The Buckeye Thread

[goodb]

Theri,

What are your thoughts on the comb? As you know, I have one hen who has a true pea comb. Is this trait dominant coming from her or the cock in regards to the offspring?

As, my 3 focuses for my flock are:

comb
standard size
egg production

Where do you believe my attention should lie to achieve the most benefit?

 

[stryker]

I would like to say that I switched over to horizontal waterers about a month ago they do like all the reviews states. The problem that I thought that I had was one buckeye would hop down off her roost and act like she was dying of thurst. Being a person who cannot stand seeing animals go without water, I played fetch and gave the birds a drink. She would take one drink and that is it while maybe 4 more would take one or two drinks and that is it. Fastforward to yesterday, I received three roosters that I hatched out as chicks thinking they were pullets and I gave them to a friend.. These were mix breeds that the roo was a JERK and not a drop of buckeye in that breed! Well they were jerks and as soon as I opened the box thinking of an easy butcher. The fight was on. Talk about MEAN! The fact that a mean roo produces mean offspring. Never will I breed a mean roo again.

So back to the buckeye pullet and after the three mean roos. I realized she was only greeting me hoping for a snack or something when I entered the coop at night. I am sure glad that buckeyes are has better temperment than most.

 

[Minniechickmama]

So I assume that the slate bar acts "dominant" ? By that I mean, You can't cross a hen and a rooster with poor slate bars and expect the possibility of a good slate bar in one of the chicks? Once you lose it it's gone forever?
Say you have a choice of a rooster with good slate bars but poor colour (two-toned and too light), or a rooster with poor slate but very good colour (an even, deep dark red), all other things being equal, which would you choose? Let's add another scenario: your hens have the same problem. As a beginner I'd cross the better coloured rooster with poor slate to the hen with poor colour and good slate- would that be the correct way to try to "fix" the problem in the chicks? Or what's the best way, if those are your only Buckeyes?

It could be worth trying if you didn't have a male with both good color traits. You would probably come out with a range of variations on how much slate and color shade on the surface. I would say though, if you are going to breed a bird that has color problems, then make sure the type doesn't have problems first. There is no way though to predict if you are going to have good or bad outcomes when you have known poor traits.
I wouldn't say that slate barring is dominant so much as the male's color traits are more dominant. Chances are, if you have a male with poor or not slate, the only way you are going to get anything decent for offspring with it will be if you have a female who has a really excellent bar of it. If they both have spotty under color or are lacking, it isn't worth your time, IMO.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Theri,

What are your thoughts on the comb? As you know, I have one hen who has a true pea comb. Is this trait dominant coming from her or the cock in regards to the offspring?

As, my 3 focuses for my flock are:

comb
standard size
egg production

Where do you believe my attention should lie to achieve the most benefit?

Do you mean in general, or on that male you were showing us the other day?
If it was the one in the last pictures you posted, I love the size of his comb and they way it hugs close to his head. I got some this year that I don't care a great deal for and want to get them rounding closer to the head on the back like that one you showed us. But overall, the comb isn't a huge factor. If it is of reasonable size and if it is a pea comb, I don't get too hung up on the comb. Size is a big thing, you don't want to be breeding little hens especially. If you want to keep big birds going, then breed big girls. I have some hens who are 8# with color flaws, but I keep them because they help me keep size in the flock. I breed them with males I believe will help them in the color department, even if the males might be on the smaller end of the standard.
Egg production is something I pay more attention to now that I did a couple of years ago, however, I don't expect Buckeyes to be awesome layers like the hybrids or Leghorns, you shouldn't expect to see that with a dual purpose breed, you want a fair number of eggs and a good carcass for eating. To get both you have to compromise, but if you wanted to go with a great laying Buckeye, I think you would sacrifice size and depth of the bird to get it.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I would like to say that I switched over to horizontal waterers about a month ago they do like all the reviews states. The problem that I thought that I had was one buckeye would hop down off her roost and act like she was dying of thurst. Being a person who cannot stand seeing animals go without water, I played fetch and gave the birds a drink. She would take one drink and that is it while maybe 4 more would take one or two drinks and that is it. Fastforward to yesterday, I received three roosters that I hatched out as chicks thinking they were pullets and I gave them to a friend.. These were mix breeds that the roo was a JERK and not a drop of buckeye in that breed! Well they were jerks and as soon as I opened the box thinking of an easy butcher. The fight was on. Talk about MEAN! The fact that a mean roo produces mean offspring. Never will I breed a mean roo again.

