A Bielefelder Thread !

[bluejean55girl]

Silvers? I am not sure what you are talking about sorry. There are soooo many breeds I would love to have..

silver bielefelders, nobody has imported any.. you were talking about saving up for imports.. just trying to help your dream along.. grins

 

[DesertChic]

hi faraday,

sorry, I didn't make my question clear enough... grins (added to my post above to reflect my question better)

I do understand about the sexing part.. that is what attracted me to start researching this breed to start with... lol

when you have 2 roos running together in the small (7 hen) flock setting.. are you able to guess which chicks might have come from which roo? would one group of chicks resemble each other over the other group sired by the 2nd roo?

I hate to be ambiguous, but my response to your question is...it depends. I'll use my own Biel roosters to explain: My dominant rooster, Hansel, is rather huge, weighing in at 11+ pounds, but doesn't have an especially meaty frame. His legs and thighs are strong from all the running around he does, but his breast is actually quite boney. All of his male offspring have shown the same body type and one had a nearly identical comb to him.

My second Biel rooster, Bosch, is smaller in stature (specifically height) but has a much rounder and meatier breast (weighing in at 9 lbs), and a single sprig on his comb. So far his male offspring have also had a heavier, rounder frame for their size, and that sprig has shown up on one of them.

So the more familiar you are with the parents, and the more unique features each one has, the more likely you are to be able to eventually distinguish parentage in the appearance of the offspring, but it's no guarantee.

 

[bluejean55girl]

I hate to be ambiguous, but my response to your question is...it depends. I'll use my own Biel roosters to explain: My dominant rooster, Hansel, is rather huge, weighing in at 11+ pounds, but doesn't have an especially meaty frame. His legs and thighs are strong from all the running around he does, but his breast is actually quite boney. All of his male offspring have shown the same body type and one had a nearly identical comb to him.

My second Biel rooster, Bosch, is smaller in stature (specifically height) but has a much rounder and meatier breast (weighing in at 9 lbs), and a single sprig on his comb. So far his male offspring have also had a heavier, rounder frame for their size, and that sprig has shown up on one of them.

So the more familiar you are with the parents, and the more unique features each one has, the more likely you are to be able to eventually distinguish parentage in the appearance of the offspring, but it's no guarantee.

thanks desertchic.. that is what I was looking for... what kind of differences are you seeing in your hens, if I may ask?

 

[Bine]

Okay, I try to get answers to the question of how to import birds to the US for a while now. You can find a carrier for transport that will charge the same as or less than a passenger ticket with a regular airline. But before that you need to find a breeder that is okay with a very detailed examination of his/hers compleed flock by a national government veterinarian of the exporting country ie Germany. Certificate must be in English or have the English translation.
This point have to be included in the health certificat:

• The flock(s) of origin were found upon inspection to be free from evidence of communicable diseases of poultry;
• No exotic Newcastle disease has occurred on the premises of origin or on adjoining premises during the 90 days immediately preceding the date of movement of the eggs from such region; and
• As far as it has been possible to determine, such flock(s) were not exposed to such disease during the preceding 90 days.
• At least 5 percent (%) or a minimum of 150 birds from the flock of origin were negative for egg drop syndrome (EDS 76). This statement does not apply to hatching eggs or poults of turkeys.
• The flock of origin was tested negative for Salmonella enteritidis (SE) within 30 days by environmental culture, and there is no evidence or knowledge of SE present in the flock
• The flock(s) of origin for the hatching eggs were not vaccinated against any H5 or H7 subtype of avian influenza. The shipment will not transit through any regions where APHIS considers highly pathogenic avian influenza to exist, as listed here.
• The flocks of origin have been vaccinated against Newcastle disease (avian paramyxovirus) at least 21 days prior to export, using vaccines that do not contain any velogenic strains of Newcastle disease virus.

One problem you will run in, is that show breeders vaccinate against salmonella to prevent a infection at shows. This birds will never test negativ for salmonella again. And most vaccines contain "living" strains of a virus. So you have to find a vaccine that is allowed to be used for your flock in Germany and in the US.
Than find a breeder that will open up to the officials after all the horror stories I heard about quick-tests that showed wrong results and caused the culling of healthy flocks with in hours after the inspector showed up.
True or not, I am happy that my district vet is a poultry guy and loves this racing pigions and crowers.

All birds must be quarantined for a minimum of 30 days at a USDA Animal Import Center. I think you only have three Animal Import Centers for all the US, find a breeder that is okay to sell you a bird that is his pride and joy, knowing that it will sit 30 days in a small cage in a maybe crowded lab-like building, handled and fed by someone staffer that may not even care about if it and has no interessed in it surviving the quarantine.
Uhm.... yeah....

