A Bielefelder Thread !

[I Love Layers]

He truly is a handsome boy with very nice color! While I am NOT a Biels expert, I have been working on my line for three years and have studied the breed quite a bit. I would offer these improvements for Archie: I'd like to see a lower stationed (less leggy) profile A lower set tail and longer back Larger comb and waddles with the requisite points More pronounced keel (breast bone) A bit more substance Here's a photo of my main roo - he is not perfect but to my mind is a nice roo

Thank you! The hen has a really long back so I'm Hoping that can help with offspring, and as long as no on gets frostbitten again comb should look good

 

[DesertChic]

I moved my breeders into the greenhouse last fall I have good ventilation and an evaporation system like you see in commercial chicken houses. I feel I will need additional cooling come the hot and humid Arkansas summer.
What are misters ,do they really work, are there special kinds for chickens, where can you buy them?
Have a great spring morning.
Harry

I LOVE this setup and had seriously considered doing something similar at my little patch of earth, but the only hoop houses that survive our harsh climate are the commercial grade ones and that's a little too pricey for my budget. I envy you! Have you considered adding vermiculture to your greenhouse? I read about one guy who framed out sections of the ground, filled each sections with earthworms and "stuff" to compost, and then covered each section with plywood. From time to time he would open up a section and let the chickens have their fun for a while for extra protein.

Misters are available at most commercial hardware stores. They're flexible hoses spotted with nozzles that allow only a mist of water through. If you Google the term you'll get lots of links and images for kits for sale. I know a lot of people who use them, but my own birds absolutely hate them, maybe because they're mostly Naked Necks and can feel the water droplets on their skin. If you're thinking of installing misters inside the greenhouse I'm not sure it would be a great idea, or any relief for the birds. It would essentially just make the hot air more humid.

My flock actually does better if I just run a garden hose on low flow and let the water accumulate on the ground for them to stand in and scratch up...though they are inclined to take mud bathes and get really filthy, but they're happy!

 

[Faraday40]

Been away from the thread for a while. Here's our Hen Solo. She's our only beautiful biele.

Other than a little rooster baldness on the top of her head, she's looking good. No frostbite this winter, so this is a great breed for the northern Midwest. I find it funny that she likes to roost up high in the run next to her RIR buddy. While the athletic RIR has no problem hopping into place, the big biele must take her time to carefully climb up the ladder, then jump onto the roost, walk across the length of the run, & from there hop up onto the support beam. There's really not enough room up there for her, but if I take her down, she just goes back up. No I doubt we'll ever enter her in any agility competitions, but she's able to do more than our English Orps.

@Eggscoozme Yeah, I just checked and the seller was "skywalker2136".

How did your chicks turn out? This person live near me. I've often wondered if they are from my birds. I've been tempted to contact them & buy some eggs.

In 2014 I drove all the way down to S. Indiana & back to get my 1st Biele eggs. The breeder had mostly the 1st import & just recently added some from the 2nd GGF import. I was told their newer bieles were much smaller but started laying at a younger age. My eggs were a combo of both. 100% hatched, so I sold 1/2 right away to local people via craigslist. I made the mistake of only keeping 2 males & then kept the better of the 2. My male died of heat stroke in late summer. I could no longer breed bieles, so I sold off my remaining pullets. I kept in touch with the person who purchased my back up roo & he gave me some eggs the following year. From his eggs, we hatched "Hen Solo".... and a whole bunch of BSLxBiele mixes. (I guess that roo preferred the black hens.) I often wonder what happened to all the other extra bieles we sold that year.

Hen Solo is slightly smaller than my orig bieles but just as sweet. I believe she has more of the newer import blood. The bigger difference is the egg color. My orig pullets made nice dark & speckled eggs which quickly grew in size. Hen Solo's eggs were more of a med brown - like the RIR. She started laying in Oct & by now they're very pale- like an orpington's egg. She seems to lay more eggs per week than my 1st bieles. Her eggs are XL (not Jumbo). Overall, I still love bieles & think they are a great bird for our climate. Because my family prefers a mixed flock, I doubt I'll ever try breeding them.

 

[RollTideChicken]

Is anyone line breeding your birds, or is everyone?
I've been reading about breeding and everything says breed Gen 1 to Gen 2 but all of mine are from the same clutch. Since the lady only had one cock I'm guessing that mine are at most half-siblings. This breed is not an old breed at all having only being introduced in the 70s, so the gene pool would not be as vast as an older breed (so says the logic of a novice - me). I know they used several breeds to come up with this one, but also, at some point they had to line breed too. Can ya tell I have no clue yet?

I've never raised chickens having always just bought some to keep for eggs. Now, I'm jumping head long into breeding and hoping for the best...

I can get another rooster from a different breeder but some sites are suggesting not to introduce a different line so soon or at all for that fact.

Any who thanks in advance for any consideration y'all give this!

Edit:

Forgot to ask... Does anyone use a raised coop to help keep your birds cool during the summer months? My thoughts were that under the coop there would always be shade and breeze. We are designing our coop to be 3ft off the ground. Has anyone done this and did it help your birds? Alabama gets hot and my birds had a permanent OMG look on there faces during the day last year (their 1st summer).

