The Buckeye Thread

[slfarms]

I would have to agree with Campbell, Margonite and Metella. They've all stated quite well what I wanted to say.

Now let's move on and discuss Buckeyes, genetics and shows. Much nicer topics IMO.

I can't wait for the Ohio Nationals this weekend to see them proudly displaying themselves.

 

[Marengoite]

I'm at a loss to understand how someone could misconstrue what I wrote to think I am being insulting to "BYC readership" or "newbys".

It was as I suspected, then, that you were not deliberately trying to be insulting. That is good to hear. I find it unfortunate, then, that everyone who has responded has taken your reply in a negative light. I would even suggest that your follow up to clarify did little to alleviate the negativity and (without you intending to do so, I'm sure) only reinforced it.

I agree with slfarms - Who will I be seeing at the ON Saturday? I can only come for the morning, but if I can find my bright red Buckeye t-shirt, I'll have that on.

 

[vmdanielsen]

Ohio is way to far for me!! I wish I was going though. Good luck to everyone who goes! Have fun! And please post some pictures for those who will be living vicariously though your journey.

 

[campbellorchard]

Good morning
I agree with the other byc members, this thread is always about lively conversations. Sometimes..Life is too short to try to change those who can not be changed and I for one will continue doing what I'm doing because first I enjoy it and second because it is working for me. To each their own.
Can't wait to be at ON this weekend looking forward to meeting new freinds!

 

[slfarms]

Of course not, but the magazine *is* called "Hobby Farms" for a reason. They're written to appeal to the poultry neophyte, the impulse buyer of fluffy baby chicks in the spring, the folks who didn't even know chickens come in colors, much less breeds. They provide a valuable service with articles on basic animal husbandry and the joys of keeping chickens that are designed to inspire the new owner. We *want* those new people to be interested in Buckeyes (really, any standard breed of poultry) because while 90% of the people who buy the magazine will have tired of chickens and move on to the "next thing" within 3 years, 10% will stick it out for 5 years and upgrade to standard bred birds and maybe 5% will eventually become breeders. Considering how many breeds are in decline, it's great that the Buckeye can garner recognition every 4 years or so in a glossy, full color magazine. Truth be told, it's great when *any* of the old breeds are featured.


My local feed store carries a rack of Leanin' Tree greeting cards, but I've never seen any of those magazines for sale anywhere but the franchise stores. Around here, the franchise (I call them farmer-lite) stores are geared to the urban hobbyist; the person just starting out with four hens in a rabbit hutch in the backyard, someone who bought a house with five acres that they want to keep mowed like a lawn, or the ubiquitous family with a preteen daughter and a horse. You can find hunting supplies like automatic feeders and deer stands and corn in easy to carry 25 pound bags for the guy whose regular exercise consists of walking from the house to the car five days a week, decorative country themed knick knacks, a selection of clothing in pink or camo or John Deere green, some fencing, riding lawnmower parts and load it yourself bagged feed. But when you get serious about your livestock and poultry, around here you're more likely to buy about a half ton of feed at a time from one of the local feed stores that might not have scented candles and Ertil toys for the kids, but the feed is going to be consistently good quality. that's not to say the franchise stores are bad, I just prefer to support a locally owned business that understands the value of customer service. Back up to the dock and they send out a polite young man to load it up.


*sigh* Now if they would only let me borrow one of those guys to take home and help me UNload it, I'd be set.  

Melody,
The more I have re-read this it makes it very clear this was directed at me and my "urban" farm. I don't appreciate it and let's leave the drama out of this site. We all should be working towards the same goal of bettering the Buckeye.

Were we do agree is in wanting to support local owner owned businesses. If I had a feed mill close by I would purchase from them in bulk as it would save me money feeding my little piggy buckeyes.

Now let's get back to supporting, breeding and promotion this beautiful breed and leave the drama at the front door

 

[karenbrat1]

I wish we had more feed'n'farm store choices and some locally made feed in my area, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The only "farm-lite" big box one here is called Big R, which I believe is only in the NW. It's a great store, has pretty much anything you could need or want from backyard garden up through serious farm, but most of the employees are kids that look to be in their early 20s and they don't know beans about animal nutrition. A couple weeks ago I overheard a woman asking what to feed ducks, and the kid was going to sell her 30% gamebird feed, so I interrupted and told them (politely) that was way too high protein, but please, don't take my word for it, google it.

The nearest TSC is about 1000 miles away, from the ads it looks like a real cool store, I wish we had one here to give Big R some competition. There are two other much smaller, local feed stores, but still they only carry brand name feed (Purina and Nutrena), nothing that is made locally. If I want feed in bulk I can drive 55 miles to a farmer who custom mixes anything you want, though he doesn't have a pelletizer so it's very powdery. The nearest actual feed mill is over 80 miles away.

I do enjoy that Hobby Farms "Chickens" magazine and will be looking for the Buckeye issue. In the Nov-Dec issue they published a letter to the editor from me about using egg overabundance, with the recipe I use for southern pound cake. "Chickens" used to publish only quarterly but has gone to bimonthly. It is not available by subscription, but I am lucky in that besides Big R, all of our big grocery stores and a local bookstore carry it along with all manner of other hobby farm and back to the land magazines.

For that pound cake... go to youtube and search for Sweet Melissa's Catering. Instead of using 12 whole eggs as she does, I use 14 yolks plus 5 whole eggs. I also like to use lemon or orange extract, or lemon or orange concentrated flavoring oil, or Fiori de Sicilia instead of vanilla. For the 14 leftover egg whites, I then use 12 for an angel food cake (I use the Traditional Angel Food Cake from King Arthur Flour's website) and the remaining two in Seven Minute Frosting.

 

[slfarms]

Ohio is way to far for me!!  I wish I was going though. Good luck to everyone who goes!  Have fun!  And please post some pictures for those who will be living vicariously though your journey.

I will take a few and share with you. Of course I might share more than buckeyes as I have a wish list of birds I find fascinating and always take pics to compare and decide if I want to tackle more breeds.

Is there any other breed you'd like to see besides Buckeyes?

 

[buckeyechicken]

Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer. Denis Waitley
So with that in mind when is everyone going to fire up the incubators?

 

[karenbrat1]

... when is everyone going to fire up the incubators?

Not putting light on any this winter and I provide no heat either... ya gotta be tough to live on my place. The two breeds I have are in a communal winter "coop" (a bunch of draggable hoop coops butted up to a shed), so probably late January I'll take the roos out and a month later (to make sure there is no chance of crossbred chicks from hen-stored semen) I'll make another pen and put roosters back with their own-breed hens. I'll begin collecting eggs to hatch after we stop having frozen weather -- and therefore frozen eggs -- during the day (probably late March), so I doubt I'll have anything actually hatch before sometime in April.

 

[karenbrat1]

Is there any other breed you'd like to see besides Buckeyes?

Wyandottes and Chanteclers