Golden Buffs-- sharing information about mine

[patienceprudencecharity]

Hello!

I had trouble finding info about Golden Buffs before I got mine, so thought I would share my experience.

I bought 3 seventeen week old pullets from Meyer Hatchery. They are very pleasant, friendly, and very quiet chickens. The first started laying in two weeks, and within a month all 3 were laying. As a pet owner, I really like that their eggs are all different shades of brown (from rich caramel to a creamy pale brown). The ladies vary a good bit in appearance, too. I really like that, since it has been easy to get to know their personalities, keep track of who is laying, etc.

The ladies are now laying every day. There has been a double-yolker most days, and on a few days early on I actually got 4 eggs from the 3 birds.

My three ladies have a henhouse and yard, but they love bugs and greens and definitely still have their foraging instincts intact. They are interested in interacting with me and "talk" to me excitedly when I visit them.

These are NOT squawcky or flighty birds. As they have gotten older and grown in confidence, they have begun to vocalize more, but in a nice, friendly, soft-spoken way. They do not bother my neighbors at all. Most of the time if I sit outside watching them they are silent, keeping busy scratching and pecking at things.

I bought started pullets because these are pets, so I wanted to be able to have vaccinated birds to give them the best chance of a long, healthy life. I also didn't have a great setup for raising chicks (no garage, and noone home during the day to keep an eye on the dogs, cat, and chicks). The downside to started pullets is the beak trimming that is done. For two of the ladies, the damage was modest. However, for one the trim was very severe (she has grown more slowly than the others, and I have to pay attention to making sure food is as accessible to her as the others).

My Golden Buffs are really wonderful birds. They are my first chickens, and it has been a great experience. I am fond of the ladies and feel they are very easy keepers and pleasant additions to our family. I would recommend them highly to anyone who would like a medium sized hen with a quiet, gentle temperament, interesting eggs, and a little variety in appearance.

I'm not sure how to add photos here, but if you are interested, feel free to email me and I'll send you photos of my ladies and their eggs.[[

]https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/14274_img_0703_cropped_1.jpg[/img]]

 

[jimnjay]

Very Pretty Birds, Thanks for sharing.

 

[Baybrio]

Lovely photo. It is nice to know that the Golden Buffs are friendly even when raised in a large group as I imagine Meyer's must use.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[patienceprudencecharity]

Hi,
I posted a whole page about my Golden Buffs (more pictures) last night on a "member page":

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=14274

My three ladies are named Patience, Prudence, and Charity, because they seem to have such nice characters.

After many years of dreaming over chicken books and magazines, I really wanted Buff Orps or 3 different breeds (a Buff Orp, an Australorp, and a Barred Rock). I decided to go for vaccinated pullets (the Golden Buffs were my best option). I think I made a good decision.

Golden Buffs are a nice quiet, docile option for backyard henkeepers who just want 2-3 birds. One of the nice things about them is their small size (they are not too much bigger than bantam Cochins-- around 4 pounds). That means they can fit into smaller housing and be happy in smaller backyard henyards. My ladies roost and lay their eggs in an inexpensive converted two-story solid-floor rabbit hutch, and it works just fine for them and is easy to keep spotless every day (takes about 2 minutes). Not an option that would work well with Buff Orps. I'll have to insulate it better for winter, since they are smaller birds, but overall I think the smaller birds are less messy, eat less, need less space, lay more eggs, etc.--- seems like they have it all, just not the fancy feathers.

About Meyer's...

I think the people at Meyers are really nice. They must treat their birds well, since mine were not afraid of people and seemed to have had good experiences with humans in their past. I actually picked up my birds, even though the hatchery was about a 3 hour drive (ugh)-- gas cost as much as postage, but I thought I'd rather spend the Saturday driving and make sure they were safe/not boiling in the back of a Fed Ex truck, since the cost was no different for me. I kind of wanted to check out the hatchery, too, to size them up.

There is a nice little poultry supply store at the hatchery, which ialso appears to have a nicely run dairy operation. The birds were transported to the front of the farm and waiting in batches in large rolling stacked cages (stocked at a reasonable level even for that short-term situation/not overly crowded). I noted a lot of variety in coloration among the Golden Buffs, and feel my 3 birds represent the range of Golden Buff pullets I saw very accurately.

The employees could not have been nicer-- I really appreciated how helpful they were. When I arrived many farmers (mostly Amish) were there for the monthly scheduled Saturday pullet pickup day. It was a lot of fun to watch the buggies and wagons coming in. Even though the day was very hectic for the staff, with hundreds of chickens being picked up, they were sooooooooo kind and friendly to this first-time chicken owner. I was very nervous (was I doing something crazy? would the chickens be wild? what kind of feeder is best? etc etc etc), and they took a lot of time out to help me, never making me feel like they were too busy. I found the same thing when I talked to them on the phone-- very kind, courteous, and understanding. I highly recommend them as good people to work with.