell it to the local rendering plant. I offered to buy every ounce of it from him. He'll fill up a 5 gallon bucket for about $10. The chickens devour it, I mean literally jump off the roost love it. I feed them 10 - 20 lbs of it a week.

Here is a video of my flock, at about :30 into it you can see the meat bucket with the "sawdust" in it.

 

[Stuck in the Coop]

He'll fill up a 5 gallon bucket for about $10. The chickens devour it, I mean literally jump off the roost love it. I feed them 10 - 20 lbs of it a week.

Brilliant idea. We have a small town grocery store which still hand cuts meat, I will be hitting them up for 'sawdust' very soon.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Chickielady]

Robin, you Buckeye was CH American Class at your show? Reserve LF

yes, BB & BV also