A Bielefelder Thread !

[Zinniah]

Whoa! You have had quite a day. So sorry about the hen you lost. I can totally empathize....my only buff frizzled Easter Egger died this past weekend from a prolapse. I went out in the morning and found her stiff as a board with the evidence of her condition very obvious. Thankfully the other two hens in the pen with here did not cannibalize here. That would have made it so much worse.

Broody hens can be such a handful. I had one that was broody for over two months before I finally caved in, declared her the victor, and give her some eggs to hatch. I have to admit, I learned a lot from watching her mother those chicks. She was downright impressive. Since then I've have multiple other broodies, but luckily they've been pretty easy to break since it's been so cold. I hope you have some good luck with yours. Sounds like you're more than deserving of it.

Thanks, I'm sorry about yours too.

At least she went quickly, and didn't get eaten. I will pass out if I wake up to one of my chickens dead and being eaten by the others. Hopefully there will not be anymore prolapses, or any bad things, at least for a while.
I'm not sure what im supposed to do with ms. broody. I took her off the nest a few times, and she doesn't resist at all, no noises, no puffed feathers, no squirming. She will just stand where i sat her and then a few minutes later go back on the nest. I think I will tie a string to her foot and then to a brick. I will make it long so she can reach food and water but not get into the coop to sit in a nest box. I will rake the yard well so she cant build a nest either. Or she can just pretend to incubate eggs for however long she feels like. Dunno. She might stop by herself, she sure doesn't get upset when i move her, maybe she isn't really broody and is just practicing.

 

[Faraday40]

Zinniah

So sorry about the loss of your hen.

It's colder here, so I make sure to move any hens thinking about going broody up on the roost at night. (It will cool off her belly.) Don't let her spend the night in a nest box b/c it will strengthen her resolve. Once it's dark, the hen is stuck up on the roost. Chickens cannot see well enough at night to move around.

 

[Zinniah]

Zinniah

So sorry about the loss of your hen.

It's colder here, so I make sure to move any hens thinking about going broody up on the roost at night. (It will cool off her belly.) Don't let her spend the night in a nest box b/c it will strengthen her resolve. Once it's dark, the hen is stuck up on the roost. Chickens cannot see well enough at night to move around.

Thanks,

I did leave her in the box...I better go move her

 

[Zinniah]

Well...false alarm. She was no longer in the nest box, but there was a huge 2.75oz egg she left. She didn't get a prolapse from it, im so relieved. I put them in at almost 6pm its like 10pm, i normally get all the eggs by noon, she must have had a hard time, poor girl. I am slightly disappointed she wasn't broody but there still a chance she could really go broody in the spring, its a bad time to be broody anyways.

 

[Faraday40]

Yeah! Great looking egg!

 

[DesertChic]

Well...false alarm. She was no longer in the nest box, but there was a huge 2.75oz egg she left. She didn't get a prolapse from it, im so relieved. I put them in at almost 6pm its like 10pm, i normally get all the eggs by noon, she must have had a hard time, poor girl. I am slightly disappointed she wasn't broody but there still a chance she could really go broody in the spring, its a bad time to be broody anyways.

Whoa! That egg is huge!!!!

 

[Candy442]

I would love to join, but I am not sure its a good idea. She is pretty young, just turning 7 months at the end of the week, she may not really be ready. Even though it's texas, and winters are only like 30F at the coldest, there wont be any grass or bugs for the chicks. Losing a girl so unexpectedly and then unexpectedly getting a broody seems like to good of a coincidence to pass up. I have hope she will go broody again though, preferably around march.

are the eggs fertile? I would let her try and hatch. She sounds pretty serious going back to sitting.

My first broody hen (not a Biele) went broody at 4 months of age and committed to hatching. She is a Chantecler/Ameraucana mix bird and is a serial broody. She will quit after raising the hatched chicks for 4-5 weeks...maybe a week of freedom and is right back at it! she went broody four times last spring/summer.
We have all our birds in coops and allow them free range for several hours a day, so the broody ones just sit in the coop nests when they go broody. If they sit for a week without moving (we X the eggs and remove new ones) we move the broody to a brooder box to finish.

