A Bielefelder Thread !

[crawford-3546]

That is so interesting. I want some real bad now!

 

[TNBielefelder]

That is so interesting. I want some real bad now!

the Bielefelder is a super nice breed of chicken!!

 

[Cody A]

yes Cody you are correct. Does the bottom Rooster have sprigs on his Comb?

Yes the bottom cockerel does have side sprigs. I have another that looks a lot like this one but with no sprigs. I'll get a pic of him tomorrow and a younger male that I think is promising.

Thank you TN I need all the help I can get. Very much appreciated.

 

[Bine]

Oh... what I didn't translate was the new silver colored Bielefelder. It is a complet new color and I think it was created for the Bielefelder.
The chicks are still auto-sexing!
I found some bantams on youtube....

Problem with the vids and pics are always that they may not show the real color, so here is a vid from a guy, think a journalist, who has a kind of "look what happend today in my yard"-blog and a quite good camera i think.
He has some nice close shot from his hens , and I think you can see the salmon color that is in the hen-standard quite good.

 

[Bine]

Oh and the eggs... a hen should lay 60g eggs. the standard talks about 230 eggs per year for the first two years. So you can see why a full egg belly is so importend, the hens need room for the big eggs. The production rate is so highly ranged that small comb or color flaws are trumped by a good egg production. It is also a big plus for hobby/pet owners of the hens, that they lay for a quite long time. They slow down in production after two years, but I know people who have four and five year old hens still laying jumbo eggs every two or three days without having the complications many production hybrids have like oviduct inflamations.
An other big plus of the Bielefelder is something you don't find writen in the standard, but that made them popular. They are calm, social and very human-friendly and, at least in our weather, quite hardy.
They are one of the best chickens for first time owners with a small backyard that is the playyard for kids and other pets, too. The do well with the typical backyard set up, where the birds are confinde to a run for most of the day and you don't have to worry when your children are playing and the rooster is out in the yard. never heard of a bielefelder rooster attacking a child.
Something I wish I could say from my little roos.

 

[Candy442]

Oh and the eggs... a hen should lay 60g eggs. the standard talks about 230 eggs per year for the first two years. So you can see why a full egg belly is so importend, the hens need room for the big eggs. The production rate is so highly ranged that small comb or color flaws are trumped by a good egg production. It is also a big plus for hobby/pet owners of the hens, that they lay for a quite long time. They slow down in production after two years, but I know people who have four and five year old hens still laying jumbo eggs every two or three days without having the complications many production hybrids have like oviduct inflamations.
An other big plus of the Bielefelder is something you don't find writen in the standard, but that made them popular. They are calm, social and very human-friendly and, at least in our weather, quite hardy.
They are one of the best chickens for first time owners with a small backyard that is the playyard for kids and other pets, too. The do well with the typical backyard set up, where the birds are confinde to a run for most of the day and you don't have to worry when your children are playing and the rooster is out in the yard. never heard of a bielefelder rooster attacking a child.
Something I wish I could say from my little roos.

Thank you! We love ours. Ours are 7 and 5 months old so still very young. What age the German Bielefelders hens begin to lay eggs?

 

[Cody A]

Cockerel #1 - 7 months
I think this bird has good form. Has no sprigs on the comb. But it has long sickles with white in them.
This bird has decent weight to it.


Cockerel #2 -7 months
Part of this birds' comb got torn off by another bird when it was younger.
I think it has good form but it is lacking in weight. Compared to the male above.
You can see that the pullet has a side sprig.


Cockerel #3 - 4.5 months
I think this bird will be a decent breeding prospect.
Has a clean comb but it is showing the long sickles.
I think it is lacking in weight compared to the other males.


So these are the males I have to work with aside from the pics on the page before. I have other cockerels but they all have side sprigs and are in line to be culled.
The majority of my females have the sprigs also.
I need ya'lls advice on what would be your pick of the males to breed. Too bad they can't all be spliced into one bird.

I'm guessing the first thing here that needs to be worked on is the side sprigs? DMRippy posted before to NOT breed the females with the sprigs also. This really narrows down my choices but I have to start some where.

 

[Cody A]

Candy, I have 11 pullets. My first pullet started laying at around 5 months. They're about 7 months now and I'm getting 4-8 eggs a day. Not all of them are laying yet.

 

[Candy442]

Candy, I have 11 pullets. My first pullet started laying at around 5 months. They're about 7 months now and I'm getting 4-8 eggs a day. Not all of them are laying yet.

Thanks Cody We are new to Bieles so anxiously awaiting our first egg from our girls. We have two cockerels.

 

[DesertChic]

Oh and the eggs... a hen should lay 60g eggs. the standard talks about 230 eggs per year for the first two years. So you can see why a full egg belly is so importend, the hens need room for the big eggs. The production rate is so highly ranged that small comb or color flaws are trumped by a good egg production. It is also a big plus for hobby/pet owners of the hens, that they lay for a quite long time. They slow down in production after two years, but I know people who have four and five year old hens still laying jumbo eggs every two or three days without having the complications many production hybrids have like oviduct inflamations.
An other big plus of the Bielefelder is something you don't find writen in the standard, but that made them popular. They are calm, social and very human-friendly and, at least in our weather, quite hardy.
They are one of the best chickens for first time owners with a small backyard that is the playyard for kids and other pets, too. The do well with the typical backyard set up, where the birds are confinde to a run for most of the day and you don't have to worry when your children are playing and the rooster is out in the yard. never heard of a bielefelder rooster attacking a child.
Something I wish I could say from my little roos.

They definitely have the best temperament of any chicken I've met. One of my cockerels, Bosch, is so sweet that he runs to us so we'll pick him up for snuggles, carry him around with us, and allow him to sit on our laps to be pet and fall asleep. Mine are 22 weeks old now and have become the favorite breed of my entire family. My teenage son sometimes pops outside just to pick up and hold Bosch for a little "chicken therapy". I'm accustomed to friendly hens in my flocks, but to have a rooster that is so incredibly lovable is a real joy. And I love watching him with his ladies too. He dances for them when he wants to mate and has proven to be incredibly gentle with them and very caring, giving them first choice at the food dish and with treats. The only downside with them is their lack of heat tolerance. Living in the desert SW where temps reach over 100°F on a regular basis is quite hard on them. I've had to go to great lengths to keep them comfortable and healthy.