When I first started raising parrots more than 20 years ago, I found out that the adage “bird brain” was totally wrong! I owned a pet shop and had a variety of critters that helped me learn that birds have a very high intelligence. When I decided to start into poultry more than 12 years ago, I started with guineas for the natural tick control. That led to ducks. That led to chickens a year later. I started reading everything I could find about poultry and all I could find that I liked at the local feed store was New Hampshires. I liked the reddish color, but found the hatchery chicks were plagued with bent toes and a myriad of other shortcomings. After finding some information about Buckeyes, I researched everything I could and decided they were the most perfect birds for my cold NW Ohio farm. I bought some eggs from Tim Johnson at Bowling Green, Ohio and my magnificent journey began! I hatched out that first bunch of eggs and the babies were wonderful, so healthy and adaptable to everything. Tim said he had gotten his first birds from Laura Haggarty, so, I contacted her and struck up a friendship with her and she told me many wonderful facts about the versatile Buckeye. My granddaughter took two of those original birds for her first year of 4-H and won Best LF Cockerel and Best LF Pullet and the race was on to breed bigger and better. I bugged Laura for more information and more birds. I got Chris McCary’s name and I sent to get some hatching eggs. They were packed beautifully and we had about a 70% hatch rate. The birds we raised from those eggs were undeniably glorious! Beautiful temperament, wonderful egg layers, great foragers and all around perfect homestead birds. My granddaughter wanted to start showing birds, so we went to Ohio Nationals with our friends and we were bitten by the show bug! Now, we are trying to breed our Buckeyes to get as close to the original dreams of Nettie Metcalf when she developed this breed. I read and reread the SOP and ask the great breeders what I should do to advance my birds to get better with each successive breeding. The true Buckeye fans are some of the most helpful and edifying people I know! In addition to my Buckeyes, I breed New Hampshire layers crossed with Buckeyes for my egg business. I have many loyal customers who love my brown eggs! I also have bantam Cochins, Silkies, Muscovies and turkeys. I also raise Seramas for pets and for showing and have recently completed Therapy Animal training through OSU. I am a 4-H adviser with the Superior Farmer’s 4-H Club, which is celebrating 70 years of being a club in Williams County. I also am a certified pullorum tester through the state of Ohio, which helps the 4-H youth have a low- cost way to have their birds tested. To support my poultry habit, I work full-time for the Williams County Engineer’s Office where I have been calculating drainage essentials for 17 years. My very tolerant husband, Jody, of 42 years and my two grown daughters, Jennifer and Jana, along with my five grandchildren have been very understanding of my poultry addiction! Now I am getting two of my granddaughters to help me and they are finding they love the birds too and really enjoy showing and going to the shows. |
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