 

[Red Banks]

These B la felders are determined to win my heart. I have seven (5-7 weeks). They follow me every where I go. Come to me in a panic when something scares them. I am letting them free range during the day, at night they wait for me to put out the dog crate. They run into the dog crate (no coaxing necessary) and I carry them to the front porch. They are getting heavier and heavier. I just can't believe how sweet and trusting they are. Last night I moved my main coop. I was going crazy trying to get over 30 chickens to the new location. Terrrible mistake. I should have asked advice here. I had to ignore the Bieles till well after dark and they were so upset, they were safe..... I had locked them in a little playpen coop but they wanted the dog crate/porch. When I finally got to them I shined a flashlight on them and they ran into the crate. We will have to break this habit some day, I won't be able to pick up the crate!

 

[DesertChic]

These B la felders are determined to win my heart. I have seven (5-7 weeks). They follow me every where I go. Come to me in a panic when something scares them. I am letting them free range during the day, at night they wait for me to put out the dog crate. They run into the dog crate (no coaxing necessary) and I carry them to the front porch. They are getting heavier and heavier. I just can't believe how sweet and trusting they are. Last night I moved my main coop. I was going crazy trying to get over 30 chickens to the new location. Terrrible mistake. I should have asked advice here. I had to ignore the Bieles till well after dark and they were so upset, they were safe..... I had locked them in a little playpen coop but they wanted the dog crate/porch. When I finally got to them I shined a flashlight on them and they ran into the crate. We will have to break this habit some day, I won't be able to pick up the crate!

What a great story! I can almost see them running to their little crate home, LOL.

One of the good thins about this breed, as you've seen, is that they are highly trainable. Once you decide upon a new home for them, just put them inside and leave them there for 2-3 days. Give them their feed and water in their new pen and it will quickly become "home". Once you open a door for them to exit to free range, you may have to help them find their way back home for a couple days, but they figure it all out pretty quickly. The biggest challenge for my flock was using the ladder to their pop door. All they each wanted to do was stand in the doorway and look around, but not descend the ladder. I literally had to push their fluffy butts out the door, and then put them back on the ladder to push the back in the door. The first was to make the connection was hilarious as he kept running in and out, making all kinds of a fuss and encouraging the rest of the flock to follow him. He eventually succeeded, but watching them watch him was very entertaining for me.

 

[Faraday40]

I can easily relate to both stories!

When my chicks are around 1-3 weeks (& it's a hot summer day), I start bringing them to the grass during the day & return them to a brooder in the garage at night. They get used to being carried back & forth. The grass time is spent in a simple chicken tractor. Usually around 4 weeks old I can no longer carry all of them at once & make multiple trips. Some of them will follow me; others must be carried. The real fun starts at 8wks when I move them to the coop. I lock them inside the coop for a day so they can explore while the big girls are outside. The flock & newbies get used to each other quickly because they have always seen each other through the tractor's mesh. The newbies must be added in the darkness of night. So as far as they're concerned, they go to bed in the brooder & wake up in the coop. When it's morning & I let them out, the newbies run straight to the chicken tractor. For their protection, I close the door to keep them inside the tractor. At night when I open the door, they must either be carried or heavily coaxed to go to the coop. This is when you'll see my daughter & I running around the yard swooshing our arms while chasing chickens. It takes a good week before they're trained to walk from one to the other. In the meantime, our neighbors get some entertainment. Each day the tractor gets moved about 4 ft, so it's usually near the previous day's location. The fun comes when I must move it to a new section of grass. All the newbie fly out of the coop & head for the previous location. When they arrive & fail to see the tractor, they run around in circles like crazy. Eventually one smart girl finds it & teaches the others. Sometimes they return to the coop & try again before finding it.

Here's a pic of my son escorting the "teen" chickens from the tractor (in the far back to the right) to the coop.
Even as a blur, you can see how much larger my Biele Boy was when compared to my Orp roos.