Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[BusyBearMama]

Thank you

About the same age as yours maybe a little older. You can see two cockerels and the rest are pullets.sorry not the best pic, but if you click on it you'll se a bigger pic.

I feel better now then for sure its 4 boys and 4 girls, their combs are quite large and waddles are getting bigger and are red and the other 4 basically have nothing at all. The one cockerel is quite large and the other two that i pulled out are so cute but we can't keep 4 roosters in the chicken house, though they would probably be pretty happy lol ... we are putting in a divider for a breeding pen sort of so we have a little control and working on the runs and outdoor pen this week. Two will be perfect for the space. Anyone have suggestions? Before I finish their part of the barn, we don't have any roosters, do they like anything special? Lots of perches and stuff? I know my hens love hay its like give them hay and they'll put it somewhere and hang out on it lol

 

[tls_ranch]

Roosters don't really need special housing. But, if you only have a couple of hens, they can be rough on the hens. A ratio of 1 male to around 10 females is better. It might be helpful to have a small bachelors pen to keep a rooster seperate when not needed for breeding and to give the hens a break. Mine do fine in a flock situation with one male to around 10 or more hens. Sometimes the males tolerate younger junior cockerels, but fights still break out especially as the cockerels reach adulthood. I usually keep my adult males seperate rather than risk injury. The adult breeding males do come in handy keeping the younger cockerels from getting out of hand at too young of age. They keep the peace and teach them to not act up. Older hens are good at teaching young cockerels manners too, LOL.

 

[tls_ranch]

Roosters do need access to non-layer food if in with laying hens. Feeding straight layer rations with high calcium can damage the males kidneys over time. Lots of info about feed and housing options here on the BYC. You can figure out what's best for your situation for feed and housing. It really depends on what your goals are for managing and breeding you flock.

I have a small bachelors coop for a single male. It works great, I which I had a whole coop or 5 more of these mini coops just for extra males, but I gotta set limits, LOL.

 

[BusyBearMama]

love the bachelor pen I have 14 older hens and pullets that are various breeds and then the 4 barnevelder pullets and 19 chicks that I think maybe 17 of are pullets, they're various breeds as well, I might keep a cockerel or 2 depending on what comes out of the chicks but hope to end up with 35 hens and 3 roosters - we have Guineans too but they have a separate coop and enclosure and I don't think they know about eachother. My husband is in the back yard making a chicken tractor so we can get them around while we build runs around the property - we have a big fox problem... There's a nest on our land. We want to keep it under 40 birds if possible. We are putting a breeding pen in the barn so the roosters are a little separated and the hens can get away from them but still be together. Hopefully this works but my husband says he will build a batchelor pad if I want to keep an extra or something. It should be easy to tell who's eggs are the barnies when it comes to hatching and maybe we will get some neat mixes in there for our flock maybe. Is that a doable ratio do you think? Right now they're penned in the chicken barn with one of those yellow mother hen heater things and their chick food and they seem to be making friends with everyone

 

[BusyBearMama]

But yea limits are hard... What's a good non layer feed, like a grower?

 

[farmerturner]

Hi everyone, I just found this breed and fell in love. I ordered 14 pullers and two cockerels. They are now 6 weeks old, and I have some with different patterns from the ones I have seen. Here are some Picts, is this normal? Thanks

 

[BusyBearMama]

Hi everyone, I just found this breed and fell in love. I ordered 14 pullers and two cockerels. They are now 6 weeks old, and I have some with different patterns from the ones I have seen. Here are some Picts, is this normal? Thanks

Hi I'm also new to barnevelders but they are the birds I wanted to start with and just love everything about them! Mine are 5 weeks old and your third picture looks like a barnevelder cockerel & second a pullet, I have an Easter egger that looks like your fourth picture, she's really pretty all grown up and just started laying very pretty blue eggs. The top picture I think is a cockerel but i am not 100% sure what breed. Hope this helps, as far as I know they aren't different colored barnevelders but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. If you contact wherever you got them they should be able to tell you what you have and probably offer a refund or Send replacements.

 

[Junibutt]

Hi everyone, I just found this breed and fell in love. I ordered 14 pullers and two cockerels. They are now 6 weeks old, and I have some with different patterns from the ones I have seen. Here are some Picts, is this normal? Thanks

I am not sure what the first and 4th one are but the 2nd and 3rd look like they are some Barnevelder hybrids or project birds. Barnevelders are supposed to have double lacing.

 

[BusyBearMama]

I am not sure what the first and 4th one are but the 2nd and 3rd look like they are some Barnevelder hybrids or project birds. Barnevelders are supposed to have double lacing.

I've seen barnevelder hatchery stock with different patterns to an extent occasionally, never had any though, they could be a 'project' or something along those lines. I'm wondering where they came from and if there are other birds in the mix that have double lacing?

 

[tls_ranch]

Hi everyone, I just found this breed and fell in love. I ordered 14 pullers and two cockerels. They are now 6 weeks old, and I have some with different patterns from the ones I have seen. Here are some Picts, is this normal? Thanks

My guess. You got several different breeds. Though the breeds you got all look similar as chicks.


First one is a speckled Sussex cockerel
Second probably is a hatchery Barnevelder pullet, but looks like wyandotte was bred in recently due to single lacing.
Third could be a hatchery Barnevelder cockerel, but again too much orange and single lacing.
Fourth is probably a partridge Rock pullet

Trisha