The Buckeye Thread

[Blueface]

Bantam Buckeyes.....a great project! Like the LF, the bantams have been horribly neglected and are in need of good breeders!

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Sumi I will keep everyone posted- but my hatches will be very modest this year!

 

[sumi]

Sumi it should be an exciting year. Hopefully they dont cancel shows here. I dont think they will but u never know!

Yep this will be my firat attempt at raising Buckeyes.

Don't say anything about that!

Best of luck with them and please keep us posted of your new venture! I don't own any Buckeyes myself, but from what I heard they are really wonderful birds and I'm sure you'll enjoy them.

 

[sumi]

Bantam Buckeyes.....a great project! Like the LF, the bantams have been horribly neglected and are in need of good breeders!

They look great! I agree with ^^^ As much if not more so than the LF? I've seen very few bantams and the quality of some that I have seen are questionable, to put it kindly. I'm hoping this will change as much as it did for the LF over the last few years. This is a wonderful breed that deserves all the time, attention and efforts it can get to better and maintain it. Keep up the good work!

 

[sumi]

Sumi I will keep everyone posted- but my hatches will be very modest this year!

Many a great thing started with small or modest beginnings. So long as you keep at it….

 

[Blueface]

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

I enjoy reading the old posts and reflecting on comments from roughly a year ago.

I had to comment on this one...Breeding is not difficult if you have a goal, breed for selection and have an open mind. I've been breeding Poultry for roughly 20 years now and breeding toward the buckeye standard for roughly 6 years. Each and every year, my fowl improve significantly. If done properly, breeding toward the standard is easy despite the comment above. You have to start with good fowl! Not some color washed out variety that continually is getting pushed as legit birds. It only gets complicated when you get people who interpret the standard incorrectly to push their lack luster buckeyes.

Good genetics, breeding for selection, a healthy dose of patience with a goal and proper care will inevitably result in good fowl. They are just chickens

 

[Blueface]

In reading older posts I also noticed a few decent pics of young fowl....the size and color looked pretty good and this reminded me of a major flaw in the breed. When you see a Buckeye do well at a show, its often a younger bird. Why is this? Because when they molt out and mature, the color significantly reduces and they lose the ability to actually compete. I've noticed hens from lines molt out more buff and lose undercolor...even molt in speckled. The ALBC line is notorious for this flaw and much of the reason when I refuse to recognize it as a legit Buckeye line. These are the same birds that looked great as pullets and cockerels and are often bred that first year.....this is not a good breeding practice! Just because they look great that first year doesn't mean they'll be worth a quarter the second...third...and so on.

The Buckeye breed still has a long way to go.

 

[sumi]

I think the key to breeding this breed (and any other) successfully would be like you said, starting with good stock, followed by a goal and the patience to work towards it, even if it takes 5-6 years or more.

 

[Blueface]

Some people may disapprove of my comments but it's no different that true RIR breeders and their opinion of the lighter hatchery type RIRs; they don't view them as true Reds. I know people that have bred buckeyes going on a decade and the actual "improvements" are neglagable but rather than taking constructive critizism, they get a chapped rear and start demonizing people to gain sympathy. I don't consider this class of people breeders....they lack the ability of forethought and the want to truely improve a breed of fowl that deserve it!

 

[sumi]

Constructive criticism is a good teacher. Those who want to learn, will take it to heart.