Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[Yara]

I need some critique on these guys. Its only 2 of my 13 but hey its a start. Thanks in advance!

 

[DiamondDust]

I would say #1 looks fine but #2 has WAY too much red. #2 appears to be a cockerel and should not have so much red, and should have lacing on the shoulders and upper part of the wing...that one does not. I wouldn't use him for breeding for sure as he's likely to pass that on.

Hope that helps,

DD

 

[Yara]

I would say #1 looks fine but #2 has WAY too much red. #2 appears to be a cockerel and should not have so much red, and should have lacing on the shoulders and upper part of the wing...that one does not. I wouldn't use him for breeding for sure as he's likely to pass that on.

Hope that helps,

DD

Thank you. I was thinking the same on that cockerel. He does have a lot of red in him. I will take more pics of these little guys. They are about 12 weeks old now and growing like weeds!

 

[Henerz101]

Can anyone help me with this fella he's appeared from somewhere

 

[DiamondDust]

Henerz101

I'm not sure what kind he is but I don't think he's a Barnevelder. It is possible he's part Barnie but he could be a number of other things as well...he definitely has partridge coloring and it looks like he is either moulting and his tail is gone or he's young and it hasn't grown in yet. He's a pretty thing though. Did he just find his way to your house? I sometimes wonder if people "accidently" leave cockerels near homes with chickens if they get overrun with them and can't bring themselves to kill them or take them to auction.

DD

 

[Henerz101]

Thank you I have found he kind of looks of a Wyandotte and he was found with 28 hens then got put with my barnevelder trio late at night then put in with a hen that was broody but we dnt really know what to do with it and someone threw him in at late at night

 

[MaiseyMay]

I would appreciate comments on this Barnevelder pullet (almost 7 months old). I know she is not SOP...nowhere close, but she is an oddity. She was a runt from the beginning, just half the size of the other 4 pullets of her breed. I almost gave her to a friend who raises bantums. She was by far the last to feather out. However, she was the best forager of any of my 15 birds. Being small, she'd run up to a bigger chick and rip the worm or bug right out of their beak and turn and run with it. None of them could ever catch her. She started growing and catching up with the others and now she is the same size. When she finally feathered out she had a lot more of the double lacing and I thought she was quite beautiful because of it. Then her comb started growing. And growing. Has anyone seen a Barnevelder hen like this gal? Sorry for the slightly blurry photo but it's rare that I can get one with her head in an upright position since she always has her beak to the ground. She is often away from the rest of the flock, very independent, and dearly loves to forage. What is up with this comb? None of my other Barnevelder gals has comb or wattles like this.




Here are a couple of the other girls with one of my cockerels.



Thanks!

 

[DiamondDust]

I've never seen a comb like that on a Barnie girl but I would think it would indicate that she may have something else in her...like a genetic throw back or something, you know what I mean? Her lacing isn't great either, which also indicates to me that there is something else at play. Is she a good layer? If so I'd probably sell her as a laying hen to a backyard egg laying flock and they will be thrilled with her and she won't pass on whatever is going on with her to another generation. Your other girls and your boy are all very nice! Do you show at all? You really should take those three to a show...I personally think they could do well.

Hope that helps,

DD

 

[MaiseyMay]

This pullet has not laid yet although she's been showing an intense interest in the nest boxes for the past 2 days so I'm sure it will be soon. All the others have been laying for a month. I agree about the *throwback* possibility, and it's been the plan to cull her and two of the other Barnie pullets who appear to have too much black and are unusually large. Those two have been very good layers though, but I can't let that deter me from keeping only the best of the lot. I'm culling the largest roo also...what a shame really as he is awesome in so many ways. But the cockerel pictured above (also my avatar) is the dominant bird and pretty much everything you'd want in a roo, and his Barnie coloring is a bit better. Both are calm with good dispositions, although neither cares to be handled.

I have never shown. I think the worries of stressing my birds or what they might pick up from others that could affect the rest of my flock, has put me off. A friend of mine left 3 of hers at the state fair and, without her knowledge, 2 of them were caged together and one of those came home very badly picked on, huge areas of missing feathers. She was outraged over it but there was nothing she could do.

Thanks for your feedback....so odd about that pullet's comb. Almost seemed to appear overnight.

 

[tls_ranch]

This pullet has not laid yet although she's been showing an intense interest in the nest boxes for the past 2 days so I'm sure it will be soon. All the others have been laying for a month. I agree about the *throwback* possibility, and it's been the plan to cull her and two of the other Barnie pullets who appear to have too much black and are unusually large. Those two have been very good layers though, but I can't let that deter me from keeping only the best of the lot. I'm culling the largest roo also...what a shame really as he is awesome in so many ways. But the cockerel pictured above (also my avatar) is the dominant bird and pretty much everything you'd want in a roo, and his Barnie coloring is a bit better. Both are calm with good dispositions, although neither cares to be handled.

I have never shown. I think the worries of stressing my birds or what they might pick up from others that could affect the rest of my flock, has put me off. A friend of mine left 3 of hers at the state fair and, without her knowledge, 2 of them were caged together and one of those came home very badly picked on, huge areas of missing feathers. She was outraged over it but there was nothing she could do. 

Thanks for your feedback....so odd about that pullet's comb. Almost seemed to appear overnight. 

I'm not so worried about the comb. It's big and has a bad wave to it, but what worries me more is the lacing. I think I see some feathers that are edged in gold and not in black lacing like double laced should be. Rather the feathers are more like a pencilled pattern of a partridge rock. I think She is to overmelanized to be partridge rock though. Might be a cross of Barnevelder and partridge rock?? They do kind of look the same and sometimes get mistaken for the same breed ( by people who don't know the difference). I've seen people mistake Barnevelders for partridge rocks, wyandottes, dark cornish and even worse black sex links