Recent content by LittleDinosaur

UPDATE: To those interested, that F1 hen is in fact confirmed today to be an F1 cockerel...About a week ago I noticed some of its tail feathers growing longer and then BAM! she is now a he. So, I will be breeding him to a purebred hen come springtime. I was confused as to why the autosexing...

I crossed my Biele with a Barred Rock mix, not Partridge Rock mix. Even so, they are wonderful birds to cross. The mixes have all been super sweet.

Update again. Nearing 4 months old now. The pullet has outgrown all the purebred Bielefelder hens, both same age and older than herself. Her feathers are a bit roughed up here from cockerels trying to get at her, but her shape is better than I thought it would be for an F1 pullet. I have...

Update on the F1s. Sadly, one of the cockerels was killed by a dog. The remaining cockerel has developed a single comb, so he is now excluded from breeding of F2s. The pullet is growing beyond expectations. She has a nice pea comb, excellent barring, no muffs and is huge. She is much larger than...

These little chonkers are 46 days old. Second generation hatched on my farm :D I'm excited to see them grow.

Some more pictures of the F1s. I ended up with 2 cockerels and 1 pullet.

Update: My F1s have hatched! This is Biele Roo x Barred Hen. Autosexing appears to have been successful! I'm looking forwards to seeing how they grow.

Yeah, I'd say those aren't Bielefelder hens unless they are from a really poorly bred line. Guess you'll know for sure when they start laying eggs. Red Wellie eggs or brown Biele eggs. Question, how did the chicks look when you bought them? Being an auto-sexing breed, the chicks are obviously...

You don't have to keep the roo in with them 24/7 if you think he'll be too rough. Just a few hours here and there is more than enough for him to do his job. One full day is enough to breed all hens for a full week of hatching eggs. I also free-range normally, and my hens usually don't lay for...

Yeah, that's why I decided to risk moving her. Only reason I didn't move her to her chicken coop is my dogs can get in the coops during the day, so if any hen has eggs on the ground they get eaten right up! I'm hoping she'll settle down today, if not, I suppose I'll be on broody watch if she...

I moved her last night into a secure pen with a nice nest set up. She wouldn't take to her eggs then, and this morning she was pacing around and crying a lot. Did I completely break her brood or might she still take to them? If she doesn't take by the end of today I think I'm gonna incubate them...

Is it possible to successfully move a brooding turkey hen to a safer location much like one would a brooding chicken hen? I've never owned turkeys before, but rescued a hen that got ditched alongside the road winter last. I got her a Tom about a month back and they have mated aplenty. About a...

It should, in theory, since they auto-sex via the same principle (double barred roo over single barred hen with wildtype e+ genetics), at least as far as I know.

This is the barred EE hen who I'm going to cross with this purebred Bielefelder rooster. x And this is another barred EE rooster who I'm going to cross with a purebred Bielefelder hen. x

Do Partridge Chantecler hens have a barring gene? If not, would I do Biele roo x Partridge Chantecler hen (F1) and then breed back any resulting barred hens to a Biele roo to re-establish the auto-sexing?