Selecting Buttercups

By Bob Berkemeier, 2020

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I have been breeding, showing and keeping large fowl Buttercups for over 50 years and bantam Buttercups for over 20 years. I was once a club member – seems the club always disappeared, and I wouldn’t be added the next time it started up again, but here I am. Here is what little I know about breeding Buttercups:

First off, I flock mate and usually keep from 6 to 10 or so hens and pullets. Usually about 3 cocks or cockerels which I rotate during the season. Usually I hatch 2 or 3 times and try to get 12 to 15 chicks each time.

I have seen it in print not to cull too soon and I agree. Other than culling chicks for crooked toes and beaks I don't do much until they are pretty well mature. What I look for as they mature is full upright combs, yellow-green legs (look at the twigs on a willow tree for reference), WHITE earlobes, and "black spangle or chamois" bars on the feathers of the female.

Ideally, the comb should curve around to completely close at the back, forming a cup shape. Many birds instead have open combs with separate blades at the rear of the comb. We want to breed for closed combs and avoid open combs if possible. When culling for combs, if the comb is upright I don't worry about it if there is a slight lean to one side later. I will cull out birds with points inside the cup, or sometimes there will be a poorly shaped cup with maybe no points on the edges, and lastly there are combs which I call moose horn shapes, which are flat or only slightly curved up with no real shape.

The combs of a male and a female large fowl Buttercup from Bob Berkemeier’s bloodlines that appeared in the book “Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds” by Carol Ekarius. This book was published in 2007 and can be found in many feed stores or bookstores.

When culling for leg color, I prefer a yellow or yellow/green color in young birds. As they get older, the leg color will seem to darken, but if you keep blue/slate or gray leg colored young birds you are doomed as they will throw darker colored legs on their chicks in the future.

Note the yellow-green or willow legs of the bird on the left, and the slate blue or grey legs of the bird on the right. The legs of old hens can bleach to a blue-grey color as they lay, but young birds should only be kept if they have green legs and yellow skin. The bottoms of the feet will always reveal the true skin color – yellow or white. Buttercups should have yellow skin.

Also note the clear golden hackle of the bird on the left, and the thin black markings in the hackle of the bird on the right. The neck feathers of the female should be a pure golden buff without any markings. The markings in the neck of the hen on the right are a defect, and we should be working toward cleaner neck feathers with no markings.

When culling pullets for color, feathers which are what I call mossy or splotchy are to be eliminated. Ideally, female buttercups should have spangled markings or what used to be referred to as chamois. Look at the feathers shown in the Poultry Standard on the next page as that is a better picture than I can explain. It also seems to me that lighter colored males throw better colored pullets, so don’t select males that are too dark.

Earlobes should be white. When culling for earlobes, I don't worry if they have a little yellow tinge to them or a slight edging of red. But if you use birds for breeders with too much red on the earlobe you'll be disqualified, and again, it will carry through for next year's birds.

Here are the ideal buttercup feather markings from the “American Standard of Perfection”. As you can see, the female should have clearly defined spangles in the body and wing feathers that are not mossy or splotchy.

In the past decade I have had some problems with leg color in my large fowl and brought in some new blood by ordering large fowl chicks from Purely Poultry in Wisconsin. They have some negatives such as open combs, but have some positives such as cleaner neck feathers on the females. So I am carefully introducing them into my stock.

My bantam Buttercups are the original stock that I got from Julie Cieslak in Michigan over 20 years ago. She raised them for many years. I added some additional stock from her line again a few years ago before she stopped raising them.

It is hard to find Buttercups and I consider the biggest problem is Judging. They have so many more points to consider when breeding than most other breeds. When you consider leg color, ear lobe, comb, skin color and then throw in the feather colors and markings, it gets hard to find birds with all those attributes. Judges fail to recognize these points (there are other breeds with the same problems) and select the easier choice such as a white bird because they are nearly "perfect". All a breeder has to do is select for comb and leg color and he can win always. Hence new breeders move over to an easier breed.

An older Judge told me about 35 or 40 years ago that that the real old standards called for a cup shaped comb which on the male was tablespoon sized and on the female was teaspoon sized. He was told this wording was removed because the size wasn't proportional. He didn't know what that meant. Perhaps teaspoon was too large of a size requirement for the female comb. I don't worry about size as much as trying to keep the rear of comb up and closed.

There are other things which I probably have left out or forgotten. I know sometimes you will get a pullet or hen with a leg spur. I try to eliminate them – but remember you can't wring the neck of every bird with something you don't like, or you will soon be out of business. If you only have a small flock, you may need to keep a bird which isn't "perfect". It's too easy to cull and eliminate all the birds. After all we are trying to improve the breed.

Sometimes in the past I have traded and sold birds or eggs with other Buttercup breeders. I would like to offer some eggs next spring so as to spread out the genetic base. Let me know if any breeders or new members are interested.
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Bob Berkemeier
September 2020
10764 East Road, Pavilion, New York 14525
Cell phone: 1-585-969-0900

The top view of a completely ‘closed’ buttercup comb as described in this article.

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About the Author

Bob Berkemeier lives in Upstate New York. He has been breeding large fowl Buttercups for over 50 years and bantams for over 20 years. ​He has been a longtime member of the American Buttercup Club.

Photos of some of his birds appeared in the book “Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds” by Carol Ekarius. This book was published in 2007 and can be found in many feed stores or bookstores or online.

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