 

[otakalhasas]

Is anyone line breeding your birds, or is everyone?
I've been reading about breeding and everything says breed Gen 1 to Gen 2 but all of mine are from the same clutch. Since the lady only had one cock I'm guessing that mine are at most half-siblings. This breed is not an old breed at all having only being introduced in the 70s, so the gene pool would not be as vast as an older breed (so says the logic of a novice - me). I know they used several breeds to come up with this one, but also, at some point they had to line breed too. Can ya tell I have no clue yet?

I've never raised chickens having always just bought some to keep for eggs. Now, I'm jumping head long into breeding and hoping for the best...

I can get another rooster from a different breeder but some sites are suggesting not to introduce a different line so soon or at all for that fact.

Any who thanks in advance for any consideration y'all give this!

Edit:

Forgot to ask... Does anyone use a raised coop to help keep your birds cool during the summer months? My thoughts were that under the coop there would always be shade and breeze. We are designing our coop to be 3ft off the ground. Has anyone done this and did it help your birds? Alabama gets hot and my birds had a permanent OMG look on there faces during the day last year (their 1st summer).

Hi and welcome the the Biel thread!

I do line breed but I started with three different lines from three different breeders. But let's face it, they all go back to GFF. I had two roos but one died so some of my breeders are half siblings. To date, I have not had any problems healthwise (thank goodness!) and with regards to conformation, my only problem is a lightening of the color on some of my hens. Their breast feathers are not as deep a red and there are a few white spots (not pure white, just spotted) on two of the girls tails. NO white earlobes, no missing points on combs, no sprigs, good profile, good keel,

all in all they are pretty nice birds and I am pleased and proud of my program.

Re heat - the best thing you can do is have TONS of ventilation in your coup and tuck it under trees! Misters work for us and with having ducks now, a duck pool is always available (the Biels love to perch on the edge to grab a quick drink).

Here's our main coop - love, love, love the design, it has worked GREAT for three summers (and winters - easy to insulate)!

 

[HARRY47264]

Hi and welcome the the Biel thread!

I do line breed but I started with three different lines from three different breeders. But let's face it, they all go back to GFF. I had two roos but one died so some of my breeders are half siblings. To date, I have not had any problems healthwise (thank goodness!) and with regards to conformation, my only problem is a lightening of the color on some of my hens. Their breast feathers are not as deep a red and there are a few white spots (not pure white, just spotted) on two of the girls tails. NO white earlobes, no missing points on combs, no sprigs, good profile, good keel,

all in all they are pretty nice birds and I am pleased and proud of my program.

Re heat - the best thing you can do is have TONS of ventilation in your coup and tuck it under trees! Misters work for us and with having ducks now, a duck pool is always available (the Biels love to perch on the edge to grab a quick drink).

Here's our main coop - love, love, love the design, it has worked GREAT for three summers (and winters - easy to insulate)!

I asked the same question a while back all of my biels are brothers ,sisters cousins etc I asked my vet who is a chicken person also, she told me interbreeding is ok for up to 6 generations and then you should introduce new blood . this can be tough due to the gene pool in this country
Have a nice morning
Harry

 

[ChickenGoesRuff]

@Faraday40 My bieles are doing great, and look really nice (just getting in some new --really pretty-- feathers to replace their down). Of the entire hatch, only my freaky California White/Black Australorp chick is larger than the bielefelders. (The chick is now named colossus)
@RollTideChicken I use some raised coops, and my main one has wood chips underneath. It used to have plenty of vegetation under it, but the wood chips let them dust bathe and deals with droppings better than the plants did.

I'm glad someone mentioned the breeding gen 1 to gen 2, because I was freaking out with my iowa blues. My rooster bred a hen, and then bred their daughter. VERY GLAD that I didn't mess anything up too major.

 

[RollTideChicken]

Thanks for the replies!
I was thinking about using river sand under the coop. Shaded sand can be very cool. And these birds need every ounce of cooling they can get. They looked pretty stressed last summer and they were smaller then. Fully fattened out now, I'm assuming it'll be even harder on them this summer.
I'm getting my incubator (hopefully) this Saturday. So a hatching I will go...well after a few eggs are collected.

 

[Faraday40]

We use course sand in our coop & run. I spend about 5 min sifting it each day so it's actually less time per week than when we used horse bedding / wood shavings. (I had to spot clean the dropping trays daily & the rest of the coop weekly.) Costs less too. However what I like best is how quickly everything drains & dries out after the rain. The chickens always have plenty of room to dust bath, and because it's dry = less flies in summer!

Ours is more of an urban flock. Although I like the concept of the deep litter method, I don't think the neighbors would approve.

 

[RollTideChicken]

Hey another question...
How many of you harvest these birds for meat? I've read that some people don't like the taste of these birds. And then I've read how there is so much fat that the meat is tender, juicy, and buttery tasting - that sounds wonderful to me...
Are chickens like other livestock where you get out what you put in? Like grass fed beef or grain fed hogs...ect? Is there something you feed meat birds to make them more appetizing?