So money is not the biggest problem here.

 

[Red Banks]

Okay, I try to get answers to the question of how to import birds to the US for a while now. You can find a carrier for transport that will charge the same as or less than a passenger ticket with a regular airline. But before that you need to find a breeder that is okay with a very detailed examination of his/hers compleed flock by a national government veterinarian of the exporting country ie Germany. Certificate must be in English or have the English translation.
This point have to be included in the health certificat:

• The flock(s) of origin were found upon inspection to be free from evidence of communicable diseases of poultry;
• No exotic Newcastle disease has occurred on the premises of origin or on adjoining premises during the 90 days immediately preceding the date of movement of the eggs from such region; and
• As far as it has been possible to determine, such flock(s) were not exposed to such disease during the preceding 90 days.
• At least 5 percent (%) or a minimum of 150 birds from the flock of origin were negative for egg drop syndrome (EDS 76). This statement does not apply to hatching eggs or poults of turkeys.
• The flock of origin was tested negative for Salmonella enteritidis (SE) within 30 days by environmental culture, and there is no evidence or knowledge of SE present in the flock
• The flock(s) of origin for the hatching eggs were not vaccinated against any H5 or H7 subtype of avian influenza. The shipment will not transit through any regions where APHIS considers highly pathogenic avian influenza to exist, as listed here.
• The flocks of origin have been vaccinated against Newcastle disease (avian paramyxovirus) at least 21 days prior to export, using vaccines that do not contain any velogenic strains of Newcastle disease virus.

One problem you will run in, is that show breeders vaccinate against salmonella to prevent a infection at shows. This birds will never test negativ for salmonella again. And most vaccines contain "living" strains of a virus. So you have to find a vaccine that is allowed to be used for your flock in Germany and in the US.
Than find a breeder that will open up to the officials after all the horror stories I heard about quick-tests that showed wrong results and caused the culling of healthy flocks with in hours after the inspector showed up.
True or not, I am happy that my district vet is a poultry guy and loves this racing pigions and crowers.

All birds must be quarantined for a minimum of 30 days at a USDA Animal Import Center. I think you only have three Animal Import Centers for all the US, find a breeder that is okay to sell you a bird that is his pride and joy, knowing that it will sit 30 days in a small cage in a maybe crowded lab-like building, handled and fed by someone staffer that may not even care about if it and has no interessed in it surviving the quarantine.
Uhm.... yeah....

So money is not the biggest problem here.

Money........ it is MY biggest problem! Thanks Bine....... sounds very tough. I appreciate Greenfire even more.

 

[Red Banks]

DesertChic I thought you would get a good laugh at the Biels waiting at the gate. Please, Mom, let us sleep on the porch. They still wait every night. Finally, when it is just too dark to wait any longer they go to their coop. I have 40 birds out in the yard. The seven Biels are always together, they stay together wherever they go. They still eat like there is no tomorrow! Now at 4 months.

 

[otakalhasas]

You will find that the male chicks have light colored fluff (often with a white head spot) & the females all have the standard chipmunk stripe. They're very easy to tell apart.

There are always exceptions, but if you have enough females, keeping two roos should not be a problem. If your males were hatched & raised together, it makes it especially easy.

This is a very rare breed in the US right now. Many people love them, so I see their popularity rising in the near future. What's not to love? (big, beautiful, docile, good layer, auto sexing,....)

AGREED!!! What's not to love!!! As they say, the Uberchicken!!!

 

[Bridebeliever]

Money........ it is MY biggest problem!  Thanks Bine....... sounds very tough.  I appreciate Greenfire even more.

I suddenly have a very CLEAR picture as to why the chicks from GF can be as much as $99 each! Um, yeah!!!

 

[Coop de Grass]

@RedBanks I have the opposite experience of my girls staring hopefull up at the house waiting for me to let them out of the little run which is 20 x 15!!!

 

[DesertChic]

thanks desertchic.. that is what I was looking for... what kind of differences are you seeing in your hens, if I may ask?

The main differences in my hens have to do with size (Gretel is huge with a very fast growth rate early on, while my other girls are more stream-lined) and sprigs on the combs, which I want to breed out...but the girls are much, much harder for me to distinguish from one another. The biggest tells I have from them are their personalities. Gretel talks to me as soon as she sees me, while Zoey looks hard at me before scurrying away lest I pick her up or something.