The Middle Tennessee Thread

[RedRidge]

A friend of mine got two buckeyes last week. I had never seem any before. Beautiful birds. Since I raise HRIR and Rhodebars I was curious to see them and was very surprised how different they were. I guess I was expecting then to be more similar to the birds I had. Glad I finally got to see some in person. Like the Rhodebars there are very few in TN

 

[FeyRaine]

FeyRaine, I hope you have better luck, those heritage buckeyes sound fantastic!

Thanks but sadly it was wishful thinking , tiny windows on the bator & bad lighting
-- the 3 eggs in question hatched along w/ 4 others in the batch, but they were not in fact Buckeye

I normally mark the eggs but was rushed w/ this batch & didn't, the 3 Buckeye I had taken from under the hen were infertile & got tossed at day 10 candle,
these other 3 look similar in dim light, the bittersweet fact is they were from another pen from girls who got eaten by a fox 2 wks ago.

When the heatwave breaks I'll be trimming Mr Buckeye's very overlong spur, I hate to do it but I think it may be a reason he isn't covering the girl/s .
I'll also re-do vent trims for he & the pullet. I have my heart set on a son from him this fall as his replacement & foundation for my Buckeye conservation efforts.
He has made several show winning offspring in the past so I will continue the effort this fall as everything about him is just that great and I feel the current lack of fertility is more a Murphy's Law situation than an actual fault of his or the girls.

Thanks again for the well wishes, and I will update ya'll when that wonderful long awaited moment of joy hatches a vibrant little Heritage Buckeye on my farm ....

 

[Goose and Fig]

How old is this Buckeye roo? Have you tried him with other hens?

 

[FeyRaine]

How old is this Buckeye roo? Have you tried him with other hens?

I think he is pushing 5 or 6 by now. The spur has gotten so long he has to jump it to walk, and he is sooooo docile I think he is avoiding covering the girls to avoid hurting them, just a theory...I was thinking to put my hatchery Del hen to see if that would get him interested, but the heat wave has put her off laying so it wouldn't really help fertility check atm , the only girls who were laying are the 2 the fox got & the 4 I gave away to the ppl who lost their flock (day b/f fox attack) ...I really got to find this Murphy dude & send him packing...sigh.

Good news the eggs I got from you are developing , the one I intend to keep for me & the others for my friend's replacement flock.
This last little batch of EEs for them I got 7 of 8 hatched so that is looking good for the next group which incl your doz.

 

[Goose and Fig]

That is getting pretty up there for a roo. I have had issues with a 3 year old- only getting good eggs in late spring/early summer with him.
What about the hen? She still young and laying well?

You can pop off the spur...there are videos on how to do it. Kinda neat.

Glad the eggs are good- that means the ones under my broodies probably are too. Should be plenty of chicks between us, I hope.

Anybody here know of somebody with blue or black muffs? I need a breeding pair or eggs to hatch for a friend out of state. Or maybe black ameraucanas might work.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Hey, y'all! I have a couple of splash ameraucana pullets to sell, along with a herd of EE and ameraucana boys. There is a really pretty blue ameraucana boy that I hate to take to my rooster guy. Anybody need any EEs or AMs?

I also have some young welsummers, both boys and girls. Thought I'd share here before I Craigslist them.

 

[Cstrick]

I would be interested in a Welsummer pullet. Where are you? How to contact?

Thanks, Connie

 

[Goose and Fig]

Looking for blue or black muff hatching eggs. Hoping to set some I am getting locally on Monday. Anybody have any I could add to the pot, let me know. They are for a friend in New England, so the more babies I have to ship the better. Thanks!

 

[FeyRaine]

That is getting pretty up there for a roo. I have had issues with a 3 year old- only getting good eggs in late spring/early summer with him.
What about the hen? She still young and laying well?

You can pop off the spur...there are videos on how to do it. Kinda neat.

Glad the eggs are good- that means the ones under my broodies probably are too. Should be plenty of chicks between us, I hope.

Anybody here know of somebody with blue or black muffs? I need a breeding pair or eggs to hatch for a friend out of state. Or maybe black ameraucanas might work.

Yes, & no , the Livestock Conservancy who is trying to be the authority on "Heritage" (not trying to open a debate about that ) has in their "official" def for Heritage chickens that the Roos be able to "reproduce naturally" until age 5. This boy has done so up until this year, & I think if he had stayed where he was rather than all the stresses of moving to my place etc he might have had better fertility this year too, he is right on the edge of the cut-off age...

I've seen those videos & it is what I intend to do, I just put it off, ironically, b/c I've heard it can stop their fertility for awhile right after and I didn't want to do anything to mess up the chances of some fertile eggs right away. Now I'm waiting until the heatwave turns to cooler temps to avoid a double stress.

The hen was only 3 (Conservancy def. says productive until 7-12 , but they also note even these old heritage lines often have lost their broody therefore all broody should be encourage). This poor girl was so focused on being a broody she gave herself heat stroke I believe. I'm going to do whatever is nec. to avoid the pullet setting until the temps are cool. The Buckeyes are known to be heat tolerant in DRY, but 92F 100% humidity and a freak day of zero breeze just is outside their range when sitting apparently. (the coop the hen was broody in only had side walls,open front &wire back & a shade tarp up above the roof, so any breeze and she would have likely been ok).

Well do keep those poor girls extra cool somehow , don't want them to end up like my poor Helen fingers crossed for good luck, my friend tell me the first batch of replacement birds are doing well & the husband got put on a new type of chemo which there are some signs of positive results so fingers crossed that he will get to see his little girl grow up !!!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I would be interested in a Welsummer pullet. Where are you? How to contact?

Thanks, Connie

Hey, Connie!

I sent you a PM.