Buckeye Breed Thread

[knittychickadee]

Ah, that's a different story then. What line are yours from? I know Jeff is breeding for egg production instead of meat. That's why I didn't have high expectations for thick breasts. On the other hand, if one is breeding for mean, I'm guessing egg production suffers.

I started with stock from pathfinders which was ALBC/Brown, Chris McCary Albc/Urch, and I met with Duane Urch a couple times and bought some adult pairs from his flock that he put together for me. Egg production doesn't suffer at all. I am careful to select for both qualities as they are meant to be dual purpose. I use the ALBC assessment methods to guide me.

 

[knittychickadee]

I didnt raise any from chicks from Jeff. I have a trio from him. I raised some local chicks for meat. I let mine free range and feed 20% grower. Had great growth. As for eggs from my trio they are large and longer than my productions

oh, these previous statements from you had me confused then as they sounded like you had raised 2 different lines, one being Jeff's, and compared their growth?

I have 2 different lines so to speak so I can say that growth rate does vary depending on who you got them from.

and

If you like a good growth rate and good egg production, I can get you contact info for Jeff and he would be happy to sell you some hatching eggs. This is from personal experience,




So technically, at this point you had good luck growing out the one line on pasture, but no personal experience with Jeff's since you got adults from him. Mine are grown out on 18% protein.

 

[knittychickadee]

Knitty, I am also curious what your "line" is with the meatier carcass!! butchered 300 buckeyes!! That IS impressive. You must sell them for meat(unless you eat a chicken everyday!) What are your customers comments ?

Yes I sell meat (and eating eggs). Pasture raised 'heritage' is very popular around here. I could sell many more if I had the space/energy . I always have a waiting list. I even butcher the cull pullets instead of selling them for layers. I also have a raw fed dog, so I have a ton of feet/heads and 'extras' for her.

 

[knittychickadee]

Don is a wonderful person, and we have emailed back and forth. I did try to get my start in buckeyes this summer, but unfortunately they all died due to coccidia.

I have some speckled sussex, a little bit better than hatchery birds and lay a VERY little egg. For such a big bird very disappointing, I agree. I'm leary of show birds because often egg laying attributes are forgotten. I really need to know a bird can do the job I am looking for.




Editted to add: the coccidia wasn't the fault of the birds, I lost a number of other breeds in the same pen; operator error.

For those of you that are fans of Don Schrider, he has been doing some wonderful articles for the ABPC club newsletter for members!

 

[vmdanielsen]

Yes I sell meat (and eating eggs). Pasture raised 'heritage' is very popular around here. I could sell many more if I had the space/energy . I always have a waiting list. I even butcher the cull pullets instead of selling them for layers. I also have a raw fed dog, so I have a ton of feet/heads and 'extras' for her.

Excellent! I am always glad when I hear of pastured raised heritage birds doing well in the meat market. Well done!!

 

[JoshU]

oh, these previous statements from you had me confused then as they sounded like you had raised 2 different lines, one being Jeff's, and compared their growth?

I have 2 different lines so to speak so I can say that growth rate does vary depending on who you got them from.

and

If you like a good growth rate and good egg production, I can get you contact info for Jeff and he would be happy to sell you some hatching eggs.  This is from personal experience,




So technically, at this point you had good luck growing out the one line on pasture, but no personal experience with Jeff's since you got adults from him. Mine are grown out on 18% protein.

I have closely scrutenized the growth and production between mine and others who raised lay chicks. The lays were faster featherers, layers and overall production. Heavier birds wirh better stronger bone structure. If you are gettinf the same size at ten weeks compared to 8 week cornish hens than you must have the fastest growing buckeyes ever. Thats unheard of. Do you have pics of those 10 week carcasses? Id love to see them.

 

[knittychickadee]

I have closely scrutenized the growth and production between mine and others who raised lay chicks. The lays were faster featherers, layers and overall production. Heavier birds wirh better stronger bone structure. If you are gettinf the same size at ten weeks compared to 8 week cornish hens than you must have the fastest growing buckeyes ever. Thats unheard of. Do you have pics of those 10 week carcasses? Id love to see them.

Seems kind of tough to scrutinize if you haven't grown them yourself. Not here to argue with you about that anymore though as I compared them to my own birds and have my own opinion, you are certainly welcome to your own .

I said I got cornish hen size carcasses at 10 weeks, yes. As in the 24 oz little cornish hens (maybe called cornish game hens too). Those are 4 wk old cornish X, don't know where you got the 8 weeks from. Cornish X grow about twice as fast as regular chickens. I raised hatchery birds for a lot of years and I can tell you that it would be impossible to butcher one of them at ten weeks and have anything but a bunch of bones, so it's really nice to be able to do that with good breeding. Anyways, as I said, perfect little grillers.

 

[007medic]

XXXXXX

 

[cgmccary]

Quote:

Don is a wonderful person,

Yes, I agree. Don Schrider is always willing to share his knowledge and expertise, which as those who know him will tell you, his knowledge about poultry is vast. I consider him one of the foremost authorities on the Buckeye (the other being Duane Urch). I think I have told this story before but I don't know if I have shared it here on this thread but it is worth repeating. In 2007 when we were at his farm, Don had these two Buckeye cockerels and he was asking our opinions about which one he should keep (and why). Prior to these Buckeyes, I had only seen my Buckeyes and several things just popped out at me immediately about these two. First, their tremendous shank size and then their skull width. They were just bigger. We weighed them and then evaluated them using the techniques he had just showed us. They were pretty equal to me; I could not discern a dimes' difference in them. He said he was only keeping one of the two. Later that evening at the ALBC banquet, I pulled him to the side and asked him if he'd decided which one he was going to keep. he said, "no, not yet , , , why, do you want the other one?" I told him yes and that was what I was going to ask. He said to stop by on my way back to Alabama and I could get the one he did not keep. So I did. The cockerel was a superb specimen and I used him in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 as a breeder bird. I line bred him to each generation. I still have the big male. Never showed him because I got him at 7 months old and he had been raised by Don. 2007 was the year Don hatched more than 1000 Buckeye chicks and kept only the top 10%. The male I got was one of the best of that 10%. He really became the foundation bird for the flock I now have. He has been a great Sire. People who have been to my farm to see Buckeyes, I show them that male and say, this is what they all should look like. When my friend Roy kept my Buckeyes for me when I was moving from the city, he said people wanted to buy them when they saw that male. I sent Bob Gilbert (an APA judge and Buckeye breeder) pictures of all my Sires last year and he said, I want eggs from hens in the pen with this male (pointing to the Schrider Rooster). I call that Rooster my "magic bullet." He has sired me a great flock. The one thing I got from Duane Urch was a good female. She had all the qualities I was looking for in a Buckeye pullet/ hen (and I still have her -- she is more than 6 years old). Anyone who has gotten birds/ eggs from me received the marriage of the Urch pullets with Don's ALBC cockerel -- they are the father/mother, grandparents several generations over.

I am making up for only keeping 6 pullets last year. This year I am increasing my flock significantly since the bulk of my flock is aging. I still like breeding from the older hens as they have stood the test of several years, disease free, still laying, etc.

The Schrider male ( a picture doesn't do him justice):






What is clear with this male is that it is nothing like a RIR that some people want to make this breed.

 

[Arielle]

Chris, the male looks like arnold! ANd the hen, wow. SHe looks like a typical male. ( meant as a compliment!)

How do you raise yours? Pasture, free range? penned?