The Buckeye Thread

[hellbender]

If you know what you are seeing has something 'not right' with it, I would say go with your gut feeling. HOWEVER, all these birds need time to really get to a point where they are passed their awkward stage. Just before the full feathered stage is one where the cockerels' heads and necks don't appear to transition to their body well. That is what you are seeing with your cockerel in the photo. He hasn't filled in with his hackles yet and so it all lays funny and awkward. For most males, I would say they are to a finish point at around 8-9 months. This is the reason why I continually tell 4-H kids to get their birds as close to January 1 as they can for the August shows. (in MN the kids have to have their birds hatched after Jan. 1 of the show year). Get them younger and the tails aren't really developed and neither is the hackle, in other words, those finishing male feathers.

Now the eye, they will be more yellow colored as juveniles. By point of lay, the pullets should have their eyes looking reddish bay though, males too about that age, so somewhere around 6-7 months you can really tell what that is going to be.

The white on the pullet, is that just on some tips or is it in the tail or wings? one or two in the back?

Amen. I have some 4.5 month birds that look like Ichabod Crane, especially the Chanteclers but the Buckeyes too...just no so blatantly. When they run, their legs seem to be working on different time zones. I was prepared to 'off' my two biggest Chanteclers 'til an experienced person told me to hold me to hold off 'til they were 8 or 9 months...very slow to mature. The Buckeyes aren't much better.

This is my first year with Chanteclers and I have never seen such TALL birds at this early age. My Buckeyes are perhaps just a bit heavier than them but they grow at different levels.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Amen. I have some 4.5 month birds that look like Ichabod Crane, especially the Chanteclers but the Buckeyes too...just no so blatantly. When they run, their legs seem to be working on different time zones. I was prepared to 'off' my two biggest Chanteclers 'til an experienced person told me to hold me to hold off 'til they were 8 or 9 months...very slow to mature. The Buckeyes aren't much better.

This is my first year with Chanteclers and I have never seen such TALL birds at this early age. My Buckeyes are perhaps just a bit heavier than them but they grow at different levels.

They are just really starting to enter that finishing stage, so let them do it. Once they put that muscle on and grow those adult feathers, you are going to be very glad you didn't jump the gun.

 

[Minniechickmama]

You know what is even more surprising to see? LF Cornish. They go through a leggy stage where you think, "What the heck happened???" Then they hit about 5 months and the meat starts packing on. They don't mature until after a year or so, and not full until about 18-months. To see them in the gangly stage running through the yard is hilarious, and they are FAST!!!!

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Thanks MCM and Hellbender! Just one more comment about my cockerel and then I'll shut up...... Oh yeah the pullet has white on her primary feather tips too :-/ but none to be seen anywhere else
I think I have found what bugs me about my cockerel the most. It' s the angle of his wings. When I look at nice looking chickens, the primary feathers seem to line up parallel with the back. Not only does my rooster have a humped looking back because of the way the feathers lie, he holds his wings so they angle downwards. The tips of the primaries stick up behind the wing, they are obvious because of the white. Is this something he might grow out of? It's hard to see in this picture but the secondaries overlap the primaries, which stick up at the back (you can see the white wing tips).

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

It's funny Hellbender but now my Buckeyes tower over the Cornish- when they were small chicks it was just the other way around. The Cornish do outweigh them, still. And, the Cornish like to climb trees- and fly off. They make a sickening thud when they hit the ground, which worries me so I hope they stop trying to do that, at some point. I have never seen a Buckeye in a tree yet.

 

[hellbender]

It's funny Hellbender but now my Buckeyes tower over the Cornish- when they were small chicks it was just the other way around. The Cornish do outweigh them, still. And, the Cornish like to climb trees- and fly off. They make a sickening thud when they hit the ground, which worries me so I hope they stop trying to do that, at some point. I have never seen a Buckeye in a tree yet.

In the end, the Buckeyes should tower over your Cornish but they might actually weigh more than the Buckeyes.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Thanks MCM and Hellbender! Just one more comment about my cockerel and then I'll shut up...... Oh yeah the pullet has white on her primary feather tips too :-/ but none to be seen anywhere else
I think I have found what bugs me about my cockerel the most. It' s the angle of his wings. When I look at nice looking chickens, the primary feathers seem to line up parallel with the back. Not only does my rooster have a humped looking back because of the way the feathers lie, he holds his wings so they angle downwards. The tips of the primaries stick up behind the wing, they are obvious because of the white. Is this something he might grow out of? It's hard to see in this picture but the secondaries overlap the primaries, which stick up at the back (you can see the white wing tips).

I can see th white, and I think that is a definitely concern. The wing may just be held that way because he is a little bit of alert mode with you being there with a camera/phone. See if he does the same when you aren't looking or close by. The wing tips should tuck up under the saddle feathers when they are done growing, to some extent. There is no specification as to the angle of the wing carriage in the SOP. As for how it folds, it should be 'folded naturally', primaries folded under the secondaries. However, if they have been dusting or ruffling around on something, they may catch and not look right. Pick him up, and spread his wing, if it comes back like it should, don't worry. However, don't you have some younger ones you said are better? The fluffiness in the back now may not be so much so once all his other feathers are fully in. BUT some lines have really excessive fluffiness in their saddles and in the backs and tails on the females. Many ALBC birds are that way that I have seen or seen in photos., and that is not desirable with the Buckeyes since you want a tighter feather on them.

 

[Minniechickmama]

In the end, the Buckeyes should tower over your Cornish but they might actually weigh more than the Buckeyes.

You should be able to see some similarities in the two breeds since the Cornish was used in the making of the Buckeye, especially about the head on good headed ones

 

[Minniechickmama]

Ignore the god-awful comb on the Cornish cockerel, but compare the photobomber Buckeye and the DC pullets in this one.


This is actually the age you start seeing the Cornish really packing on the thickness of muscle and the width of their breast and thicker legs too. These are around 7 months, maybe a tad older.

 

[stryker]

Is that a buckeye cross or a cornish with that comb. He is huge.