Nettie Metcalf

In 1879, she began housekeeping with a flock of Brown Leghorn chickens. However, she was dissatisfied with their temperament, stating they "scratched and destroyed more than their necks were worth, laid only in the spring, and hid their nests then in the most out-of-the-way places they could find."[8] When Metcalf would suggest slaughtering them, her husband would claim it was the wrong time of year, because according to Metcalf, "they were always scrawny and in poor condition."[8]

After reading poultry literature, she tried domesticating Black Langshans and Plymouth Barred Rocks for a profit. She then mixed the Barred Rocks with Buff Cochins to produce what she called "a big, lazy fowl."[8] Afterwards, she bought eggs from a breeder of B. B. Red Games, later speculating that his chickens were not purebred and mixed with Indian Game. That year's mating produced red birds, which were new to Ohio. She tried to reproduce the red birds and was "laughed at" presumably by neighbors for the attempt, but "determined to 'show folks' or die trying."[8] She worked in a 9 foot by 12 foot coop in her 100-acre farm.[8]

While attempting to replicate the red birds, Metcalf was concerned with the negative effects of inbreeding, and her surmises were proven correct when the four progenitors produced an irregular flock with "Green legs and feathered legs, buff chicks, black chicks, and even red and black barred chicks; single combs and pea combs, and no combs at all, but fighters from away back."[8]

Metcalf's neighbors were amused by the flock, but she claimed one neighbor "quit laughing and decided to help me out." However, the neighbor's husband, Van, "didn't want any of those Metcalf mongrels on the place."[8]

The neighbor's husband, Van, put a Barred Rock rooster on one side of a high fence and the buckeye game on the other and went in for tea and supper. When the neighbor expressed concern, her husband replied, "Let them fight; my big rooster will soon knock the spots off that little scamp." However, later in the day, they found the Barred Rock rooster dead with his eyes gouged out and the Buckeye on top. Van said, "Well, I swan" (a euphemism for "I swear").[16] Van went on to become a breeder of buckeyes.[8]

In the winter of 1896, Metcalf learned of the existence of Rhode Island Reds, which were bred during the second half of the 19th century. Realizing other farmers had also attempted to breed red chickens, Metcalf exchanged birds and eggs with East Coast breeders to discover that the Buckeyes were a darker mahogany color, and Buckeyes had single and pea combs as opposed to rose and single combs.[8][17]

Metcalf created the Buckeye breed in Warren, Ohio

In 1902, Metcalf exhibited her breed at a poultry show in Cleveland, Ohio.[18][19] On August 24, 1903, the president and secretary of the American Poultry Association inspected the buckeye breed and advised Metcalf to continue breeding them, as it was a distinct breed from Rhode Island Reds.[8]

In 1904, she and her husband displayed the chickens at a poultry show in Rochester, New York.[8] Buckeyes were admitted as an American Poultry Association breed in February 1905.[8]

In 1907, she attended the American Poultry Association's first mid-summer meeting in Niagara Falls, which involved sending telegrams to other members.[20] The 1908 APA revision committee advised that Buckeye should be dropped from the standard, but this was voted down in Niagara, New York in 1909.[21]