The Buckeye Thread

[FlashPointFarm]

I wish I could've gone to ON this weekend, but other duties called. I just want a backyard flock and I'm leaning towards buckeyes. Pathfinder's glowing words in another thread has convinced me.

I currently don't have chickens or even a coop yet. I'm easing slowly into it, but my husband is on board!

I'm just not sure where to get my birds. Are hatcheries bad places? If I buy from there, am
I helping to conserve the breed by my interest? As much as I want a self sustaining flock, I doubt I will have one, as my husband doesn't want a rooster. So, I'd be getting eggs and meat and maybe buying chicks every year.

Thanks in advance.

Natalie

Getting the hubby on board is half the battle! Buckeyes are a great choice.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Thank you.

I have also heard it referred to as a Parson's Nose. The term(s) for it according to SOP (pg. 14) is the Uropigium or Coccyx.

 

[buckeyechicken]

I wish I could've gone to ON this weekend, but other duties called. I just want a backyard flock and I'm leaning towards buckeyes. Pathfinder's glowing words in another thread has convinced me.

I currently don't have chickens or even a coop yet. I'm easing slowly into it, but my husband is on board!

I'm just not sure where to get my birds. Are hatcheries bad places? If I buy from there, am
I helping to conserve the breed by my interest? As much as I want a self sustaining flock, I doubt I will have one, as my husband doesn't want a rooster. So, I'd be getting eggs and meat and maybe buying chicks every year.

Thanks in advance.

Natalie

If you are wanting good birds to show and raise them to conserve the breed, I would get from a breeder but if eggs and meat is all you are wanting Hatchery chicks are fine. IMO. I will not buy any from a hatchery again because I will be raising my own from hatch. Buying chicks from a breeder now day can be costly since I read an article "A Farmwife's Diary" The article was from a breeder, MizGreenJeans that said it cost 6.02 for them to ship a bird. Hatchery Chicks are a little cheaper. Get a rooster and raise your own is is much cheaper now days, compared to 40 years ago.

 

[Lee]

Hello, Mathew...I'm just north of you in southwest Indy.

 

[Minniechickmama]

If you are wanting good birds to show and raise them to conserve the breed, I would get from a breeder but if eggs and meat is all you are wanting Hatchery chicks are fine. IMO. I will not buy any from a hatchery again because I will be raising my own from hatch. Buying chicks from a breeder now day can be costly since I read an article "A Farmwife's Diary" The article was from a breeder, MizGreenJeans that said it cost 6.02 for them to ship a bird. Hatchery Chicks are a little cheaper. Get a rooster and raise your own is is much cheaper now days, compared to 40 years ago.

Though you have a point about the upfront cost, buckeyechicken, they all eat the same amount of feed to raise. You might pay $2 more per chick from a breeder (or not) but you will likely get a better bred to the breed standard flock out of it, plus personally knowing who bred and raised the birds as well and know where they came from specifically. You can go to a hatchery and get birds that sometimes look like they could have had some other breed mixed in that throws off what the Buckeye really should be. For instance, Buckeyes are a tight feathered breed which means you can see more like what the birds body is from the outside, whereas something like an Orpington or Cochin is a whole lot of fluff.
I started with hatchery birds for the sake of finding the breeds I liked best. Out of the 30+breeds I 'tried on', Buckeyes are my favorites. You would truly enjoy all aspects of this breed from the personality and hardiness to their usefulness as a layer and meat bird. I hand people my Buckeyes when they come for young birds and let them FEEL the difference between them and other breeds I have. They always get big-eyed and are surprised that even chicks of a couple weeks old have some real substance to them, even the pullets.
I would be curious to know what it is that your husband would not like about a rooster? Roosters in a flock serve a very useful position. They are not just there to breed the hens, but to be the caretaker of the flock, if you will. They are the guardian from danger and should warn the flock of danger. They also will find all the goodies to eat. I like a rooster who will find a worm and call all the girls over to eat it rather than the one who charges in and grabs it up and gulps it down. I do not find that my Buckeyes crow excessively either. They actually have been slower to start crowing than many other breeds I have raised. I also enjoy what I find to be the unique sound they make, especially as juvenilles which is similar to a purring sound that I have never heard in other breeds.
This is a wonderful breed, but be careful to sort through what is fact and what is myth. There are claims about them that may be true for some flocks, but not others, like Buckeyes being mouse hunters. Yes, most birds are curious about anything that will move like mice skitter around and they will go after it. My best mouse chasers are my Cochins, of all breeds. I would say any chicken is potential a mouse CHASER, but to be a mouser as a cat would be and actually hunt them, I think is a stretch.

Welcome to the world of the dark red Buckeye. I hope you find them as enjoyable as the rest of us do who have them.

 

[Minniechickmama]

This was my second year at the ON. I learned a lot the last two years and can't wait to return next year and enter our own buckeyes. I just wanted to personally thank Jeff Lay for answering my questions and making this newbie feel comfortable. He is a great mentor and man in general. I had so much fun. Here is a pic of some handsome men, friends, mentors and a special hero. I have lots of pics to sort through and will post later.

