The Buckeye Thread

[Marengoite]

If you need me to drive up to your county to talk with the committee about the idea or anything else; I'd be more than happy too. I'm currently the head of my counties poultry committee. It's a great idea and something that should be able to prosper if conveyed the right way. One idea to gain the initial interests is to have a mandatory QC/QA seminar and include the concept of dual purpose; proper poultry husbandry and the need for pullorum/typhoid testing. We would have make everything entertaining to a point because we could lose a child's attention quickly.
Quote:
I may give you a holler this fall, when the Poultry Committee meets. Mary, who is head of the Poultry Committee, is the one who does our QA for poultry at the fairgrounds in the spring. I may put a bug in her ear about educating them on the difference between meat/egg/fancy poultry classes and talk about dual birds as a footnote. I will be getting together with her in April-ish as soon as her Self Buff turkeys start laying so I can incubate some eggs. I'll see what she thinks about expanding the "general knowledge" section of QA to include a discussion of the historical and commercial importance of dual birds.

 

[Marengoite]

A calm and peaceful -11F outside this morning. Nothing but clear skies and a crisp morning! Pea combs are luxury in this weather!

Loved this view on the way in to work this a.m. Could see the whole circle of the moon with the crescent shining brightly. Anyone setting eggs by the phase of the moon?

 

[slfarms]

~~Wonder what happened to the likes of cgmccary and fowlman1 (Walt). Their insight, wisdom, knowledge and experience is sorely missed. Hope to see both and/or like minded contributors again soon.

Quite a few on this thread are very knowledgable and have show and utility breeding experience with the breed.

What are your goals/desires for your birds? Possibly we can help you with your questions.

One of the things to remember with the buckeye breed is to remember Nettie's goals for the bird....dark red garnet color, balanced frame with good meat and egg production. They should have the look of the Cornish in the head/eye and not be crow headed. Their backs should be wide and stay wide all the way to the popes nose so that we get the proper tail set. Feathering should be tight and not fluffy so that we don't get cushions before the tail. Wings should be carried high but not so high as to cause fluff on the sides of the birds.


So how can we help you with your goals for the breed?

 

[Marengoite]

~~Wonder what happened to the likes of cgmccary and fowlman1 (Walt). Their insight, wisdom, knowledge and experience is sorely missed. Hope to see both and/or like minded contributors again soon.

Walt has been posting on the Heritage LF II thread. Hard to fill Bob Blosl's shoes, but he's giving it the old college try.

Would love to hear from other Buckeye breeders like Jeff Lay. His tips when I first started getting into chickens in general and Buckeyes in particular were particularly valuable. He was the first one to tell me that I should research everything I could find and evaluate later rather than just taking what I read as gospel simply because it was "on the internet." Probably the most helpful bit of advice I got. So much of what is out there on Buckeyes gets read, repeated, and passed along as "fact" when it's really just a bunch of people quoting the same sources over and over again. Or people quoting the people who are quoting the sources.

Probably the best source of reliable information is the ABC web site and blog (see my sig line for the link). I have not found anything even remotely comparable for the other breed I'm interested in - Hamburgs. And there is even less when it comes to raising turkeys.

And of course, you can't discount all the expertise that our own "master breeder" Joe Shumaker brings to this thread. As good as Chris and Walt are, I don't believer either of them have Master Breeder certification in Buckeyes yet. Joe is either well on his way there or maybe just a few points shy.

I think between Jeff and Joe, we would have a ton of insight, wisdom, and experience. I know that I rely on them quite a bit for advice on my flock.

 

[JoshU]

~~Wonder what happened to the likes of cgmccary and fowlman1 (Walt). Their insight, wisdom, knowledge and experience is sorely missed. Hope to see both and/or like minded contributors again soon.

I can send you their contact information if you like.

 

[Blueface]

Walt has been posting on the Heritage LF II thread. Hard to fill Bob Blosl's shoes, but he's giving it the old college try.

Would love to hear from other Buckeye breeders like Jeff Lay. His tips when I first started getting into chickens in general and Buckeyes in particular were particularly valuable. He was the first one to tell me that I should research everything I could find and evaluate later rather than just taking what I read as gospel simply because it was "on the internet." Probably the most helpful bit of advice I got. So much of what is out there on Buckeyes gets read, repeated, and passed along as "fact" when it's really just a bunch of people quoting the same sources over and over again. Or people quoting the people who are quoting the sources.

