The Buckeye Thread

[Pathfinders]

A quick note on bathing birds; I show several breeds, Buckeye is not one of them, but I view bathing a bird as a respectful practice toward the judges. Can you imagine looking at hundreds of dirty birds up front & personal in just a few hours?

Right or wrong, two sides to each story, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something that's appreciated by the judges. JMO, I am also no expert, but I do alright at the shows.

I agree. Having just spent the morning washing birds, I am here to tell you, if you've never done it, then you've never seen how dirty the water is when you're dumping it out!

And of course, nothing like washing your best hen to trigger her right into molt. And you have to dry the darned bird afterwards anyway, and even more feathers fly off! <sigh>

 

[Pathfinders]

Has anyone ever had issues with buckeye cockerels being "aggressive". Out of 10, I have one that is a little mean. When I walk into their run he runs up and try's to flog me. Some of the others bite my legs( I am usually wearing shorts) and a couple bite my shoes but only 1 or 2 have flogged me. They are also the smaller ones and so will be first into the freezer. My girls are the friendliest as can be. Just wondering if I did something wrong raising them

I am sure you've done nothing wrong. Remember, Buckeyes do have Game Birds in their ancestry. So every now and then an aggressive male will come up. I find they make tasty chicken and dumplings.

When I had Dutch Bantams, I would sometimes save a mean one who had particularly nice type, but I don't bother with Buckeyes, since friendliness is one of the things they're known for.

And sometimes pecking at shoes is just a bird being a little over friendly, who doesn't know his boundaries. You can gently swat them away if they do that, and usually they will learn. Those that come back to flog should be marked for culling.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Has anyone ever had issues with buckeye cockerels being "aggressive". Out of 10, I have one that is a little mean. When I walk into their run he runs up and try's to flog me. Some of the others bite my legs( I am usually wearing shorts) and a couple bite my shoes but only 1 or 2 have flogged me. They are also the smaller ones and so will be first into the freezer. My girls are the friendliest as can be. Just wondering if I did something wrong raising them

I doubt you did anything wrong in raising them. Every bird is an individual and there are bound to be the occasional mean bird. Buckeyes are known for being calm, gentle birds but since there is (or at least was at one time) a strain called "Mean as Snakes" I imagine that aggressive birds are not unheard of.

My last cockerel was unfortunately not a keeper temperament-wise. He wasn't so bad that he had a go at us every time, but at least once a week or once every other week he would come at us and if we didn't step into his space and walk him around the pen he would attempt to flog us. He never really got a good solid hit in enough to cause any real harm on me or my husband. But I always felt the need to keep an eye on him and be on guard for his attacks whenever we went into the pen. What really sealed his fate though was when he went after my 4 year old. I don't expect roosters to tolerate my child being obnoxious and chasing the chickens, but my son was walking away from the rooster at the time going back to the feed bin to get more scratch for the chickens at the time of the attack. I'm really hoping that whomever we keep from this latest hatch is more tolerant of children.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have not had any experience with a mean Buckeye yet, and I know of only one that anyone ever purchased from me that got that way. I would not breed anything that was aggressive regardless of breed or quality because that is just propagating that bad trait. That being said, it is a heritable trait. Some strains are riddled with mean roosters because of the way that strain was bred. I have heard of the "mean as snakes" not sure if it is myth or fact, but if it is, I would avoid it. There is bound to be some odd birds that have a bad attitude, but one trait of the Buckeye is their calm nature and that should be bred into them just as much a part of them as a breed as any other trait. That is my opinion.

A little story...a couple of years ago my main breeding rooster dropped his wing at me in the pen. I don't wait until second offenses to address this type of behavior, so I put him in the corner and held him down with my foot for a couple of minutes. I didn't hurt him, but I made sure he wasn't going to wiggle away. After that, he literally purred when I walked into the pen and we got along famously after that.

Currently I have about 100 roosters and cockerels in my pasture, maybe more and not a single one looks at me sideways. Cull out bad behavior and you don't have to worry that anyone is going to flog you, especially unprovoked.

 

[taylynnp]

...

And sometimes pecking at shoes is just a bird being a little over friendly, who doesn't know his boundaries. You can gently swat them away if they do that, and usually they will learn. Those that come back to flog should be marked for culling.

My lowest cockerel will sometimes jump and peck the feed bucket when I carry it. Last night I shoo'd him away as I walked. Then the #1 cockerel came at me for bothering one of his flock. When I kicked #1 away, he came back at me a second time.

I understand #1 protecting his flock but I didn't care for him coming back at me a second time. Is this #1 cockerel being too aggressive or give him a pass as just protective?

