Chicken Breed Focus - Bielefelder

[SBFChickenGirl]

I wonder if anyone who is following this thread has the bantam Bielefelder? Bantams are often a whole lot different as the normal sized (mixed with other bantam breeds).
What is your experience in production? Do they lay in winter as wel? What is their behaviour?

Ooh! That would be interesting!

 

[sqatkins]

I ended up with a Bielefelder cockerel as an unwanted "Free Surprise Chick" with my hatchery order by accident. I cannot have roosters because I live within the city limits. So I am planning to butcher this bird. At what age would it be best to get the best quality meat from this dual purpose breed?

 

[sqatkins]

If he's disruptive, mischievous, somewhat aggressive, you can butcher as soon as 8-10 weeks, but not much meat. Bieles are pretty docile. I wait until they start crowing (maybe 5 months). By then there's more meat (and flavor).

Thank you for your input! We are raising meat birds who will be ready at 3 to 3 1/2 months. It would be easier to butcher him at the same time, but he won't amount to much at that point, sadly. Still, waiting means we have to butcher him separately, without the equipment we will be borrowing through a friend of a friend, and hand plucking a rooster sounds like no fun at all. Decisions, decisions!

 

[smagness]

Is there a Bantam version of the Bielefelder? I have a full size rooster, but I also have a Bantam rooster that looks very similar. I can't seem to attach a pic. sorry

 

[khpadventures]

Okay....I had a baby hatch with a single line of feathering going down the side of each leg!!! My flock is all Biels, all came from Omega Hills. Do Bielefelders have any feather footed birds in their genetics, maybe way far back? This is crazy! 12 others from the same pairing, no one else has this. Its so odd!

 

[Hamburg]

Okay....I had a baby hatch with a single line of feathering going down the side of each leg!!! My flock is all Biels, all came from Omega Hills. Do Bielefelders have any feather footed birds in their genetics, maybe way far back? This is crazy! 12 others from the same pairing, no one else has this. Its so odd!

Malines were one of the breeds used to create the Bielefelder, they have feathered legs. I have eight three week old chicks. They all have clean legs.

 

[Hamburg]

Maline chick

 

[BlueBaby]

I'll be getting some Bielefelder's soon, most likely chick's and some hatching egg's also.

 

[BlueBaby]

I just ordered some Bielefelder hatching egg's from off of ebay last night.

 

[Linda Pollender]

I highly recommend Bielefelders the gentle giants. The grow fast & lay relatively quickly for their size. (My orps take 8-9 mo to lay & the Bieles only took 6 mo to make their 1st egg.)
The hens are docile, friendly & VERY CURIOUS. They followed me around making all kinds of funny noises. (almost like gossiping about the other hens) The roo quickly became our favorite. He was a big gentle boy, always alert, & got along well with his orpington "brothers." The 3 cockerals worked as a team to protect the flock. The Biele was the best hawk spotter & never went inside the run until ALL the hens & pullets were inside.




Bieles can look cute or very grumpy depending on the camera angle.







As you can see our young cockerel was HUGE. This is my DD holding HER baby. The Bielefelder hatching eggs were part of her poultry science project.

Here's our 1st Biele pullet egg.


Our Biele Boy grew very larger, very fast. Then when he was 6 mo old, he just died. No other chickens died or became ill. He had no external injuries, and we never did find the cause. Because we could no longer breed them & had to reduce our number before winter, we decided to sell off the pullets. I still miss them, but we hope to hatch them again someday. One of the people who bought our surplus Bielefelders, still thanks me & sends me pics of his beautiful flock. Perhaps he will want to swap some eggs in spring 2016. (BTW- My DD hatched 9 chicks out of 9 eggs. 7 females & only 2 males. We only wanted 3-4 Bieles, so we had to sell the extras.)

How long did it take for your young pullets to grow to 5 to 6 lb