The Buckeye Thread

[Blueface]

I'm getting everything set up for the season too- I have to build quite a few mobile coop/ tractors. I've decided that outdoors is best for housing. This winter was horrible for high humidity- I'm seeing the value of that pea comb more and more. I'm very surprised there are so few breeds with pea combs.

Chanteclers are similar to buckeyes and were originated in Canada.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Chanteclers are similar to buckeyes and were originated in Canada.

When I was choosing breeds it was very close between the Partridge Chanteclers and the Buckeyes- but the Buckeyes won ! (PS: I'm not fond of walnut combs anyway, looks like some school kid left their gum on the chickens' beaks). Nettie was right, pea combs are the best!

 

[Minniechickmama]

I prefer the looks of the pea comb too, but Chanteclers have a cushion comb which is a smooth lump, basically, shouldn't have folds or ridges.

I have actually been toying with the idea of doing some crossing to have a New Hampshire type bird with a pea comb. My NHs are very good layers and pretty comparable to the Buckeyes in hardiness and dual purpose qualities, but those danged single combs and their wattles are a liability in our climate. Someone made the RIR into a Rosecomb variety, so who knows, maybe I will actually give that idea a try. In the meantime, the Buckeyes make me pretty happy.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I prefer the looks of the pea comb too, but Chanteclers have a cushion comb which is a smooth lump, basically, shouldn't have folds or ridges.

I have actually been toying with the idea of doing some crossing to have a New Hampshire type bird with a pea comb. My NHs are very good layers and pretty comparable to the Buckeyes in hardiness and dual purpose qualities, but those danged single combs and their wattles are a liability in our climate. Someone made the RIR into a Rosecomb variety, so who knows, maybe I will actually give that idea a try. In the meantime, the Buckeyes make me pretty happy.

I agree a pea comb belongs on every breed !

( Too bad I culled that New Hampshire coloured Buckeye rooster, I'd have saved him for you.)
At least Buckeyes didn't turn into pea combed Rhode island reds ! I think they would have been lost then.
My issue with rose combs is that they still have huge wattles, and you get those fertility issues,

 

[Minniechickmama]

I didn't find my Wyandottes to have such big wattles. Bigger than Buckeyes have, but not huge like my Wellies and New Hampshires.
Considering that Buckeyes and RIRs are two completely different birds, I am glad that things didn't turn out that way either.
I think I still would have passed on that cockerel, wasn't he the duck foot with extra toes? LOL

I have got nice birds of both breeds I can play with if I really want to go with that project. I will have to look more at their type differences and see how it might play out. It would take a few years to do.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I didn't find my Wyandottes to have such big wattles. Bigger than Buckeyes have, but not huge like my Wellies and New Hampshires.
Considering that Buckeyes and RIRs are two completely different birds, I am glad that things didn't turn out that way either.
I think I still would have passed on that cockerel, wasn't he the duck foot with extra toes? LOL

I have got nice birds of both breeds I can play with if I really want to go with that project. I will have to look more at their type differences and see how it might play out. It would take a few years to do.

No, not that one, with the extra toes and duck foot. He had a big single comb too.You thought he was actually a New Hampshire cross, no Buckeye in there at all.
You probably wouldn't have wanted the New Hampshire coloured Buckeye either!

 

[goodb]

Believe it or not, broody season has begun in northern Indiana and one of my Buckeye hens is the first out of the gate.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Here are some pictures of my Buckeyes, nine months old . Please let me know what you think, I realize they probably aren't good for breeding, but I'm practising looking for strengths and weaknesses.
They are all fluffed because of the cold, but I think they should all have harder feathering anyway.

9 month old Rooster- yes he does have red eyes! Old standard? and his colour is pretty dark, hard to see in the photos. He's got some black smuttyness under his chest. His sickle feathers are normally like that, both off to one side. (His head is dirty because I smeared his comb and wattles with vaseline for frost protection ( he did have a few spots of frost damage in January, it was so humid here) and the dirt from the dust bath has stuck. )
His left wattle is shorter than the right.
His legs are a good dark yellow. His back does look pinched, but I think it's just excess saddle feather because underneath he does have a good wide straight back all the way to the end. His keel is straight. I've often thought he looked too round, maybe short in the back, but could it be an optical illusion because of the feathering?
The hen has some white in her primaries, and normally shows more cushion than in the picture- :-( and she's a bit light (I think) in colour and eyes, but she's a good size.
I just have to get around to weighing them, but I think both are a bit below standard weight.










So these are the best that I have- worth a test breed or forget it and wait for better? I'm getting 4 dozen hatching eggs from Crystal McKinnon in Alberta this spring.

 

[Blueface]

I agree a pea comb belongs on every breed !   ( Too bad I culled that New Hampshire coloured Buckeye rooster, I'd have saved him for you.)
At least Buckeyes didn't turn into pea combed Rhode island reds ! I think they would have been lost then.
My issue with rose combs is that they still have huge wattles, and you get those fertility issues,

Actually, around 1902 the RIR club persuaded Nettie to name the buckeyes; pea comb RIRs and she did. They tried to change Nettie's standard for them and remove the slate bar undercolor. At that time Buckeyes were much darker than the RIRs. Long story made short, Nettie didn't like the changes and changed her breeds name back to the Buckeye Reds before they were recoginized into the standard. After the breed was recognized, the RIR community had a fit about the name including "red" and they moved to the APA to have the "red" struck from the name and succeeded because the RIR community wanted to be the only "red" breed. So as a result, the breed was called the Buckeye only.

 

[Blueface]

Your male is too short in the back and his color is not good, he's too light. Outside of looking small (probably due to age; but he should be 8 lbs by now), I don't see anything else that is troubling. It may be there and it may not, but the color on the front of the shanks should be a nice reddish horn.

The hen looks fluffy, her tail looks pinched (note: "looks".... Hard to say that it is from a pic) if she has white in her primaries, that will be passed on and IMO is an obvious reason to cull her. I got a hen from somebody and it passed white wing feathers. I had to cull the whole lot of them because of color issues.