Pretty much everybody got their stock from GFF.. including Cackle who sells them for on $8 straight run!
I'm posting the link to their only known standard that I could find..It's where others copy and pasted their info from.. but might be easier to bookmark for future reference..
Bielefelder Kennhuhn Breed Standard
I had boys dress out at 4# @ 18 weeks.. The ladies.. also hatched the first week of Feb.. were slow to lay.. maybe 26 weeks, hid their nest, then ALL are molting.. and are not laying even through fall much less winter. Out of 4 gals.. I only got 5-6 dozen eggs..
Ya, I bought a brand new nurture right incubator.. once they should have been ready for me start hatching and they all stuck their tongues out at me and went on strike. Not a single egg since the day it arrived.. So I sold them @ about 38 weeks. The hens were mostly calm, the cockerels seemed testy towards me without a rooster bringing them up. Mostly a fantastic breed to raise!
When it's hard to find information on breeding.. look at other breeds with the same pattern.. ex, here would be cream Legbars.. cuckoo red partridge.. It can show you minor differences..
I raise as many as I can and keep the best of the best and eat or sell the rest..
Some of my boys had red barred chest, while some had black barred, while others had red barred with black leakages.. Pattern is the last thing to be selected for after other things.. like body type, growth rate, maturity rate, egg production abilities, shank (some gals were a bit green in the shanks), lobe & eye color, comb sprigs, split wings, personality/demeanor.. MOST IMPORTANT is VIGOR always... These suggestions only because it sounds like you might actually take the time to be selective.. which I highly encourage.. Bielefelder were absolutely the most challenging breed I've worked with.. to find elimination worthy faults! The more you work with them the more your eye will become trained to easily see things that aren't quite right verses what just looks aesthetically pleasing.
I think it's very early in the gene pool (remember my thought that all stock came from GFF originally).. for this breed still.. and once you start to hone your stock.. it may be working on something as detailed as crispness of the barring.. in the same manner we like to see crisp lacing.. If you've got an eye for it and the obsession it takes, it's a fantastic positive place to focus energy that is overall very rewarding because of it's challenges
Quick mention of one other difference noticed in my stock would be comb phenotype.. while they were straight yes, they had a difference in the serrations that looked slightly different at the back of the comb.. not sure if there's a word for that location. Also both appeared to be acceptable.. and I thought I preferred one to the other.. but as they filled in both looked better.. noting sometime serrates is describing the spaces between the points and different than bent tips.. which are indicative of something else vigor wise.. but can't remember or currently find my old school genetics study source link about it.. Sorry maybe TMI!
Hope it's useful though!
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