Barnevelder

I was given my small flock of barnevelder chicks by a friend. Although I was certain they would NEVER lay, they eventually did, and it was so worth it! They were medium sized, gorgeous coppery brown eggs. Pretty good layers, and the birds, including my rooster, were very calm and sweet. The nicest rooster I ever had was my Barnie, and I still miss him.

The best thing about Barnevelders may be the roosters. They are friendly to people, pets, etc. and to each other. I keep them in pairs or trios, they like each other; no fighting. The are also pretty easy on the hens; they don't mess up their feathers and they will help raise the young. The hens are great mothers and lay eggs nearly all winter long. Overall, the breed is docile, you will even notice that they are calmer then other breeds even as chicks. This makes them a great choice for families with children.

A Barnevelders beauty is exquisite! The double lacing is AMAZING on the hens and the roosters are just as stunning in all of their glory. Aside from their beauty they are fantastically calm and friendly birds. The beauty of the Barnevelder egg is quite something as well. All around great birds!!!!

Barnevelders are the only breed I raise at this time. They are a beautiful breed and a joy to work with
Trisha

They are amazingly beautiful and great layers, they are the most friendly and tame birds I have, and my two are the best! Will be breeding some in the summer and will post pics of the adorable chicks!!

I bought a barnevelder rooster and hen in early 2011, and have been pretty pleased with them. They're beautiful birds, and integrated well with my mixed flock, although the young rooster had a hard time gaining dominance over a couple of old, roughhouse leghorn ladies.

The hen lays quite well, although she does definitely go off the lay in winter - our hen, at least, is not as good a winter layer as we were led to believe of the breed before investing. Her eggs, however, are large, quite long and narrow, and beautiful warm reddiah brown with dark chocolate speckles.

We first tried hatching eggs without an incubator, and failed dismally, and I was starting to wonder whether our rooster was a "dud", and shooting blanks, but this year's purchase of an incubator has seen a huge number of barnevelder and barnevelder cross chicks hatching beautifully. The chicks are cute, striped, and robust. They remind me of tiny emu chicks in some ways, and there is quite a variance in their coloration. Barnevelder chicks can be sex typed at birth by coloration supposedly, although so far my crossed breed only have hatched, so I'm guessing ;-)

I'm not particularly interested in pure breeding, but in breeding tough, dual purpose birds that lay well. Am currently also breeding up some rhode island red chicks, and will be mixing the two breeds - barnevelder and rhode island red - in search of the perfect dual purpose, cold-weather great layer.

I'll also be keeping some of my better, true to breed barnies separate for pure line breeding.

Overall, I'd have to say I've grown very fond of my Barnevelders. The rooster (named "Sirius Black"!) is a spectacular looking bird, and is not particularly noisy. He's also quite friendly, and is happy to be handled. He's a great-looking addition to our place - everyone comments on how terrific he looks. So if you're into the real, archetypal rooster, Barnevelders will suit you.

There's also a BIG size / visual difference between males and females in this breed. You won't ever be guessing which one is your roo. Which can be very beneficial, especially with dual-purpose birds. You won't ever accidentally chop the wrong bird!

Barnevelders are enough of a favourite with me to consider investing in them significantly, and recommending them to others.

A beautiful full bird that gives medium-sized peach-colored eggs. Has been excellent as the first-lieutenant in the flock, keeping the problems away from the leader. Shy and bit nervous but causes zero problems, always well behaved.

Beautiful bird, and she has a different call than the others. She doesn't seem to have particularly dark eggs, but the whole flock only started laying a month ago. She has always been the omega bird of my five, and is loosing some feathers to the others. I'm very fond of her.

The two hens I had were purchased from a local lady that was moving house (England). They were 2 and a half years old, and in need of a new home. She had alot of other breeds, but these were so beautiful that they stole my vote immediately. Stunning lacing, yellow legs and very large and heavy. They are about the same size as my Brahma's. By far the most friendly hens and this surprised me, as they have come from a massive free range flock. I guess I have been used to raising flighty breeds, so it was a nice change.
I also liked the way they have there own sort of noice. Not a standard chicken noice. They are very verbal.
I also liked how brave they were when being introduced to my large flock, and how quickly they intergrated compared to the two Brahma's that I picked up at the same time.
All in all, very fun, friendly birds. If you have a family and want a big beautiful cuddley pet, two of these girls would set your backyard alight.

Love them - just starting to breed them. They are very big in New Zealand