The Buckeye Thread

[Minniechickmama]

CB, Not bad. Let's hope that they eyes darken, yes. Color is coming along. I would like to see a tighter feather on him, but for a starting point, I think he matured much better than I thought he might from the earliest pictures.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Thanks MCM I did cull the rooster with the huge comb, he was going nowhere, and the brother of the rooster I'm keeping is a little too light in bone and too light in colour so hopefully nothing bad happens to this fellow. He's a nice boy too.

 

[Minniechickmama]

It was those feet on that one that was just out of this world. I have never gotten anything like that in any breed, so I find that a bit scary. I hope it doesn't pop up in anything else you have held back to use. Maybe it was just that one bird, and let's cross our fingers it was. The comb, you could work with though. I see it this way, if I got a nice birds under that comb otherwise, and it is still a pea comb, I can work with it. I have kept single combs that have too many spikes or too little or a goofy looking one, but as long as you have better ones to breed with, you can clean it up. Then too, it is a numbers game.

We got the cold and rain that most of the Central US got this last week. I went out one day and had 3 of my Buckeye pullets with some respiratory gunk started. They are in a open sided coop on pasture right now, so they are not being babied from the weather just yet. I gave each a dose of Tylan50 for a couple of days and they bounced right back. It was a bit interesting that it was just pullets and all the hens were just fine, even with half of them still molting. I see some of my birds get like that this time of year though, it is worse than the wet, sloppy thawing of Winter to Spring. We have these birds that were hatched early in the year, that didn't go out in the cold weather yet to get used to it, and when fall hits and you get that first cold, wet and damp stuff hanging around a few days, it is perfect for them to get set back a little. I might have been able to kick it out of them with something just added to water, but 2 things: I don't medicate birds that don't warrant it, and secondly, if I have birds with a respiratory problem (especially this time of year), I am not waiting to see what happens, I am going to kick it in the pants quick and get rid of it before it spreads.
Just my soap box item of the day

You all have a wonderful day, it is beautiful here today and going to get close to 70. I am heading out to get more prep done and cleaning before it gets back to more seasonal weather.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

MCM all my chickens elected to hang out in the all day rain that we had too (Patricia remnants?) fortunately nobody seems worse for the wear. The Buckeyes got wet, but the rain ran off the backs of the dark cornish like they were ducks.
I culled the rooster with the bad feet. As he was getting older and heavier I could tell his feet were bothering him (he'd stand on one leg, pulling the other up and down like it was sore), and he was reluctant to walk much (no bumblefoot or anything I could see). Apparently polydactyly is a dominant trait. I didn't want to see this again so that's that hopefully.
I have 2 Buckeye cockerels I'm Ok with, one's a bit better than the other (I'll post some pics comparing the two and ask if you can have a peek at them and let me know which is best if that's OK). I won't have offspring of the multiple toed rooster or the large combed cockerel to contend with, which is just as well in the long run (although I'm sad, culling is difficult for me, but at least now I won't have to cull their offspring) and I have a few decent pullets I think I can work with as a start. Excess fluffyness, and eye colour will need work!

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I was watching my chickens today, it's unbelievably warm so it was a good day to have coffee with the chickens........... and I noticed........Filoplumes!! My Buckeyes are loaded with them! A few here and there on the other hens, but none on my Cornish. I was unable to find out much regarding how this is treated in the SOP. They are plentiful, it puts a new twist on the Fuzzy Butt- is this
a fault ? Not important? Here's a cross breed hen with a few.

 

[stryker]

Isn't those feathers more for winter?

 

[Minniechickmama]

I was watching my chickens today, it's unbelievably warm so it was a good day to have coffee with the chickens........... and I noticed........Filoplumes!! My Buckeyes are loaded with them! A few here and there on the other hens, but none on my Cornish. I was unable to find out much regarding how this is treated in the SOP. They are plentiful, it puts a new twist on the Fuzzy Butt- is this
a fault ? Not important? Here's a cross breed hen with a few.

New one on me. Is that the butt of a Buckeye? Very yellow looking

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

No it's not a Buckeye, it's one of the crossbreeds, but the Buckeyes are even fuzzier. Long hairs sticking out all over! I'll try sneaking up on one, hens don't like it when I take pictures of their butts!
I'm not sure if they have had them all along or just grown them in- hopefully they will drop out in the next moult.

 

[stryker]

No it's not a Buckeye, it's one of the crossbreeds, but the Buckeyes are even fuzzier. Long hairs sticking out all over! I'll try sneaking up on one, hens don't like it when I take pictures of their butts!
I'm not sure if they have had them all along or just grown them in- hopefully they will drop out in the next moult.

I saw several buckeyes with those hairs on the side of their body. Very cool but none of mine has that.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I saw several buckeyes with those hairs on the side of their body. Very cool but none of mine has that.

Stryker you're lucky, they are interesting in a way but not very flattering! I am going to try to breed that out if I can.