The Buckeye Thread

[fowlman01]

Hellbender .... I'm starting to like you .....

That's a little scary...........hahahaha

Walt

 

[Minniechickmama]

Hum .... nice idea ..... I have heard not to use cedar shavings with chickens.... after I did to no ill effects ..... so I just had kept cedar out of my mind when thinking of chicken things ....

But if you are having not only no problems - but a benefit .... I bet in my new coop going up this year - I could do cedar nest boxes and roosts ... with pine shavings on the floor .... Do you think that would be too much cedar fumes ???

The problem, to my understanding, with cedar shavings is when they get wet. There is no reason roosts should get wet in a coop, so I don't worry one bit about that. Cedar has a natural repellent to pests and rot, so it seems a no brainer to me. I also used it to build my outdoor runs and to hold down the vinyl flooring in my breeding pens.

 

[Minniechickmama]

That's a little scary...........hahahaha

Walt

Look who joined the party
Hey Walt, Since you have had oodles of experience with poultry...
What is your take on roosts? At what age do you think they need to start using one and do you believe that using them too early has an ill effect on feet or do they help keep the feet in good condition?

That is something I have had issue with from the beginning with my Buckeyes, and I keep coming back to the question of whether what I am seeing is due to genetics or due to housing/brooding them. I don't mean the crooked, crippled looking toes on freshly hatched chicks, but those that suddenly at a month or 6-weeks start looking crooked. Got any wisdom you can bestow upon us?

 

[fowlman01]

Look who joined the party
Hey Walt, Since you have had oodles of experience with poultry...
What is your take on roosts? At what age do you think they need to start using one and do you believe that using them too early has an ill effect on feet or do they help keep the feet in good condition?

That is something I have had issue with from the beginning with my Buckeyes, and I keep coming back to the question of whether what I am seeing is due to genetics or due to housing/brooding them. I don't mean the crooked, crippled looking toes on freshly hatched chicks, but those that suddenly at a month or 6-weeks start looking crooked. Got any wisdom you can bestow upon us?

For some reason roosts get blamed a lot for bad breeding. Chicks in brooders will try to roost on a water bottle or whatever.........they know better than me, so I let them do it. The diameter of the roost and all the other negative things you read these days about roosts just make me laugh. Raising chickens is pretty easy, but all the expert these days make raising chickens difficult. There is only ONE thing I know about roosts that can be a problem. If the roost is too high and you have heavy birds that can fly up to a high roost .....they can hurt theemselves whan they jump down. that is the only negative thing I have found with roosts. Some breeders encourage the early roosting of young to improve wing carriage in some breeds where that is a problem. I have never had a foot problem because of roosts and when they started to roost. But....I don't save birds with leg or foot problems. They are all culled as soon as it is apparent and usually that is at birth.

It is truly amazing how difficult people want this to be. If you want difficult chicken raising, try breeding to a written Standard.....the rest of this is easy.

Walt

 

[Minniechickmama]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Walt. I do agree that raising chickens isn't that tough, and I doubley agree that breeding to Standard is the tough part, no matter what some people may say about that being easy too. If it were so easy to breed champions, then everyone with half a brain would be duking it out for Champion Row, which is not the case, as we both know.

 

[fowlman01]

Anyone who says that it is easy hasn't been doing it long. Generally when you think that,You have not done this for 5 years or more. Many newer breeders breed themselves into a corner around the 5 year mark and that is when they find out how hard this is. No one I know thinks breeding to a Standard is easy. It's easy to say that it's easy.

Walt

 

[joecarrr]

In nearly all things poultry, I find that the phrase "there's more than one way to skin a cat" always comes to mind.

I don't claim my way is the only way, just offering my experience. So, hellbender, no offense taken.

One thing I do HIGHLY recommend though, is make your roosts out of CEDAR. Yes, I meant to shout those. I have found the only birds I have get mites are the ones who's roosts have not been. I would have built the whole barn out of cedar if that had been feasible to help combat the creepy crawlies.

Thanks for the cedar idea. I will try that out. Somebody asked for pictures. Don't worry, my wife is a photographer and I will be posting lots of pictures. She won't let me post them until she finishes editing them.

 

[007medic]

I'll chime in here about the roosts...I'd make a suggestion to be sure to choose lumber that is well milled or sanded with no sharp edges or corners. Why? Unintended injuries to feet or toes from splinters or harsh edges (cedar is notorious for splinters here in the south). If you've never dealt with the nightmare of a bumbled foot, count yourself blessed. I've read that breeders should cull for bumble, and I agree if the problem is endemic- birds with weak feet shouldn't be your first choice of stock. But bumble is not a genetic disease, it's an infected wound. A wound that any bird regardless of breeding could suffer. I love the idea of cedar roosts. I also want to be as kind and generous to my birds as possible and that includes nit-picky details like the quality of lumber I use for roosts

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And it's good to see you back Metella...

 

[Metella]

Thanks Medic !

It's been a long wait for me to get some quality Buckeyes - I am really beside myself waiting this last week for them to hatch!

I remember I started on this thread with a hatchery Buckeye that turned as orange as a dark buff orph ... ha ha Oh well.

 

[perchead]

Our lay line eggs from @SRHartley are on day 5 11/12 arr looking good and #12 is a definite maybe. Nice guy with beautiful buckeyes we're very excited to have buckeye again. We were looking for 2 years since a coon got ours