A Bielefelder Thread !

[Red Banks]

I don't know what kind of experience you e had, but, mine has been polar opposite. There was a replacement Marans from an old order (total generous surprise), two extra Swedish flower hens in the first place, and there was insurance ($100) on the package, they took out, coming... Sorry you haven't had good luck. I love them.

I love GFF and doing business with them has been a pleasure. Best of all....... I trust them. I believe in the integrity of the chickens they sell. I read a lot of horror stories on BYC, not just shipping and hatching nightmares but also chickens being sold that are not what they are supposed to be.

 

[otakalhasas]

That farm in BC Canada...I received an email from them as well saying they won't be doing exporting until fall. Also, the Silver Biels are listed as sold only straight run???? Clearly whatever they did they lost the auto sexing in it! Maybe I don't want Silver ones after all. I really love the "original" look anyway.

I'm with you - I LOVE the original coloring! The red/golden really makes the partridge pattern POP!

 

[chickendreams24]

Me too I think they may be more beautiful than the silvers even

 

[gotro17]

I have never ordered from them, but have had associates & friends order from them, and some had had problems.
But it happens with all hatcheries.
Some replace, some do not, they just figure it is out of their control once the chicks leave their place, and it is not their responsibility to replace them.

Lucky you got your babies safely!

Which one was deceased ?

I had ordered just one swedish flower hens and they sent three. It was one of the extras already.

 

[Chickielady]

Me too I think they may be more beautiful than the silvers even

One of the things we all need to look seriously at, is the fact that this new coloration of a "breed" is..................what ?

Example:
Someone selling "Rhode Island Whites" with a standard comb............to me they looked identical to White Plymouth Rocks...but the guy wanted $50 a dozen for eggs, my response was : It is not a RIW unless it HAS a rosecomb.

We can move on to alot of other breeds, to which "suddenly" new colors have "emerged"..like the Auburn Java .....what's up with that ??? The breed historically has NO other colors, the very definition of a Java is: BLACK JAVA and the black shanks and yellow soles ID the breed.
There is NO red Javas...unless you breed some other bird into it, and such is what this case is all about.

We need to look at what it is, and look carefully, and see what it is.............a white bird with black penciling ? Tell me what you all think, and then look seriously at what a "Silver" bird is supposed to be...Like Silver Penciled Rocks, like silver Cuckoo Marans, and so on.
Now compare the "Silvers" described in the SOP, and the "Silvers" proclaimed in those ads.

All my "Silvers" are black, with white "accents". In other words, the Silver is a black bird, with white details, not a white bird, with black details.

OK, let's have more discussion on the subject ?

 

[Chickielady]

I had ordered just one swedish flower hens and they sent three. It was one of the extras already.

Great !

 

[Chickielady]

Realize, for a minute, that any one of us could get a few Delawares (for example) and breed a bit of white rock into them (neither are silvers) and then post them as "Silver" bielefelders.

There is no way to prove they are Biels...like what, take a DNA sample ?

There is no way to prove they are NOT Biels !

And realize anyone of you could do this same very thing...especially strange is the fact that these Canadian "Biels" are so much bigger....so are they Biels ?
Dod this Canadian couple import the birds ????
NO they did not, they just "made" them...............think about it...

This brings up the very question of what is a Bielefelder ?

According to the APA SOP we look at one coloration to another with the same SIZE, SHAPE and so on..which is called TYPE................such as Plymouth Rocks, for example...there is so many colors!
But each coloration is THE SAME SIZE< SHAPE, SKIN color, comb, ETC.Each is the same TYPE.

If you differ, such as a "black Plymouth Rock Rosecomb" you should realize that there is no such thing...

And if someone has developed a "Silver" Biel....at least it should be the same size, shape, comb, skin (TYPE) as the rest....not a "huge" different bird.
So Waite...and watch.
And we'll see what happens here....

This brings up the next question: What is this """Silver""" Biel anyways ?
A white bird with ticking?
A bit of penciling?
What makes me sure it isn't just a Delaware X Plymouth cross ?
And why would I want to go nuts trying to get it ?
Is it so beautiful that I must have it?
Is it some super chicken?
Is there something about it that makes it so wanted ?
?

So this is just me sharing my line of thinking....and I agree with you, the total allure of the Original Bielefelder, is its Crele double-barred color, period.

Case in point:::::
I do love the barred BBR...(black breasted red) you all have seen my Buster "Super Crele Chantecler" cock.....I love the crele..///////////.not white, not pure black (which is silver)
Here is Buster:







THIS is Buster's FULL brother, a Partridge chantecler....NOTICE that they are identical, except one is BARRED...that is the only difference, that and Buster had a PEA comb,, so there was some odd blood bred in before I got them...Brother (below) had a cushion comb:
If you scroll up & down fast between these 2 birds, you'll see they are identical, except for a single (not a double) barring gene. Biels, are double barred , and so are Silver Cuckoo Marans.
That means they are barred all over their body..


