The Buckeye Thread

[sumi]

Picked up our little balls of fluff and thought I'd share- I forgot how cute they could be.

Very nice! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Blueface]

Hi Judy discussing aspects of the birds....gotcha. Let's talk about genetic diversity and how the idea can do more harm than good if a breeder is trying to maintain consistent reproducibility. Granted it might* help a utility flock maintain hybrid vigor and slightly improved dual purpose production but the end result often destroys consistency in appearance leading to any number of breed discrepancies that lie outside of the SOP.

 

[Marengoite]

Hi Judy

discussing aspects of the birds....gotcha. Let's talk about genetic diversity and how the idea can do more harm than good if a breeder is trying to maintain consistent reproducibility. Granted it might* help a utility flock maintain hybrid vigor and slightly improved dual purpose production but the end result often destroys consistency in appearance leading to any number of breed discrepancies that lie outside of the SOP.

Joe,

Let's define what we mean by "genetic diversity" in the first place.

The first, and broadest use is in the area of species diversity. If I plant a woodlot of ONLY one kind of tree, it runs the risk of disease, infection, or some other calamity. By planting a variety of SPECIES, we broaden the ecosystem and make it more robust, healthier, and immune to perturbations through natural calamity. However, there is a HUGE caveat to this. The addition of invasive, exotic, or foreign species might, on the face of it, increase diversity, but it often has the unwelcome short-term effect of crowding out or depleting existing native species. Ask folks in the Great Lakes region if they want "more genetic diversity" in the carp population and see where that gets you. For purposes of our discussion, this is not the genetic diversity we are talking about.


Within that is the area of variety diversity. For instance, there are more than a thousand distinct breeds of sheep. Why is that? Because of the various needs for size, diet, conformation, wool quality, quantity, texture, meat, time to weight, and a host of other factors. This is an instance of diversity WITHIN a species, with each variety contributing something to the gene pool overall. What people miss is that this diversity exists BETWEEN varieties and not within them. If you take all 40 breeds of North American sheep and let them breed willy nilly, you will actually end up with less genetic diversity overall than what you started with as they all revert to a common homogenous type.

For our purposes, we want lots of genetically diverse chickens, i.e. chicken breeds and varieties within those breeds. We do NOT want a lot of genetic diversity within the breed itself. Examples of genetically diverse breeds are the landrace chickens which were produced by uncontrolled breeding using largely natural selection. Look at how unpredictable Icelandic chickens are when it comes to color, type, and functions.

Finally, there is the problem of genetic defects that get set in a highly inbred population. Most backyard breeders should never worry about this. First of all, they aren't likely to start off with birds that have much homogeneity to begin with. Second, they aren't likely to intensively breed brother-sister chickens for multiple generations indiscriminately. They just don't have the time. Finally, any defective chickens are usually removed from the gene pool before they get breeding age and are eaten. In a word, if you start with good birds to begin with and selectively breed them carefully, you generally don't need to introduce "new blood" unless it is carefully, sparingly, and to fix defects.

I really wish more people would read and PAY ATTENTION to the late, great Bob Blosl in his definitive post: http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/id50.html

 

[Blueface]

Your fluidity of genetic expression is interesting.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Anyone have some more pics of 10 to 12 week old Bucks to post of both genders?

Trying to see what good stock looks like.

Thanks
Lady of McCamley

 

[parklandchicks]

Hello

my name is Danielle and I really want some Buckeyes. I live in Alberta, Canada near Edmonton. Does anyone have any information that could help me out. I just love the one I have now and would like more

 

[Minniechickmama]

Anyone have some more pics of 10 to 12 week old Bucks to post of both genders?

Trying to see what good stock looks like.

Thanks
Lady of McCamley

LOL, that is a loaded question with this group of folks!

 

[poltroon]

It honestly shouldn't be a loaded question.

I'll say at 10 weeks old that you can see serious off-type faults but not necessarily much else about which ones will be terrific.

In this thread (and the earlier one) there are lots of great pictures at all ages, and going through from the beginning of it is time well spent.

 

[Blueface]

Thanks

Here's another decent cockerel showing potential, he too is only 11-12 weeks old. He has a longer back of which I like and is currently still growing out a tail.

bump

 

[Blueface]

I was out feeding this afternoon and finally got a bird to sit still long enough to take a pic. This little lady is 11-12 weeks old and weighs right at 4 lbs.

Bump