Quote:
There's was no Buckeye blood added to the Rhode Island Red. Might be that there is Pea Comb R.I. Red blood in the Buckeye but with all the well documented information out there on the R.I. Red not one time did I read that there even might be Buckeye blood added to the Rhode Island Red.
We know that Ms Metcalf did call her bird a Pea Comb RIR for a small time and that some breeders of the true Pea comb R.I. Reds started showing there there Pea comb R.I. Reds as Buckeyes. So my guess would be that there are a lot of Pea Comb Red blood in the Buckeye.
Chris
Chris, I am posting a link and part of the article, and the reference source, that states that buckeyes where mixed with rir to improve the rir breed.
I am not saying this article is accurate and in fact in my original post I stated it "Has been Suggested" that the BE where used to improve the RIR. I have no way of knowing if the article or the Author is accurate or not, hence my reference to the "Has been suggested"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckeye_(chicken)
History
See also: Selective breeding
The Buckeye was first bred and developed in 1896, by a Warren, Ohio resident named Nettie Metcalf.[1] They are the only American breed of chicken known to have been developed by a woman, despite the fact that women were customarily given charge of the household poultry flock throughout much of U.S. history.[2] Metcalf crossbred Barred Plymouth Rocks, Buff Cochins, and some black breasted red games to produce the Buckeye. Her goal was a functional breed that could produce well in the bitter Midwest winters. Contrary to popular belief the Buckeye breed was created before the Rhode Island Red breed and actually sent birds to the RIR breeders for them to improve their breed.[3]
Ekarius, Carol (2007), Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds, Storey Publishing: Storey Pub.,
Here are some questions that come to mind when I see the history of the Buckeye.
Buff Cochin - Was it a "Yellow" Royal Cochin Chinas (a non-feather footed breed) or the "Yellow" Shanghai fowl (the breed we call a Cochin today)
Black Breasted Red Game male - What breed was it? There was a lot of breeds of Game that sported/ sports the Black Breasted Red pattern. I tend to believe that it was the Red Malay do to the Pea comb of the Buckeye.
Now if the Black Breasted Red Games she used where Malay fowl then she would have had to get them after 1846 because that was the year Captain Richard Wheatland imported the first Malay fowl into the U.S. and Captain Richard Wheatland imported the Malay fowl for breeding into the R.I Red.
I did find a post on the Buckeye on another form that states that there was some Wheaten or dark Wheaten in colored birds also added.
Mrs. Metcalf set out to create a large red fowl. She began by first crossing a Buff Cochin male to Barred Plymouth Rock females. She then crossed the half Cochin pullets with a Black Breasted Red Game male she acquired the next year, probably of Oriental ancestry and genetically Wheaten or dark Wheaten in color. She took the red offspring of this mating to create the breed.
If there was a Wheaten or dark Wheaten colored birds of Oriental ancestry added to the Buckeye that bird could have been the old Pea Comb R.I. Red because the old Pea Comb R.I. Red was very gamey in type.
Chris