This is the full sister (with a saddle on)



Stunning birds...but everyone wanted Buster !
So, breed a barred bird to a Partridge, and you would get Buster.
Easy.
OK, I have to go make dinner for DH...and I see the eastern & south is getting hammered with tornados and cold....hope you are all OK!

 

[Faraday40]

The Auburn Javas have a neat story behind them.

Garfield Farm Museum (in a far western suburb of Chicago) decided to raise a threatened heritage breed & chose the Java. In the 1990's there were very few pure Java's remaining, but they found a breeder in MN. To help in this quest, the Museum of Sci & Industry in Chicago decided to hatch Java eggs as part of their exhibit. (As a child, it was always my fav part of our visit.) Anyway about 15 years ago a white Java hatched! It was in the news & perhaps due to strong inbreeding, line breeding, dormant genes, or simply not enough genetic variety. More chicks with white & also auburn portions started hatching, so those were bred back to the fathers in a successful attempt to bring back those varieties. A few years ago, my DD had a long conversation with someone who purchased & continued to breed the Garfield Museum's line of Auburn Javas. She was offered some hatching eggs if she was interested in helping in the effort to bring back the auburn Javas. It was her 1st year in 4H & she had just won Best in Show for her poultry science project. She decided that she wanted to try out several breeds in a mixed flock before settling a single breed. She still hasn't picked a single breed. Now I kind of wish we had at least exchanged contact info.

Anyway, in the case of the Javas, they had a unique opportunity to hatch several 1000s of chicks every year for a couple decades. I doubt many breeders would have the volume to work with their flock's genetics on such a large scale.

 

[otakalhasas]

Realize, for a minute, that any one of us could get a few Delawares (for example) and breed a bit of white rock into them (neither are silvers) and then post them as "Silver" bielefelders.

There is no way to prove they are Biels...like what, take a DNA sample ?

There is no way to prove they are NOT Biels !

And realize anyone of you could do this same very thing...especially strange is the fact that these Canadian "Biels" are so much bigger....so are they Biels ?
Dod this Canadian couple import the birds ????
NO they did not, they just "made" them...............think about it...

This brings up the very question of what is a Bielefelder ?

According to the APA SOP we look at one coloration to another with the same SIZE, SHAPE and so on..which is called TYPE................such as Plymouth Rocks, for example...there is so many colors!
But each coloration is THE SAME SIZE< SHAPE, SKIN color, comb, ETC.Each is the same TYPE.

If you differ, such as a "black Plymouth Rock Rosecomb" you should realize that there is no such thing...

And if someone has developed a "Silver" Biel....at least it should be the same size, shape, comb, skin (TYPE) as the rest....not a "huge" different bird.
So Waite...and watch.
And we'll see what happens here....

This brings up the next question: What is this """Silver""" Biel anyways ?
A white bird with ticking?
A bit of penciling?
What makes me sure it isn't just a Delaware X Plymouth cross ?
And why would I want to go nuts trying to get it ?
Is it so beautiful that I must have it?
Is it some super chicken?
Is there something about it that makes it so wanted ?
?

So this is just me sharing my line of thinking....and I agree with you, the total allure of the Original Bielefelder, is its Crele double-barred color, period.

Case in point:::::
I do love the barred BBR...(black breasted red) you all have seen my Buster "Super Crele Chantecler" cock.....I love the crele..///////////.not white, not pure black (which is silver)
Here is Buster:







THIS is Buster's FULL brother, a Partridge chantecler....NOTICE that they are identical, except one is BARRED...that is the only difference, that and Buster had a PEA comb,, so there was some odd blood bred in before I got them...Brother (below) ha1d a cushion comb:
If you scroll up & down fast between these 2 birds, you'll see they are identical, except for a single (not a double) barring gene. Biels, are double barred , and so are Silver Cuckoo Marans.
That means they are barred all over their body..


This is the full sister (with a saddle on)



Stunning birds...but everyone wanted Buster !
So, breed a barred bird to a Partridge, and you would get Buster.
Easy.
OK, I have to go make dinner for DH...and I see the eastern & south is getting hammered with tornados and cold....hope you are all OK!

Well put! In the dog world, we call them "designer puppies". And people charge big bucks for these mixes with no way of knowing which traits of which breed you are going to get.

Besides, how could a bird be any more beautiful than these roos?

JMO, of course!

 

[Bridebeliever]

All really good points here! There are many people that come on BYC posting pictures of their oddly colored and combed chickens that ask "What breed is this", and the experienced folks on here come back with "It's a mutt".

Just because you breed two different chickens together and like the color you come up with doesn't make it a NEW chicken breed! Truly building a NEW breed takes years!!

My Biels are going to live with my mixed flock. My only rooster will be my Biel rooster. So if any eggs hatch from anyone it'll be Biel/Wyandotte, Biel/Andalusian, Biel/Australorp, ect. nothing special, just a mutt. If course they'll be my babies so I'll think they are special and beautiful!