Chicken Breed Focus - Bielefelder

The Bielefelder is a relatively new breed, development beginning in the 1970’s by Gerd Roth in the area of Bielefeld, Germany, hence the breed's name. They were successful in creating a large fast maturing dual purpose breed with a kind calm temperament and excellent cold tolerance. The hens are friendly, gentle birds, excellent layers for a duel purpose breed, laying about 200 large dark brown eggs a year, and they are good winter layers. They will go broody occasionally. The roosters are said to have exceptionally nice temperaments. The breed has the added benefit of being auto-sexing by colour at hatch.

A number of breeds were used in the creation of the Bielefelder including Malines, New Hampshire Reds and Welsummers. They are a colorful attractive bird, in a cuckoo red partridge pattern reminiscent of the Legbars.

They are not APA recognized.

Details:

Breed purpose: Dual Purpose
Comb Type: Single
Broodiness: Occasional
Climate Tolerance: Good, cold tolerant
Weight: roosters 10lbs, hens 8lbs
Egg Productivity: Good
Egg Size: Large
Egg Color: Brown



Pic by @stoneunhenged


Pic by @plumcreek


Pic by @plumcreek


Pic by @Dcchicks


BYC Breed reviews:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/bielefelder

General breed discussion:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/727364/a-bielefelder-thread/0_20


Do you own Bielefelders? Are you a Bielefelder breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!

We have a bunch of other awesome breed-focus threads for you to enjoy. You can see all of them here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-project.975504/

These are on my "wish list"...looking forward to hearing from other members that have them (and seeing pictures too of course)!

I have 2 pairs that have just started to lay (hatched 4/11), their first chicks should be hatching in about 2 weeks. I can't find any pics of them ATM, but here are their eggs, with other breeds for comparison:


The 3 on the left are Cream Legbars (the 2 marked with "R" are the new Reese line, 2 different pullets).
The light brown egg is a Rhodebar (not a pullet obviously).
The 3 medium brown eggs (BF) are from the Bielefelder pullets.
The very dark egg on the right is from a purebred Welsummer pullet.

Comments:
1. Didn't seem to grow as fast as I had heard, but ended up being quite large
2. POL in 8 months, but pullet eggs seem quite large. This is probably related to the time of year when they matured.
3. Beautiful pullets that look exactly like my Welbars, belying the extensive Welsummer in their ancestry
4. Temperment like Rhodebars and New Hampshires, a little calmer than Welsummers
5. I am surprised at how dark the eggs are, the eggs my parent birds hatched from were not as dark and were misshapen, which led to hatching difficulties, maybe a different environment or feed?
6. I like them and am planning to expand my flock this year

I really want some of these! Where can I get them?

dheltzel said:

I have 2 pairs that have just started to lay (hatched 4/11), their first chicks should be hatching in about 2 weeks. I can't find any pics of them ATM, but here are their eggs, with other breeds for comparison: The 3 on the left are Cream Legbars (the 2 marked with "R" are the new Reese line, 2 different pullets). The light brown egg is a Rhodebar (not a pullet obviously). The 3 medium brown eggs (BF) are from the Bielefelder pullets. The very dark egg on the right is from a purebred Welsummer pullet. Comments: 1. Didn't seem to grow as fast as I had heard, but ended up being quite large 2. POL in 8 months, but pullet eggs seem quite large. This is probably related to the time of year when they matured. 3. Beautiful pullets that look exactly like my Welbars, belying the extensive Welsummer in their ancestry 4. Temperment like Rhodebars and New Hampshires, a little calmer than Welsummers 5. I am surprised at how dark the eggs are, the eggs my parent birds hatched from were not as dark and were misshapen, which led to hatching difficulties, maybe a different environment or feed? 6. I like them and am planning to expand my flock this year

Click to expand...

Dennis, as soon as I have an opening in my flock or a broody, I'll be calling you for some eggs please! :yiipchick

I've had them for a few years now. I hatch my own as well as other breeds . I wanted big docile birds that lay year round and dont fly over fences . I love the auto sexing trait and cross them with Crested Cream Legbars for auto sexing olive eggers . They tend to be very quiet and very docile , even the roosters . I will always have the Bielefelders around as pets if for no other reason . They follow me everywhere and listen well.

Mr Fred hanging out with the wild turkeys. He's a big baby

His daughter Freda , Bielefelder/Cream legbar olive egger

Bielefelder egg

Freda's olive eggs