A Bielefelder Thread !

[texas75563]

Hi plumcreek! I got a question far you. " There were males who had better feathering ". What do you mean by that? I got 9 from greenfirefarms, 5 females and 4 males. 3 males look like possibly double barred and 1 is lighter in color. I will be 1st to admit I don't know crap about genetics. I was wondering if you referring to something like that? All my females look the same.

P.S. Welcome to you and all the new members of the forum since my last visit.

ChickCrazed, I keep my feeders filled up so they don't run out of feed. Their crops looks full and when they are adults their breast stick way out to the front. That is just me , maybe others rations theirs. I don't claim to be an expert at anything. I'm good at a lot of things, expert at none. Maybe others will chime in on this particular topic.

cutipatooti, I completely agree with Dirt Farmer! I would have 2 at least 2 roosters. If you only have 1 rooster and lose it to disease or predators, then you can't hatch any eggs. If your goal is a long range project and not a short term, just a couple hens is fine! Once they go to laying, save your eggs for a week and incubate them.

I ended up getting 3 cheap incubators. Every week I could put eggs in. I think like a higher dollar incubator like a Sportsmans, you can add eggs each week for a couple of weeks. Then again, I don't have 1 and am guessing from what I have read.

 

[RoyalT]

Texas75563, how much feed do you go through in a week offering free feed? To how many Bielefelders?

 

[texas75563]

I go through 100 pounds of feed a week. Besides my 9 1 year old Bielefelders, I probably have a dozen 4 month old pullets. Then I have cream legbar, rhodebar, black sex link , buff orpingtons, plus some beilefelder cross black sex link pullets. Honestly, I don't have a clue of the total that I have.

90% of eggs they lay, I give away to friends family and some strangers. I'm in it for the love of chickens, not the money. I have sold 8 chicks and gave away locally some hatching eggs. I have given my neighbor a dozen or so chicks. They are growing out nicely.

 

[DCchicken]

I go through 100 pounds of feed a week. Besides my 9 1 year old Bielefelders, I probably have a dozen 4 month old pullets. Then I have cream legbar, rhodebar, black sex link , buff orpingtons, plus some beilefelder cross black sex link pullets. Honestly, I don't have a clue of the total that I have.

90% of eggs they lay, I give away to friends family and some strangers. I'm in it for the love of chickens, not the money. I have sold 8 chicks and gave away locally some hatching eggs. I have given my neighbor a dozen or so chicks. They are growing out nicely.

You should try switching the brand of feed. I went from Purina FlockRaiser to Blue Seal HomeFresh and they eat a lot less feed. Not that I am promoting Blue Seal but you just need to try different feeds and find the one that works the best for your flock. I think I have around 60 breeders and they are eating about a 50 pound bag a week of the Blue Seal.

I will say my Bielefelders ate a lot until they started laying. Then they slowed down a lot. They are no where as efficient eaters and egg producers as my Cream Legbars. But they are also easier to catch and pick up.

 

[texas75563]

DCchicken, I can't disagree with anything you said. Town that I live in is a population of 2300 or so taking a guess. Local feed store carries 2 brands of chicken feed. I buy the Lone Star instead of the VFM. It seems to be better, costs a little more.

Until my Bielefelders reached maturity, they ate a lot more. They slacked off since then. They still eat a little more than the rest of my hens. They are the gentlest breed I have. My cream legbar hens are so docile; but the rooster is high strung. My black sex links hens are 50/50. Half are are friendly and gentle as can be. Other half, you can pet about once and then they get annoyed and let you know it.

Chickens are like people, each has their own personality. Even though I like the Bielefelders better overall as a breed, I have individual hens from each breed that are extremely friendly.

 

[RoyalT]

Good to know, thank you

 

[cutipatooti]

Thanks Texas 75563. I will be b getting 2 males to go with the 2 females. I was going to get 4 more from another place but I don't want to set up another brooder at the moment. I will get more eventually, not sure if later in the summer or next spring. Do you think if I got from 2 different certified breeders I could put them in the same brooder?

 

[texas75563]

Last year I had chicks from 3 different breeders in the brooder at the same time. If you trust that both breeders have vaccinated the chicks, I see no problem putting them in the same brooder.

 

[texasmomma]

I will say my Bielefelders ate a lot until they started laying. Then they slowed down a lot. They are no where as efficient eaters and egg producers as my Cream Legbars. But they are also easier to catch and pick up.

I have cream legbars and they are the sweetest things. 3 of the 4 are not skittish at all and come to me. One of them always hops up on my lap when I am sitting near them. They are very efficient feeders. I ferment their feed, so that does help. I have Bielefelder hatching eggs in the incubator and am really looking forward to seeing how they compare to the legbars.

 

[mcgillagorilla]

HI
was hoping someone might be able to help me.
My big girl, Guin, always has a what looks like a full crop but yesterday I noticed that it just looked HUGE. It felt like a hard tennis ball. Having read about impacted crop, I did remove her from the run an place her in large cage no food. its been almost 24 hours and the crop is still big, a little more pliable, feels a Iittle crunchy inside, I see no poop.
What do I do...don't want to lose her. Should I give her mineral oil? how much I don't want to give food. I don't know if can make her throw it up. Any ideas. Thanks.