The Buckeye Thread

[Minniechickmama]

I guess a few do seem to have a bit more pale combs than the rest, but I would consider all of them red.

I have felt pelvic bones before, just used the width. Do they really get "flexible" in good layers? I am picturing that when I palpate the pelvic bones, I can feel them stretching a little bit further apart. Is that how it works? I have never noticed that before, maybe I need more practice.

It does take some practice, however, you can download and e-book called "Call of the Hen" which is old but an excellent guide to determining who is laying, who is a good layer and so forth. It can give you some really good information that will help you for as long as you own chickens. BTW it is free.

 

[BlueShadow]

It does take some practice, however, you can download and e-book called "Call of the Hen" which is old but an excellent guide to determining who is laying, who is a good layer and so forth. It can give you some really good information that will help you for as long as you own chickens. BTW it is free.

Thank you! I will look up that book and read it. I caught and palpated a couple of hens this morning, and am as confused as ever. The Barnevelders, who I am certain are not laying very well at all because of the color of the eggs I get, had wide (and maybe flexible?) pelvic bones, just the same as the Buckeyes I caught and palpated. So...

 

[Leahs Mom]

Have a few questions for experienced Buckeye owners.

I have a cockerel that will be a year old early June. He has been a good boy. he would even go into his separate pen whenever I gave him the signal to go. He's just been very easy to live with. Until this week.

He was a very friendly boy growing up, and even good when he came into puberty. But I started to notice that he was getting a bit more aggressive toward me in the last month or so. My cockerel/rooster experience in the past has been that when I walk in they get out of my way but this boy started standing and not moving. Then it has progressed to a threatening stance. Then, when I was trying to get him to move somewhere, he decided to try to attack my shoes/feet/legs.

Most of the instances have been in response to what he sees as a threat so I've given him a couple of weeks and some space and it's usually okay. But this morning I was going to get him to move and he stood up to me and tried to attack me repeatedly. I had to use my foot to ...not "kick" but close to it more than 5 times to make him fly backwards. He kept coming back over and over and wouldn't back down. I didn't want to back down either as I didn't want him to think he had the upper hand. I was able to move sideways a bit each time, facing him the whole time, until I was able to pick up a small lawn footstool to hold between him and I ....he tried to attack that too, then turned and went off into the wooded area.

Got my husband and the 2 of us got him moved back into his pen. Tonight when I went out to the pen, he was ready for attack again. When I turned to go out of his pen gate he attacked the back of my legs.

I will not be keeping this boy.


I had one of his hatch-mates that went to another family in the Fall and he became very aggressive there. They had to remove him as he was attacking when they went out to feed. At first I thought it was because she didn't have rooster experience. But now I'm seeing this behavior, I'm wondering if it was just the demeanor of these guys.

What is everyone's experience? Are your cockerels/roosters aggressive? Is this possibly just one line?

I've heard that there is a line that is "mean as snakes" to quote an owner. The pullets are as friendly and docile as can be. Just love the girls. But I won't keep a bird that has that kind of demeanor or feel that I have to carry a weapon with me if I go out to the yard.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Have a few questions for experienced Buckeye owners.

I have a cockerel that will be a year old early June. He has been a good boy. he would even go into his separate pen whenever I gave him the signal to go. He's just been very easy to live with. Until this week.

He was a very friendly boy growing up, and even good when he came into puberty. But I started to notice that he was getting a bit more aggressive toward me in the last month or so. My cockerel/rooster experience in the past has been that when I walk in they get out of my way but this boy started standing and not moving. Then it has progressed to a threatening stance. Then, when I was trying to get him to move somewhere, he decided to try to attack my shoes/feet/legs.

Most of the instances have been in response to what he sees as a threat so I've given him a couple of weeks and some space and it's usually okay. But this morning I was going to get him to move and he stood up to me and tried to attack me repeatedly. I had to use my foot to ...not "kick" but close to it more than 5 times to make him fly backwards. He kept coming back over and over and wouldn't back down. I didn't want to back down either as I didn't want him to think he had the upper hand. I was able to move sideways a bit each time, facing him the whole time, until I was able to pick up a small lawn footstool to hold between him and I ....he tried to attack that too, then turned and went off into the wooded area.

Got my husband and the 2 of us got him moved back into his pen. Tonight when I went out to the pen, he was ready for attack again. When I turned to go out of his pen gate he attacked the back of my legs.

I will not be keeping this boy.


I had one of his hatch-mates that went to another family in the Fall and he became very aggressive there. They had to remove him as he was attacking when they went out to feed. At first I thought it was because she didn't have rooster experience. But now I'm seeing this behavior, I'm wondering if it was just the demeanor of these guys.

What is everyone's experience? Are your cockerels/roosters aggressive? Is this possibly just one line?

I've heard that there is a line that is "mean as snakes" to quote an owner. The pullets are as friendly and docile as can be. Just love the girls. But I won't keep a bird that has that kind of demeanor or feel that I have to carry a weapon with me if I go out to the yard.

The "mean as snakes" thing may just be a wives tale as no one can verify that is really a true story.
Here is what I recommend if you want to give him a chance to figure out who is really boss. You are going to have to play "chicken" with him, which means, you be the dominant rooster. If you watch the behavior of the birds, you will see when one bird really dominates another, they mount them and grab the back of their heads and peck them on the head. So, here is what I have done and it works sometimes and they never attack again, or they don't and they go to the pot. Corner the little poophead and step on him, smoosh him down in a corner and grab the back of his head at the same time and pull on some of those feathers just as a rooster would to another one. Give him a few good "pecks" to the head for good measure. Keep him there for a good couple of minutes, then let him up and see what happens. Maybe try this a couple of times, but I find after the first time, they want nothing to do with you. Allowing him to continue to come at you or a stool or whatever, or backing away out of the pen tells him that he won. Remember, you are dealing with instinctive, protective aggression. They are YOUR hens, and you are top cock on the block. I even boot my roosters off the hens when I am near them and they mount them just to remind them who is boss. If you don't feel you are willing to give him a second chance, which is completely your subjective right to do, then get him out of there. It is pretty typical to see some roosters get a little overly protective in the spring when everything has "the fever", but I squash their ideas of being dominant over me as soon as they even drop a wing.

