A Bielefelder Thread !

[Cody A]

One of my pullets laid her first egg and my first egg, yesterday, at 5 months old

 

[TNBielefelder]

One of my pullets laid her first egg and my first egg, yesterday, at 5 months old

Awesome

 

[RWD]

One of my pullets laid her first egg and my first egg, yesterday, at 5 months old

Dont be surprised if they quit after a week of laying, and go 1-3 weeks before they start back. Mine have always started then stopped and then restarted. Also never had any start at 21 weeks, but either way you will love these birds.

 

[GNRMorgans]

I've heard bieles go broody too, though I'm a little wary of their size in respect to hatching eggs. I tend to prefer medium to small standard breeds for hatching as larger hens can sometimes break eggs. The two broodies I have now are hatchery "orpingtons" and are, at a good weight, around 3-4 pounds.

Hatching shipped eggs is always a gamble. I wish I'd gotten at least one more so I could give the other broody a chick too.

None of my 3 have gone broody yet - they are a year old. My BCMs and Rhodebars are much broodier..and the silkies too of course!

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I find that almost ALL my chickens do that. They will lay for a bit and take a break and start back up when they first start laying.

 

[Cody A]

So Rippy or anyone else, back to the sprigs on the combs. You said don't breed any of them, males or females if they have them. Reason why I'm asking again is because I have some cockerels to cull and I plan to start with the ones with the sprigs. Is this a good starting point in picking the culls out of my first hatch? My first hatch came from shipped eggs so I'm just getting started. I just want to make sure before they go to the freezer.

What do I do about pullets that have combs that are twisted or lay to the side? Do I not breed these also?

Thank you, Cody

 

[ssummar]

I have noticed that mine are just growing into their full combs so be sure that they are not just young, I think their comb continues to develop for quite some time and some mature faster than others.

 

[Mrs. K]

Recently I acquired a Bielefelder rooster. I am quite pleased with him, I live on the SD prairies and he just blends in. As of now, I just have him covering various riff raff chickens. I am waiting for the first chicks to hatch on Thursday. Those chicks will be 50/50 Bielefelder. My plan is to breed him back to these chicks (talk about counting them before they have hatched) and those chicks will be 75/25 Bielefelder. At that time I think I will introduce a fresh rooster.

When are they considered full blood?

Mrs K

 

[DMRippy]

So Rippy or anyone else, back to the sprigs on the combs. You said don't breed any of them, males or females if they have them. Reason why I'm asking again is because I have some cockerels to cull and I plan to start with the ones with the sprigs. Is this a good starting point in picking the culls out of my first hatch? My first hatch came from shipped eggs so I'm just getting started. I just want to make sure before they go to the freezer.

What do I do about pullets that have combs that are twisted or lay to the side? Do I not breed these also?

Thank you, Cody

If they are TRULY Sprigs you should cull them. Do you have others to pick from?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...standards-for-reference-purposes#post_5590671

 

[DMRippy]

Recently I acquired a Bielefelder rooster. I am quite pleased with him, I live on the SD prairies and he just blends in. As of now, I just have him covering various riff raff chickens. I am waiting for the first chicks to hatch on Thursday. Those chicks will be 50/50 Bielefelder. My plan is to breed him back to these chicks (talk about counting them before they have hatched) and those chicks will be 75/25 Bielefelder. At that time I think I will introduce a fresh rooster.

When are they considered full blood?

Mrs K

6 to 8 generations. It would be better to get some more bielefelders.