A Bielefelder Thread !

[RFR of CA]

My bieles lay less often than my BCMs but many have eggs almost as dark as my lightest marans. Most of my marans are much darker, but the Bieles do have a fairly large color swing from light to dark brown. They are a heavier bird and do break more eggs with their heavy bodies though which is annoying. I am working on a roll out nest box to hep solve this.
Bieles are more gentle tempered, if a bit dull witted

I find that the marans eat more really, but they are also a lot more active and also produce xl to jumbo for me almost daily

In the pic below are all marans and bielefelder eggs.

 

[RFR of CA]

Oh the roosters are HUGE by the way. I took one to a sale and his cage was above a goose and a turkey and all swore he was the same size!

The person who bought him joked that he could probably ride him home

 

[Sylvester017]

I have to say so far I am really happy with my pair. Calm birds, friendly. Pullet has laid a few eggs, and I see growth every day I look at them. Roo is still, well, a big wimp. His lady is the boss so far! So I may remove him, give him some docile hens (BO probably) and let him mature a bit. I am not seeing the red tint on the legs mature roos get on him yet, and his hen is almost bullying him right now.
Both are large birds compared to my other breeds. My pullet is a food hound, but every day I look at her she is bigger. The cockerel is just a doll. Love this guy!

My friend and I noticed that cockerels can really get harassed by hens until they become fully mature. I think that's why breeders keep the cockerels separated until they grow up a bit. My friend's two Marans cockerels and EE cockerel got throttled by the hens in the flock.

 

[Sylvester017]

This *may* not be typical of this particular bird but more the breeding since its popularity. never know….I have some Faverolles that are supposed to be very laid back but one group i had was definently more aggressive in nature. Sometimes folks forget there is more to breeding than for physical characteristics.

No offense meant but I don't completely agree about the breeding line/strain explanations so much any more. My friend and I had two different varieties of Marans from two different sources and all 4 hens were "pills" in the flocks. We decided they were best kept in flocks of their own breed the way assertive Leghorns or Mediterraneans are best kept with their own class.

Pecking order has to be established for community harmony even between gentle Favie and Amer flocks. It's a chicken thing no matter what the breed is. For instance, Ameraucanas are generally sweet non-combative birds in a mixed flock yet I found that between 2 sisters I had ordered one took an assertive role over her sister while in isolation before they were integrated into the backyard group.

However I am inclined to believe there are some breeds that characteristically have attributes and temperaments beyond anything a breeder can do to eliminate unless cross-breeding is used to make gentler hybrids of the original breeds (i.e. Austra Whites, California Whites, California Greys, Sexlinks, Olive Eggers, etc). I love all breeds of chickens, even "mutts", so I'm not anti any breed -- just need to have wisdom about what fits my particular situation/needs in a backyard flock and thru experience/sharing with other owners, there is usually a consensus about the nature/temperament of certain breeds that emerges no matter who or where the chicken was raised/bred. Just sharing what's transpired from experience and comparison notes. JMO

 

[Sylvester017]

My friend and I had 2 varieties of Marans (Cuckoo & BCM) and they were the laziest foragers in the flock but ate layer pellets like crazy. My hen gave me 2-3 eggs/week and my friend got 3 only/week. We agreed the eggs were never the dark kind you see on internet photos whether it was the 1st egg of their cycle or not. We gave the Marans away since they were snippy and mean to their flockmates too. The Bielies sound like a kinder breed. I prefer good-tempered non-combative breeds over a snippity combative breed.

Quote:
I don't know that handling Marans a lot as chicks makes that much difference. The breeder I got my Cuckoo from had 4H girls and home-schooled that raised and handled all their birds a lot. They ordered quality stock and after going off to college the mom now concentrates on raising rare Coronation Sussex. My Marans came to me very tame toward humans and calm. However she was a pill to the rest of my hens and was a poor layer of golf-ball round eggs of poor egg chart color. My friends BCMs were another variety that were handled a lot as chicks but grew up very bossy and nippy in the flock - they layed 1 more egg/week more than my Cuckoo but still nowhere the color of darker eggs on the Marans charts. The poor attitude toward their flockmates, their lazy foraging skills, huge appetite, and less-than-stellar egg color/production were enough for us to re-home them. Just one of these problems would not be enough to cause re-homing but all combined together made for an impossible flock environment. We came to the conclusion that Marans like assertive Leghorns/Mediterranean class breeds should only be kept in their own groupings. This again is just my experience and opinion. I applaud anyone taking on the task of raising Marans but it's not for me.

