A Bielefelder Thread !

Hey everyone, so I am relatively new to Bielefedler’s and wanted to know if anyone had ever dealt with an aggressive cock/rooster from this breed. I know that they are supposed to be a docile breed and so far I haven’t had any issues, but wanted to give some background as to why I’m asking.

I had a German Liege Fighter rooster that turned extremely aggressive after moving out of the city. My suspicion is that he has never been around other roosters and my neighbor has a bunch of them. Well after putting up with his aggression for several months, always having to carry a stick around, attacking my husband and children, and not being able to interact/handle any of my other chickens I was finally ready to rehome him and he went to his new home yesterday. He was my first ever rooster and now I am very un-trustworthy of other males (my children are 1 and 2, so very young).

I have hatched all of my Bielefelder’s from various breeders to establish my own flock. The first hatch I had 11 chicks (7 males/4 females), they are now almost 20 weeks old. I still have my younger hatched separated because they were getting horribly picked on (now we have them set up to see each other through a fence before putting them back together). They are in a yard with the 4 Bielefelder pullets and 7 mature hens. In addition to the aggressive rooster we also butchered two of the males from this group and have 5 left. I know that it is Spring and hormones are raging and the cocks are fighting, but less and we plan to reduce it down to two males from this group in 1-2 weeks (and eventually free range on a 1.6 acre property after it’s fenced).

So, now I’m trying to make myself more present in the chicken yard and I just feel like the males are eyeballing me at every corner. I’m trying to give them the benefit that I’ve never had problems with them before, but I think I have some PTSD and I will NEVER put up with an aggressive rooster again. I haven’t really handled these chickens since they were 10-11 weeks old, but I was in the pen daily just briefly to feed/water/collect eggs and always with a large broom handle.

Sorry for the long post! But I could definitely use some reassurance as I work through this. 😭😭😭
I have an impressively large Beilefelder Roo named Dot. He is giant but also sweeter than all my chickens. He even has a deeper octave crow lol. I haven't seen him be agressive to anything yet, and he's only crowed once at 20 weeks of age. He's not bottom of the pecking order and the other older roos steer clear of him. Though I'm a tad worried about him getting hurt due to his gangly legs if Rosie our old English cross gets agressive with him. I'm definitely in love with the breed just from Dot's chill nature. I will probably be culling two other roos just because they are agressive with the ladies. I'm hopeful to breed Dot with some of my RIR and probably get some Bielefelder hens from mcmurry's. I like the size the temperament and this is all coming from raising a giant chill roo. Obviously a favorite.

Oh I have a 21 month old son who Dot just sits right next too no issues...though he is offended by the dogs.
 
I have an impressively large Beilefelder Roo named Dot. He is giant but also sweeter than all my chickens. He even has a deeper octave crow lol. I haven't seen him be agressive to anything yet, and he's only crowed once at 20 weeks of age. He's not bottom of the pecking order and the other older roos steer clear of him. Though I'm a tad worried about him getting hurt due to his gangly legs if Rosie our old English cross gets agressive with him. I'm definitely in love with the breed just from Dot's chill nature. I will probably be culling two other roos just because they are agressive with the ladies. I'm hopeful to breed Dot with some of my RIR and probably get some Bielefelder hens from mcmurry's. I like the size the temperament and this is all coming from raising a giant chill roo. Obviously a favorite.

Oh I have a 21 month old son who Dot just sits right next too no issues...though he is offended by the dogs.

I currently am raising some Bielefelder X RIR hen grow outs. They are so pretty and friendly. Sadly 3 roos and 1 hen. Only have roo pics as I'm trying to give them a chance of staying out of the freezer by selling them.

I too have never had any issues with aggression from my rooster. He's half-heartedly attacked me a couple times when I was messing with hens and they were squawking bloody murder. But he never hit hard and seemed ashamed. Added a picture just to show him off as he's so pretty.
 

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I currently am raising some Bielefelder X RIR hen grow outs. They are so pretty and friendly. Sadly 3 roos and 1 hen. Only have roo pics as I'm trying to give them a chance of staying out of the freezer by selling them.

I too have never had any issues with aggression from my rooster. He's half-heartedly attacked me a couple times when I was messing with hens and they were squawking bloody murder. But he never hit hard and seemed ashamed. Added a picture just to show him off as he's so pretty.
Your big roo looks just like my Dot. I think Dot snipped at me once but he was getting a grape so he just missed lol. He had bumblefoot recently due to one of the other scuffing him up and then standing in mud under the porch with a wound 🤦🏻‍♀️(we couldn't find him). He did really well with treatment though just hung out in the water and ate a snack.

Thanks for pictures! I was curious what the cross would look like. I'm pretty hopeful to cross our roo too just hoping the temperament carries over. I hope your roos don't go to a freezer they are good looking boys!
 
Hi Everyone

I am jealous of those on this thread that have very large birds. I ordered birds from Cackle last year. My roo is over a year old now and is probably eight pound or less. I will probably be looking for hatching eggs this spring. Is there anyone out there that anticipates selling eggs from large examples of the breed?
 
Hi Everyone

I am jealous of those on this thread that have very large birds. I ordered birds from Cackle last year. My roo is over a year old now and is probably eight pound or less. I will probably be looking for hatching eggs this spring. Is there anyone out there that anticipates selling eggs from large examples of the breed?
I am unsure about hatching eggs but I did get my roo as a day old chick from mcmurry Hatchery he was our "surprise chick" but I'll probably purchase more from them.
 
I agree with Bielfelders not being a good choice for eggs to feed ratio, and taking too long to start laying, I am also getting rid of mine as well. I currently have, Bielfelders, Buff, blue Australorp, Barred Rock, leghorns and Delaware. Where Delware is my number one choice for meat and eggs and Bielfelders the bottom of the list.
 
Bielefelders are large birds and large or heavy birds take longer to go into lay and large birds will give only about 2-3 eggs per week if lucky. Owners get a lot of heavy breeds to insure more eggs -- on the other hand owners who want meat will obtain the heavier large birds. Bielefelders are a nice breed but may not fit all needs.
 

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