Looks like a fun bunch of Buckeye lovers! Wish I could have made it out for the show this time. Maybe I will have to swing out for a Spring show if I can get away from hatching long enough then

 

[buffalogal]

Actually, that was *not* directed at you or anyone else. It was an observation. I have well over twenty years of experience with dog shows, so I am familiar with the Champion Hot Dawg that is campaigned all over the country racking up wins but is not able to reproduce it's fine qualities in any appreciable way in it's offspring. Oh, they might have some puppies that finish, but they are never the show stopper their parent was. It's nothing to see a top dog flown to shows with their handlers on their owner's private jets, but when that animal retires from the show ring, you don't see it's name pop up in the pedigree of anything noteworthy later on. There are plenty of well heeled owners who don't breed, but rather buy 'shares' of promising animals and they finance hauling them all over the country on the circuit winning and and racking up points. In exchange, they get their names in magazines and attend an annual black tie affair and while that doesn't do much for the breed, it makes them happy.

OTOH, I have also seen kennels that have never won a BiS or have had their dogs rank in the top 10 in the point system for their breed and yet several of the puppies in every litter finish or earn at least one title and they keep it up for years, decades. *That* is what I call consistency. It's the same thing with poultry and livestock. It's why I like to see several ages and both sexes of a breeder's stock if they're going to show, rather than the one superstar. And yes, I would leave a 'ringer' at home, as a matter of fact, I have. Last month I scratched the BoB junior at it's next show because for that specie, that was as high as it could "go" until it was an adult, so there was no reason to show it again. I have left what I thought were my best animals home on more than one occasion for several reasons: because I already know they are nice, because the animal is too stressed by the change in routine, because I am more interested in having the breed there so people will stop and ask about it than beating someone else. The best part about a prestigious show is that it gives the breeder a chance to showcase their breed to the public.

People raise and show animals for different reasons; they might just like to compete. They might want the publicity that winning brings so they can make money selling breeding stock. They might enjoy traveling and figure hauling around some animals is as good of an excuse to go as any other. Could be they genuinely want the opinion of people they respect, (their peers, the judge) and inviting them over to the house to discuss their dog, horse, goat or chicken is impractical. I want to look out my window every day and see a yard full of interesting, attractive, healthy animals. I'd like to be able to get other people inspired to also raise that kind of animal because it's satisfying to know those breeds were here before me and that if I do *my* part well they will be here after me. And if that means I need to get out and exhibit once in a while to ensure I'm not becoming kennel blind, that's what I do. I agree, winning *is* fun, but to me it's the least important part about owning and showing my animals. To paraphrase Woody Allen: "I don't want to achieve immortality through my poultry breeding, I want to achieve it by not dying."

And since I can't do that, then I want to be happy, and just as important to me, I want the animals that I raise to be happy too.

 

[cgmccary]

nevermind

 

[Blueface]

It is much easier to win at shows where the competition is less.

Oh I agree; is much easier! So why aren't people doing it on a regular basis? There is a huge problem with the larger shows! You brought up size maybe being to large in the other breeds. I think that is most definitely a problem because its hard to get a fair shake upon comparison in size. Another reason is that; IMO some judges like to take a safe or comfortable pick over something more controversial. What is more controversial now than a buckeye? I mean really! Judges like big feathers, buckeyes don't have big feathers! You can put 200 buckeyes in a row and if the judge wants to pick a big bird from another breed then he will.

The smaller shows (500-1500) and even the medium shows (1501-2700) are the building blocks to get the breed more exposure! Why aren't people doing well at these events? I've observed a few wins by others but they are far and few in between! Maybe if we can do that; the ON might not seem just a huge task. Every breed as a best of breed; most of the time you go home with what you came with; a bird in your hand. And an image of advancing. The next level is where it's at, IMO!

 

[Canieldonrad]

I'd just like to step in and add my comments. 10 years ago, there were 2 Buckeyes in Columbus. Both mine. Judges hardly touched them, because there was no point. 7 years ago in Columbus, there were not many more(I can't recall a number for 2006 it was more than 2, but not much higher). Seems they got about as much attention from Judges as previous years. They were not tiny, but they were a tad underweight then. Their color was not bad, but could have been better. This years show had far better representation. In every sense. The Exhibitors were up. The size on birds(at least with my own, I didn't handle any birds other than mine) is way up, a couple of mine are over Standard at 26 weeks. The type, color and vigor was MUCH better than the birds we had up until 2006.

There were multiple people mixing lines and improving size, type, color and vigor over the time frame of 7 years. I don't care who it was, or what they did. But clearly it has worked, Buckeyes look great now. They look like they should, they feel like they should, and there is solid interest in the breed again.

My biggest regret is that we got rid of all of our birds in 2006 due to work, college and lack of available time to care for birds. I had no idea that the year we got out was the year that Buckeyes really began to boom.