 

[Ron Skekel]

[COLOR=0000CD]I don't know that handling Marans a lot as chicks makes that much difference.  The breeder I got my Cuckoo from had 4H girls and home-schooled that raised and handled all their birds a lot.  They ordered quality stock and after going off to college the mom now concentrates on raising rare Coronation Sussex.  My Marans came to me very tame toward humans and calm.  However she was a pill to the rest of my hens and was a poor layer of golf-ball round eggs of poor egg chart color.  My friends BCMs were another variety that were handled a lot as chicks but grew up very bossy and nippy in the flock - they layed 1 more egg/week more than my Cuckoo but still nowhere the color of darker eggs on the Marans charts.  The poor attitude toward their flockmates, their lazy foraging skills, huge appetite, and less-than-stellar egg color/production were enough for us to re-home them.  Just one of these problems would not be enough to cause re-homing but all combined together made for an impossible flock environment.  We came to the conclusion that Marans like assertive Leghorns/Mediterranean class breeds should only be kept in their own groupings.  This again is just my experience and opinion.  I applaud anyone taking on the task of raising Marans but it's not for me.[/COLOR]

I don't know if it will make a difference but I will try. If it doesn't work than by,by. I'll sell them. Pam

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I have never had those issues. My marans are fine with all my other breeds. they all grow up together..... Copper Marans, Lavender Coppers, Cuckoo, Birchen and solid marans and I don't have any issues. I think it comes from some lines. aggressiveness is a trait that can be breed into birds. My Leghorns are not aggressive either. The only mean birds I had were RED, all the red ones I have tried. My egg color is really good on the marans and egg production is good. When they are in full swing I get 5 eggs a week from each. I also read someone comment the eggs were ROUND.... that is a good trait in Marans.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: She eats a lot like my LO when they were pullets. Even if that food container is 3/4 full she has to be first to pick at it when I refill. I have seen a lot of body mass added since they came, so thats a big plus, tells me they needed more protein in their diet. I feel like they are trying to catch up, They were on 16% layer ration when they came here.

Quote: I keep Australorp and I already will tell you I prefer the Beilies. My BA roosters have all been horrible. We are on the 4th one, all 4 have been human aggressive. All from different sources. My parents are in thir 80s, and thats a risk to them, so I have stopped breeding them this year. I have also stopped keeping GLW for the same reason. My RIR are nicer roosters than those breeds.
I love to ferment, stopped for the winter this year due to the mess and huge amount for all the birds, hogs & etc. We are adding an area in the barn with moderate heat so I can do it all winter next year. 200 plus poultry and waterfowl feed won't fit in the laundry room for fermenting

and it is so messy. I was also seeing mice coming in, grrrr! I wanted it out of the house. I have fermented for a few years now, and its absolutely better for them, just not workable here right now. Am absolutely going back to it this spring.

 

[elizmartin]

Hello Sylvester017,
I do agree with most of what You said….Attitude and temperament is breed specific, there are the gentler breeds and the more aggressive breeds and the variables in-between. Environment, having enough feed to eat and enough feeders and what is fed can all have bearing too as well as the time of year too...

I used to have 2 Cuckoo Marans and they were peaceful, I now have 2 BCM x Faverolles and they are the bottom of the pecking order.

I have a black Faverolles project….Dad and Granddad were temperamentally awesome, (mother-mild)….the 2 full sons i have are different. One is built well and sweet but has some gold shoulder leakage. The other is totally black less conformationally correct and aggressive. I'm keeping the one with the leakage...

 

[City farm]

We have a pair and our boy is the sweetest..
He is now at a new home with a larger flock..