Probably the best source of reliable information is the ABC web site and blog (see my sig line for the link). I have not found anything even remotely comparable for the other breed I'm interested in - Hamburgs. And there is even less when it comes to raising turkeys.

And of course, you can't discount all the expertise that our own "master breeder" Joe Shumaker brings to this thread. As good as Chris and Walt are, I don't believer either of them have Master Breeder certification in Buckeyes yet. Joe is either well on his way there or maybe just a few points shy.

I think between Jeff and Joe, we would have a ton of insight, wisdom, and experience. I know that I rely on them quite a bit for advice on my flock.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Rick, I've spoken many times to Jeff about joining our discussions here. I believe he might actually make an appearance and share his thoughts with us.

 

[Blueface]

Loved this view on the way in to work this a.m. Could see the whole circle of the moon with the crescent shining brightly. Anyone setting eggs by the phase of the moon?

It was a beautiful sky this morning; I was just glad the wind was non existant! The "called-for" wind chills were going to be brutal; as low as -30F..........I don't use the moon phase to set eggs......the incubator tells me when its ready and if there is enough room

.

 

[Blueface]

I may give you a holler this fall, when the Poultry Committee meets. Mary, who is head of the Poultry Committee, is the one who does our QA for poultry at the fairgrounds in the spring. I may put a bug in her ear about educating them on the difference between meat/egg/fancy poultry classes and talk about dual birds as a footnote. I will be getting together with her in April-ish as soon as her Self Buff turkeys start laying so I can incubate some eggs. I'll see what she thinks about expanding the "general knowledge" section of QA to include a discussion of the historical and commercial importance of dual birds.

Yes, please do. I'm more than willing to help anybody especially children!! If you guys need any help at all, just get ahold of me.

 

[Blueface]

Here is a bit of History: A letter written my Mrs. Metcalf herself! Kudos goes to Mr. Jeffery Lay for uncovering a wonderful peice of history!


Quote:

(written by Nettie and printed in 1916 American Buckeye Club catalogue)

Copyright 2014: American Buckeye Club (all rights reserved)

Notice in her writings: "beautiful dark red, stay red Buckeyes"; As for color – well, my own are so dark a red that at a little distance in the shadow they look fairly black, but when the sun strikes them and brings out that rich, garnish luster

I feel that this sentence:

"And now, let us turn our face toward the new season’s opportunities for a moment. Let us cull flocks carefully, remembering that every defect perpetuated redounds against our credit, our skill, and our breed. And of all things, let us be honest with our customers and give each one his full dollar’s worth and as much more as we can afford. Let each one strive to raise just a few better birds than ever before, rather than to see how many we can get out of the shell."

Should really take on a great importance! Great care should be utilized when selecting brood fowl and no matter the defect; we should breed away from it because the defect will show up in future generations! This can be observed even in todays Buckeyes!! Breeders need to be honest with whom they sell birds! The last sentence I particularly like: Aim to breed a few better quality birds than breed birds just for the sake of reproducing them!!

"Let our watchword be IMPROVEMENT, and let each and every one of us strive to make his or her flock the nearest perfection in shape, in weight, in color, that it is possible to attain until all the world and his wife will be tumbling over themselves to get a peep at our rich, dark garnet red, yellow-legged, golden-skinned, delicious-flavored, the egg machines – PEACOMBED BUCKEYES."

Couldn't have said it better myself!!

 

[slfarms]

...

As for color – well, my own are so dark a red that at a little distance in the shadow they look fairly black, but when the sun strikes them and brings out that rich, garnish luster

I feel I'm going in the right direction just reading that as mine are the same way. So dark they look almost black until the sun hits them.


"And now, let us turn our face toward the new season’s opportunities for a moment. Let us cull flocks carefully, remembering that every defect perpetuated redounds against our credit, our skill, and our breed. And of all things, let us be honest with our customers and give each one his full dollar’s worth and as much more as we can afford. Let each one strive to raise just a few better birds than ever before, rather than to see how many we can get out of the shell."
I agree with her. I don't mass produce but select carefully the pairings that compliment and correct any flaws I see. Knowing I will be looking for the best birds out of the hatch

I wish I could go back in time to meet this great woman.