I saw a video the other day of a woman who posted how her three roosters, who are her "pets" would come after her repeatedly and she would yell, "OW" and they would come at her more and then spur her as soon as she turned. She says, "They do this every day!" Well, why would anyone keep them around? Break them or eat them.

Temperament in Buckeyes should be a huge factor in breeding. I have some from last year that fought each other relentlessly, but they have never come at me, except the last one I hatched and he is heading to dinner soon. I refuse to breed aggressive roosters, no matter the quality. I have only one other time had one drop a wing, used the method I suggested and he literally would purr to me when I went in the pen after that. I brought another bloodline into my Buckeye flock a couple of years ago, and until then, I had no problems. After using the other line, I have seen a definite increase in fighting, like you see with Game type birds. It really ticks me off too. I want the calm, friendly Bucks like I used to have before that, so I am working on getting there through tough culling and probably getting some stock from Urch this year to calm things down with what I have already.

Good luck. Don't take too much off one of those boys before you get rid of them and get someone who is going to know his place.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Like I was saying before, I haven't had this problem with my boys from another breed in the past and this guy is the only boy we have right now. I'm very straight-forward with my boys and let them know I'm in charge. It's obvious that he is responding to me as a predator in certain circumstances. Interesting I've never had one of the boys react this way before so, having had reasonable roosters in the past, I assume this is a temperament thing for this line.


Where did you get your birds from that had better disposition? I know someone that had a Buck rooster from the same source as I got these from several years back and their boy would come up and sit on their lap to be petted! I'm not looking for a lap pet by any means, but that behavior is so opposite of this fellow to be sure. He obviously wasn't aggressive toward the owner.

The 2 little pullets I have from the same hatch are just the sweetest little ladies.

 

[BlueShadow]

What is everyone's experience? Are your cockerels/roosters aggressive? Is this possibly just one line?

My cockerel is the same age as yours. About 2 months ago, he went through a stretch where he would not move out of my way, and he acted aggressive toward my toddler once. Each time he misbehaved, I tossed him out of the coop so he could cool off for a few hours. Then I fixed my behavior and began being more assertive in the coop, expecting him to move out of my way. It took him a couple weeks, but he learned what was expected of him and has been good ever since (although he has completely lost my trust now and the kids don't go in the coop anymore).

All that to say- I don't think my rooster is very aggressive, I think he was being a dumb teenager pushing the rules. But I will never trust him again. Your rooster is far more aggressive than mine, and it sounds like you have handled things appropriately.

 

[holm25]

I agree with Minnie

I haven't had any aggression issues with mine... One always bit at my fingers when I had him in a cage but I grabbed his beak when he tried and held it like that for awhile and he never did it again.

 

[Turk Raphael]

Have a few questions for experienced Buckeye owners.

I have a cockerel that will be a year old early June. He has been a good boy. he would even go into his separate pen whenever I gave him the signal to go. He's just been very easy to live with. Until this week.

He was a very friendly boy growing up, and even good when he came into puberty. But I started to notice that he was getting a bit more aggressive toward me in the last month or so. My cockerel/rooster experience in the past has been that when I walk in they get out of my way but this boy started standing and not moving. Then it has progressed to a threatening stance. Then, when I was trying to get him to move somewhere, he decided to try to attack my shoes/feet/legs.

Most of the instances have been in response to what he sees as a threat so I've given him a couple of weeks and some space and it's usually okay. But this morning I was going to get him to move and he stood up to me and tried to attack me repeatedly. I had to use my foot to ...not "kick" but close to it more than 5 times to make him fly backwards. He kept coming back over and over and wouldn't back down. I didn't want to back down either as I didn't want him to think he had the upper hand. I was able to move sideways a bit each time, facing him the whole time, until I was able to pick up a small lawn footstool to hold between him and I ....he tried to attack that too, then turned and went off into the wooded area.

Got my husband and the 2 of us got him moved back into his pen. Tonight when I went out to the pen, he was ready for attack again. When I turned to go out of his pen gate he attacked the back of my legs.

I will not be keeping this boy.


I had one of his hatch-mates that went to another family in the Fall and he became very aggressive there. They had to remove him as he was attacking when they went out to feed. At first I thought it was because she didn't have rooster experience. But now I'm seeing this behavior, I'm wondering if it was just the demeanor of these guys.

What is everyone's experience? Are your cockerels/roosters aggressive? Is this possibly just one line?

I've heard that there is a line that is "mean as snakes" to quote an owner. The pullets are as friendly and docile as can be. Just love the girls. But I won't keep a bird that has that kind of demeanor or feel that I have to carry a weapon with me if I go out to the yard.

I don't worry about such things...wish we lived closer.

 

[BlueShadow]

Just hatched a few Buckeye chicks!

There is more color variation than I expected. Some are quite a bit darker than others. Is that normal, or did I perhaps hatch an egg from one of my Barnevelder hens by mistake?

Also, some have dark spots on their head. Is that a variation of color, or is it a clue to gender?

 

[KaylorFarms]

They are beautiful!!!