The Buckeye Thread

[Marengoite]

Quote:

Chickielady,

You may want to check your breed history. The creator of the breed says, "The laying qualities of the Buckeye are proverbial, and they are excellent sitters and mothers, although not very much inclined to broodiness." If your Buckeyes are "much inclined to broodiness" then it is because it was bred into them since Nettie says the didn't have it when she created the breed.

As for start and stop on laying, like all other chickens, the egg laying faculty is a hormonal response to lengthening daylight. As long as you provide at least 14 hours of light a day, they will continue to lay. And for the same reason, commercial layers, if exposed to natural sunlight only, will also cease production in the winter and not start up until spring. It has nothing to do with whether they are an alleged "heritage" breed or not. You can confirm this yourself if you like. Just keep the lights on in the coop this fall and into the winter and see what happens.

Edited by staff

 

[Minniechickmama]

Not everyone's experiences with a breed are the same. Same breed does not mean same line or same strain. Hatchery type birds are not the equivalent of breeder quality and neither are the same, necessarily as show quality.
Chickielady, your Buckeyes may have come from those bred with a higher inclination to broodiness, and therefore will brood and rear. Personally, my experience with them is that they have tended to NOT be broody. But here is the thing. Just because that is MY experience, I understand and respect it is not yours.

My mother always said, 'you attract more bees with honey than vinegar'.

 

[poltroon]

Broodiness is both a function of genetics and husbandry. If eggs are collected frequently, there's never an opportunity for a hen to go broody.

I can't say that I've kept track of the specific hen, but without intentionally doing so, I've had Buckeyes go broody and hatch a couple of batches of chicks on their own of uncollected eggs. I've also seen in other breeds that chicks that were raised by a broody are more likely to be broody themselves - IE I believe with my very tiny sample and very little knowledge that there is some learned behavior as well as genetic.

I guess I don't know what Metcalf meant by those words you quoted, "they are excellent sitters and mothers, although not very much inclined to broodiness" because I always interpreted sitting and mothering in a hen to be... broodiness. Maybe she meant the aggressive/defensive/persistent behavior that some hens exhibit if you try to take eggs out from under them. I haven't seen that in Buckeyes. You reach under, take the eggs away, and they seem to just deal and go about their day.

In any case, both Cochins and Cornish are noted for broody behavior, and that's half the Buckeye cocktail.

 

[Chickielady]

Not everyone's experiences with a breed are the same. Same breed does not mean same line or same strain. Hatchery type birds are not the equivalent of breeder quality and neither are the same, necessarily as show quality.
Chickielady, your Buckeyes may have come from those bred with a higher inclination to broodiness, and therefore will brood and rear. Personally, my experience with them is that they have tended to NOT be broody. But here is the thing. Just because that is MY experience, I understand and respect it is not yours.

My mother always said, 'you attract more bees with honey than vinegar'.

Mine came from Chris McCary, in AL.
They were VERY broody, and extremely nice birds, with not even the cocks harming chicks.
The cocks would in fact, feed the chicks.
I've never heard of any Buckeyes being mean, or UN broody for lack of a better word.
My apologies to any that have found them opposite, as you said.
I speak fully as a whole, in general, and from my own experiences.

 

[Chickielady]

Chickielady,

You may want to check your breed history. The creator of the breed says, "The laying qualities of the Buckeye are proverbial, and they are excellent sitters and mothers, although not very much inclined to broodiness." If your Buckeyes are "much inclined to broodiness" then it is because it was bred into them since Nettie says the didn't have it when she created the breed.

As for start and stop on laying, like all other chickens, the egg laying faculty is a hormonal response to lengthening daylight. As long as you provide at least 14 hours of light a day, they will continue to lay. And for the same reason, commercial layers, if exposed to natural sunlight only, will also cease production in the winter and not start up until spring. It has nothing to do with whether they are an alleged "heritage" breed or not. You can confirm this yourself if you like. Just keep the lights on in the coop this fall and into the winter and see what happens.

Edited by staff

All our coops have lights in them.
I guess it is/was extra broodiness due to the particular line I had.
We have had poultry for over 45 years, and coops with lights on timers, but the Black Javas, and the Buckeyes (that I had) were late on lay & super broody.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Broodiness is both a function of genetics and husbandry. If eggs are collected frequently, there's never an opportunity for a hen to go broody.

I can't say that I've kept track of the specific hen, but without intentionally doing so, I've had Buckeyes go broody and hatch a couple of batches of chicks on their own of uncollected eggs. I've also seen in other breeds that chicks that were raised by a broody are more likely to be broody themselves - IE I believe with my very tiny sample and very little knowledge that there is some learned behavior as well as genetic.

