A Bielefelder Thread !

[Faraday40]

Cookie is awesome. My hen Paloma is not as attentive a mom as my Splash bantam Orps were last Fall, but fortunately the other chickens are used to chicks now so they don't bother the little ones when Paloma wanders off and forgets about them. The Bielefelder chicks are like little latchkey kids; they have to find mom on their own, lol.

That's so cool that your flock is understanding. I swear if chickens could do eye-rolls, Cookie's flockmates would do it every time she goes broody. I've seen them peck at her to try to prevent her from adding even more chicks to our overcrowded coop. Cookie runs a tight ship & keeps her chicks close. She refuses to accept any chick that she doesn't hatch. I can slip a chick under her while the eggs are hatching, but once she leaves the nest, she'll peck at any intruders to fiercely protect her chicks. When she hatched Bieles, she got confused when they grew bigger than her. She left them at 3.5 wks & went back to laying.

My Sebright was not as aggressive & allows her chicks to explore more. Her giant Orpington chicks are now 5 weeks & grossly larger than her, but she still covers them at night. It's quite a sight! The Sebright also had no problem adopting a new chick that hatched 4 days later. In fact, a few days ago when she heard peeping, she wanted to adopt Cookie's chicks too. Cookie disagreed.

I think it's so neat to see the diff parenting styles. I thought my LF orps would go broody, but not a single one. We have a 3rd broody hen that tries to hatch 1 time per year in June.

 

[DesertChic]

That's so cool that your flock is understanding. I swear if chickens could do eye-rolls, Cookie's flockmates would do it every time she goes broody. I've seen them peck at her to try to prevent her from adding even more chicks to our overcrowded coop. Cookie runs a tight ship & keeps her chicks close. She refuses to accept any chick that she doesn't hatch. I can slip a chick under her while the eggs are hatching, but once she leaves the nest, she'll peck at any intruders to fiercely protect her chicks. When she hatched Bieles, she got confused when they grew bigger than her. She left them at 3.5 wks & went back to laying.

My Sebright was not as aggressive & allows her chicks to explore more. Her giant Orpington chicks are now 5 weeks & grossly larger than her, but she still covers them at night. It's quite a sight! The Sebright also had no problem adopting a new chick that hatched 4 days later. In fact, a few days ago when she heard peeping, she wanted to adopt Cookie's chicks too. Cookie disagreed.

I think it's so neat to see the diff parenting styles. I thought my LF orps would go broody, but not a single one. We have a 3rd broody hen that tries to hatch 1 time per year in June.

That's been one of the most fascinating things for me to observe too! I have two White Rocks that I've allowed to raise chicks. Lily is gentle, devoted, and stayed with them until they were nearly 6 weeks old. Even when she was ready to start laying again, she fussed until I let her out of the nursery pen. She then ran to her old coop, laid her egg and then immediately demanded to be reunited with her babies. She did this for four days before finally deciding to leave the nursery for good. Her sister, Dolly....totally different. Dolly was fierce, grumpy, loud, and rather rough with the chicks. She complained constantly, which the chicks seemed to mimic, and the day she decided she had to lay an egg she was done with them for good. The chicks were 3.5 weeks old and completely confused by the sudden departure. At least they're quieter now, and actually growing faster now that she's gone. Needless to say I prefer Lily's parenting to Dolly's.

 

[Cynthia12]

I am so sad right now. They weren't Bieles, but I lost 8 chicks to raccoons tonight. I went down to do the final lock up at 10:30 instead of 9, and the carnage was horrible. 6 EEs that I hatched from eggs I got from my stepson, and 2 CCL pullets that I bought from a local hatchery.

I am so grateful that the big girls were inside the coop and the door was closed. The little ones were looking inside the coop today, so they would have been inside within a week. For now they were in a run that is predator proof when the door is closed. It wasn't because the little ones were having so much fun chasing bugs that I didn't want to lock them up.

Tomorrow is a day for reinforcing the week parts of the run.

THanks for listening to me.It is good to have friends.

Oh noo! So sorry. Ferrets were a problem in the last town we lived in..now, it's ferrel cats. Lost one only, but that was bad enough. The neighborhood cats come by .. to watch...so far. It's been a few yrs. since the wild cat got my Heritage RIR pullet. I can't imagine losing 8 babies. :/

 

[Coop de Grass]

Oh noo! So sorry. Ferrets were a problem in the last town we lived in..now, it's ferrel cats. Lost one only, but that was bad enough. The neighborhood cats come by .. to watch...so far. It's been a few yrs. since the wild cat got my Heritage RIR pullet. I can't imagine losing 8 babies. :/

Sorry to hear about your RIR. I guess it isn't possible to have chickens without losing an occasional one.

 

[Coop de Grass]

OK Bielefelder owners, I have another hen being weird... this one is braying like a donkey. No kidding, she sounds exactly like a donkey. No other symptoms. It has been hot, and all the girls are open mouth breathing in the heat of the day. She did this for about 1/2 hour, but seems to have stopped!

Anyone else heard this?

 

[Cynthia12]

Haven't had one sound like a donkey yet, but sure have plenty of duck sounds out there when the babies start turning into pullets.

 

[Cynthia12]

I don't think I posted this here yet..I got a kick out of it.

 

[Coop de Grass]

I don't think I posted this here yet..I got a kick out of it.

Thanks for making me laugh! I am sending this to my stepson who works on a farm, and to my neice who is in college studying to be a vet assistant!

 

[Coop de Grass]

Quote:
Duck sounds??? I am going to have to listen to duck sounds tomorrow. This hen is 1 year old, so she knows how to cluck.

 

[Faraday40]

Bieles make all sorts of unusual noises. Because they're friendly, they'll follow their owners around chatting the entire time. I never heard a donkey sound, but mine sounded grumpy. Sometimes kind of growling-like noises to their bawks. My former biele also made a whining noise that sounded like, "Treeeeats? Treeeeeaaaaats?"

My pullets that hatched back in March are now in the stage when voices are changing. They are also starting to mingle closer to the rest of the flock. I still have 2 subflocks, but they're finding their place. My Biele pullet hangs out with a RIR. Both are treat monsters & always begging.