So back to the buckeye pullet and after the three mean roos. I realized she was only greeting me hoping for a snack or something when I entered the coop at night. I am sure glad that buckeyes are has better temperment than most.

I agree temperament is very important. Both my roosters are absolute sweethearts- my Buckeye and my dark Cornish. I tried to choose the roosters that were fairly decent but absolutely had to have good natures. They may not be perfect representatives of their breeds but I'm still looking very forward to their babies! Nasty chickens are the first to be removed from my flock. I had to remove a hen too, it's not just roosters that can be jerks.

 

[goodb]

Do you mean in general, or on that male you were showing us the other day?
If it was the one in the last pictures you posted, I love the size of his comb and they way it hugs close to his head. I got some this year that I don't care a great deal for and want to get them rounding closer to the head on the back like that one you showed us. But overall, the comb isn't a huge factor. If it is of reasonable size and if it is a pea comb, I don't get too hung up on the comb. Size is a big thing, you don't want to be breeding little hens especially. If you want to keep big birds going, then breed big girls. I have some hens who are 8# with color flaws, but I keep them because they help me keep size in the flock. I breed them with males I believe will help them in the color department, even if the males might be on the smaller end of the standard.
Egg production is something I pay more attention to now that I did a couple of years ago, however, I don't expect Buckeyes to be awesome layers like the hybrids or Leghorns, you shouldn't expect to see that with a dual purpose breed, you want a fair number of eggs and a good carcass for eating. To get both you have to compromise, but if you wanted to go with a great laying Buckeye, I think you would sacrifice size and depth of the bird to get it.

The questions were in general. As you know, I'm starting to plan for breeding next year and want to get the best foundation down that I can. The question was asked so I could get the most traction for my efforts. As always Theri, you "knocked it out of the park." As an afterthought, I decided to keep the cock in the picture...he's to good a bird to get rid of.

Thank you again.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Egg production is something I pay more attention to now that I did a couple of years ago, however, I don't expect Buckeyes to be awesome layers like the hybrids or Leghorns, you shouldn't expect to see that with a dual purpose breed, you want a fair number of eggs and a good carcass for eating. To get both you have to compromise, but if you wanted to go with a great laying Buckeye, I think you would sacrifice size and depth of the bird to get it.

I'm a bit confused by "depth" and how to look for it. I've heard that term, and I've heard that Rhode Island reds are good layers because they are rectangular. I can see the rectangle shape in the Rhode Island reds. But, when I see pictures of exceptional laying leghorns, to me they look a lot more like triangles- more like a Buckeye than a Rhode Island red. So where is the "deep"? I've read the Call of the Hen and I understand about the width of the pubic bones and the distance between the end of the sternum and the back. Is that "deep" for a layer? Is "deep" different for a Buckeye? I can see that the dark cornish look almost flat like someone stepped on them! Is that shallow?

 

[Minniechickmama]

A deep bodied bird or animal, for that matter, means a large body capacity that is discerned with broad width and height in relation to their overall frame. In cattle, a deeper body means more room for food consumption therefore producing more milk or more meat as a result. On a chicken you see a deeper body on meat types or dual purpose types because you are looking for a meatier bird in both of those cases.
When you are looking for better egg layers though, you can see that many of the higher producers are a smaller, even more delicate framed bird, therefore, deep on say a Leghorn does not equal the depth of a Buckeye or similar type bird in the dual purpose category. Cornish are a type all their own, or possible grouped with Games, but we have bred them to the point where their mass is unequalled in the American bred birds. The only others I could think of would be Asian Games that also share that extreme build with tight feather and high muscle content.

Unless you are talking a poor quality Cornish, I would never consider a Cornish other than deep bodied. There again, it depends on what you are comparing them to. Is it other Cornish, or is it a Welsummer, Minorca, Polish? A lot of terms used to describe animals or birds when judging them, whether in your flock or at a show, is all relative. You have the "ideal" outlined in the SOP for the breeds recognized here in the North America, but even the terms used in it are used in a more relative manner to the other birds they are being compared to.

 

[BlackBriars]

Is this comb unacceptable? It is different than the other 2 cockerels.

 

[hellbender]

Is this comb unacceptable? It is different than the other 2 cockerels.

No one seems to want to touch this but as a non-expert, I feel safe in saying it looks fine to me but if I were an APA judge at a sanctioned event...he would be very lonely in his cage of shame. For meat and eggs....no problem but sticking to the SOP....I wouldn't have him near a hen.