I guess I don't know what Metcalf meant by those words you quoted, "they are excellent sitters and mothers, although not very much inclined to broodiness" because I always interpreted sitting and mothering in a hen to be... broodiness. Maybe she meant the aggressive/defensive/persistent behavior that some hens exhibit if you try to take eggs out from under them. I haven't seen that in Buckeyes. You reach under, take the eggs away, and they seem to just deal and go about their day.

In any case, both Cochins and Cornish are noted for broody behavior, and that's half the Buckeye cocktail.

That is definitely a phrase that could be interpreted several ways, especially out of context like this. Since this breed was developed before everyone had incubators, it wouldn't have been very practical to develop a farm utility breed that didn't incubate her own eggs. And Nettie was all about having self-sufficient, hard working farm birds. Maybe she intended this to mean that they weren't so inclined to broodiness that they spent too much time brooding instead of producing enough eggs, like some of the highly broody breeds do. Or maybe it was a comment on behavior while brooding, as suggested by Poltroon. Or maybe something else. But to interpret this as meaning that they don't (shouldn't) brood would make the phrase self-contradictory, as what is brooding if it's not sitting and mothering? And from a historical and logical point of view, I just have to believe that Nettie's hens were good broodies. It's the only thing that makes sense.

 

[poltroon]

I should have done my research instead of writing off the cuff. ALL the breeds that went into the Buckeye - Cochin, Cornish, Plymouth Rock, and Modern Game, are noted for broody behavior.

And, I think Sydney Acres made good points about the context of the time.

 

[Marengoite]

Broodiness is both a function of genetics and husbandry. If eggs are collected frequently, there's never an opportunity for a hen to go broody.


I had a Barred Rock that was persistently broody, even when we collected from her daily. She was very persistent about it for almost a month before she gave up and joined the rest of the flock.


I guess I don't know what Metcalf meant by those words you quoted, "they are excellent sitters and mothers, although not very much inclined to broodiness" because I always interpreted sitting and mothering in a hen to be... broodiness. Maybe she meant the aggressive/defensive/persistent behavior that some hens exhibit if you try to take eggs out from under them. I haven't seen that in Buckeyes. You reach under, take the eggs away, and they seem to just deal and go about their day.

In any case, both Cochins and Cornish are noted for broody behavior, and that's half the Buckeye cocktail.

I agree with you on the quote. I'm wondering if what we think is "broody" is not what old timers thought was broody. That quote does make me wonder.

 

[Chickielady]

That is definitely a phrase that could be interpreted several ways, especially out of context like this. Since this breed was developed before everyone had incubators, it wouldn't have been very practical to develop a farm utility breed that didn't incubate her own eggs. And Nettie was all about having self-sufficient, hard working farm birds. Maybe she intended this to mean that they weren't so inclined to broodiness that they spent too much time brooding instead of producing enough eggs, like some of the highly broody breeds do. Or maybe it was a comment on behavior while brooding, as suggested by Poltroon. Or maybe something else. But to interpret this as meaning that they don't (shouldn't) brood would make the phrase self-contradictory, as what is brooding if it's not sitting and mothering? And from a historical and logical point of view, I just have to believe that Nettie's hens were good broodies. It's the only thing that makes sense.

Exactly my own thoughts !
And I am sure Nettie did not have lights on timers in her coops~
A heritage breed was expected to be self sufficient, including broodiness.

That said, and as it has also been said, all the birds that went into the Buckeye's background were known to have a high rate of broodiness.
Despite those facts, my birds were super broody!
I love them dearly. the friendliest birds I have ever had.


Nest box after nest box.........................


Daddy~





OK, enough of this for me, I am outta here to go get to work.
I have too many chicks/ducklings & dinner to make.

 

[Marengoite]

Quote:
Sydney Acres,

I agree that out of context this could be interpreted a number of ways. Google "Metcalf Buckeye Poultry Success" and you'll find the magazine article this quote was taken from. It starts on page 8 and is continued later.

You will also see that there are LOTS of advertisements for incubators and brooders, so the idea that the breed was developed before their use was widespread lacks historical foundation. Things weren't so bleak at the beginning of the 20th Century that most homes in Ohio didn't have electricity and there were plenty of coal oil heaters. Don't forget that Edison was from northern Ohio, same as Nettie, and electrification had been going on since the 1880's. Commercial incubation was big business in Ohio when Nettie developed the Buckeye. For that matter, it still is if Meyers, Mount Healthy, Ridgeway, and others are any gauge.

I just find it odd that you think from "a historical and logical point of view" Nettie's birds had to be good broodies, in direct contradiction of Nettie herself. Clearly it's not the only thing that makes sense.