A Bielefelder Thread !

[DesertChic]

No signs of anything yet....but I know the buggers are in there because we Candled regularly. It's taking all I have in me to not open and peak every hour...hehehe. I've got my humidity up to 69% for today, hoping to help.

Jami

LOL! I know the feeling. I've lost many hours of my life staring down into the incubator at unhatched eggs and willing them to start unzipping. I swear sometimes that those chicks can seem me through the shells because they often don't pip until I've walked away. I'll be gone for ten seconds but when I look back they've pipped. Ornery little suckers.

 

[MomtoRarities]

I made myself leave so I could get a few things done today! I came home to a baby bielefelder...one down, 11 to go! And I got my first MUTT (my Golden commet just gave me her first egg, a leghorn is the daddy. She was our first ever chicken to our house....so excited! We felt we needed eggs to eat and eggs to breed...hehe). Due to this being our first, we may hatch it instead of eat it! Awesome size and shape, so I wonder if she has been hiding some in the yard (those girls get to free range daily).

Day is looking awesome!!!

Jami

 

[otakalhasas]

Hi all!

This is only my second post here, but everything I read just makes me want Bielefelders more and more! There are a couple of breeders close to me (parent stock from GFF) so I'll just have to be patient until they have more chicks.

Quick question - do the roosters get along with each other? Since patience has never been my strong suit, I'm thinking of ordering some hatching eggs and go that route. But if at hatching I have a ton of males, will I have to cull them or just let them grow up until I can find homes for them?

Also, how loud are your roosters? Do they just crow mornings or are they vocal all day long? Anyone try the no-crow collars? Are they humane?

Thanks!!!!!

 

[MomtoRarities]

These are my first Beilefelders, so I couldnt tell you. But I had a cream legbar roo who was super noisy. I did the velcro trick (like the collars but cheaper) and lost my legbar. Fairly certain it was the collar. By the time he showed signs of struggling, he was gone.

 

[otakalhasas]

Okay, that takes care of that idea! Coming from dogs, I finally, at one time, broke down and bought a bark collar for one of my retired show dogs and I put it on him ONCE. He screamed bloody murder and there was NO WAY I was going to subject him to that again! This was years ago and I still feel guilty...

Thanks for the response - hopefully others will chime in with the Bielefelder's over-all noise!

 

[TNBielefelder]

Okay, that takes care of that idea!  Coming from dogs, I finally, at one time, broke down and bought a bark collar for one of my retired show dogs and I put it on him ONCE.  He screamed bloody murder and there was NO WAY I was going to subject him to that again!  This was years ago and I still feel guilty...

Thanks for the response - hopefully others will chime in with the Bielefelder's over-all noise!

My Roosters start crowing early around 4am they do not crow much during the day and very little in the evening. My 2/12 - 3 year old has a pretty loud crow but he doesn't crow just to hear himself if you know what I mean.

 

[Bine]

Here crow collars, peepers and co are not allowed. Like the bark collars they are considered animal cruelty. So I have no idea if they work.
If you have many roosters around they will crow more than a single rooster. If you have a rooster down the road, your rooster will crow more just to make clear, that he is here to stay and all hens in your yard are his happy wifes who don't need or want someone elses company.
So even a relativ quite breeds like the Bielefelder can get a little unnerving.

 

[otakalhasas]

Thanks for the info! Another question - if you have only one rooster, are they quieter than if you have more (competition and all)???

 

[RWD]

Has anyone owned their Bielefelders long enough to to go through a molt? Just wondering what to expect as far as egg production and feather loss compared to other breeds.

They will loose about 50% of their feathers and look rough for 2-3 weeks. Stopped laying until they got their feathers back, and started back slowly laying. Overall time frame about 4-5 weeks. My molt came late winter, but they had been under lights.

 

[MomtoRarities]

Thanks for the info!  Another question - if you have only one rooster, are they quieter than if you have more (competition and all)???

In my brief experience, the dominant rooster is the loud one. When I had the cream legbar, white leghorn, and polish roos, I only heard the cream legbar. Now that he has passed, I hear the polish. So, in my experience, you really only hear one no matter how many you have?!

Anyone else have this same experience?

Jami