I hate to lose #1 because he is SO much bigger than the other two.

I'm tempted to cull the lowest one because he starts drama. Right now the lowest is my extra, extra spare that we ended up pardoning on processing day.

 

[buffalogal]

My lowest cockerel will sometimes jump and peck the feed bucket when I carry it. Last night I shoo'd him away as I walked. Then the #1 cockerel came at me for bothering one of his flock. When I kicked #1 away, he came back at me a second time.

I understand #1 protecting his flock but I didn't care for him coming back at me a second time. Is this #1 cockerel being too aggressive or give him a pass as just protective?

I hate to lose #1 because he is SO much bigger than the other two.

I'm tempted to cull the lowest one because he starts drama. Right now the lowest is my extra, extra spare that we ended up pardoning on processing day.

Your lowest cockerel is just showing you he is clever. (and hungry) He associates both you and the bucket with *all things good*, and if you are so inclined, you can teach a bird like that lots of interesting behaviors. OTOH, your #1 cockerel is showing you he is an @ss. Even as a young bird he doesn't respect you as being at the top of the pecking order, and he will spend the rest of his life looking for ways to challenge you. In my book, pretty is as pretty does. The most beautiful male in the chicken yard is worthless if you can't actually enter the yard without being attacked.

 

[buffalogal]

And congratulations to Pathfinders with her Best of Breed cockerel at the Central Indiana Poultry Show. I wonder of anyone is there taking pictures?

 

[Pathfinders]

Thanks! I had a great time seeing all my old friends again, missed them so! Neil Grassbaugh took a photo of my cockerel, when I get it from him I'll post it here.

 

[MeanV2]

Thanks! I had a great time seeing all my old friends again, missed them so! Neil Grassbaugh tool a photo of my cockerel, when I get it from him I'll post it here.

Congrats again!! Looking forward to seeing the photo.

Dan

 

[alana124]

alana124,

I use an Oxo battery powered digital kitchen scale to weigh my birds. It's accurate, it has a tare feature so if I have to weigh a bird in a container, I can subtract the weight of the container from the bird- very handy.

You're still 4-8 weeks out from your girls starting their laying, so hang in there. They're probably getting interested in nest boxes right about now, so be sure to have some available. Keep a sharp eye out for eggs where your not expecting tho- sometimes you all but put a neon sign out saying "lay eggs here" and they still lay where ever the heck they want.

Your white tipped cockerel is a different matter all together and there are as many opinions as he has feathers. While any white on a Buckeye is undesirable, I would give you a few things to consider before you jump to cull. White tipped feathers, I've learned from smarter heads than mine, are often feed related especially when birds are young and really going through their juvenile feather sets (come to find out they go through about 7 sets!). Instead of culling based on what might just be a feather fluke I suggest you critically evaluate your fella according to the standard. Pick your boy up and really feel of him. Is he broad all the way through his back? Does his back slope slightly down from the shoulders to the tail like it should? Does he have a nice wide/thick skull? When he's walking away from you, does he have a nice broad spread of the tail? Are his legs well spaced? Are they nice and meaty? Is his keel straight? Does he hold his wing points tucked under the end of his saddle? When you look at him from the side is he more square than rectangle? Does he have a nice neat pea comb with 3 distinct ridges? And of course, what does he weigh? Is it between 6 and 7lbs as it should be for a 5 month old cockerel (leaning toward the 7)? Does he have a slate bar in the under color of his back? Is his coloring even all over with a nice saturated quality?

Taking all of your evaluations in comparison to the standard, how do you think your boy stands up? Do you think he's a good example of the breed? If you think he's a keeper, then keep him!

HI! Thank you for your reply...I'll have to check out that scale you're talking about. I would think I'd have to get a scale big enough to hold and tare the bucket/container.

You know, I spoke too soon, because the very next day of my post here, one of my girls laid an egg, and she's been laying almost every day since! But the eggs are so small--like an elongated quail size egg. I hope this isn't the norm for Buckeyes. My RIR's lay giant eggs that don't fit in the cartons half the time. Should I cut back the lights so she stops laying until she's really ready?

The Roo with white; to me, he's adorable. He's carries himself like a champion--his feathers lay nicely over his wing (at the shoulder as well as the tips by his saddle)..I can answer all your questions with a yes except his weight, since I don't know, but his temperament (so far) is lovely. He doesn't attack when I enter the pen to feed them--instead, he looks at me and keeps cooing "ohhh worra worra..worra worra" it's cute. The splashes of white on his sickles are his only fault as I can see.

I will post a picture of the 2 boys I have. The other roo is avg. He'll do till I start breeding next spring.