Do you let the birds you use for shows free-range or do you keep them in cages or in smaller pens? My Buckeyes do follow me all around outside - they never run in fear and the my roosters are always very nice and know they can't breed when I am around. All I have to do is holler their names and they stop what they are doing and look at me with kind of a quilty look on their face! They protect me if my New Hampshire rooster comes after me - they whup the dickens out of him! I really do love my Buckeyes! I want to learn everything I can about the breed and be able to recognize in depth the good and bad qualities. Joe, you said something about which one is the dominant in the breed - did you mean the male or the female carries the strongest genes? If you have a roo that is very strong in his frame but has a not as much gray barring on the back and you breed him with a hen that is really deep colored and strong gray barring will it carry through with big frames and good color on the off-spring? What is the point system for each quality - like do you place build over color or not even breed those chickens? I have a lot more questions.......sorry!!!
I'm eating dinner now and I'll reply a little later. Some will say that build or type is the most important thing...and according to the SOP....that is true....BUT!!! If you read back through Nettie's writings and description of her breed; she felt that good color was just as important as type!!! I go by that method of thinking and breed a complete bird!!! Not just one with a big body. I feel that is where many breeders of this breed have really messed up. This whole idea of building a barn the painting it hasn't really worked out all that well nearly a decade later. This is why there are far to many orange buckeyes out there and a lot of it has to do with ALBC "guidelines" that were followed blindly. I'll address the rest later.
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