A Bielefelder Thread !

[Red Banks]

Yikes! Sounds like you've had some stressful chicken days. Some boys are just more pugilistic than others. The younger boys will definitely become more "rooster-like" as they age....and after going through the awkward "mate-with-every-girl-you-can-pin-down" phase. My boy Hansel figured it all out pretty quickly and other than being so much larger than the girls, has actually proven quite gentle with them when mating. His brother, Bosch, took significantly longer to develop any finesse. I felt really, really sorry for him for months as the girls continued to reject him when he couldn't seal the deal quickly. Once he figured it all out though, he became a favorite and has proven very gentle with and protective of his girls.

The first fight was a really stressful day. I had a pullet with a ruptured crop. It was so weird.... she was alert, walking around the yard, eating and drinking. The drinking was what alerted me to trouble..... she kept drinking and drinking and drinking. Her neck was wet, sticky and stinky. Her crop was gone, just a dead flap of skin and a hole. It is a mystery but the biggest mystery of all to me is how she stood the pain there must have been. Anyway, after we put her down I took at cat nap and when I woke up the roosters were into their death match. I am learning a lot about chickens very quickly! I want a roo like Hansel. You told a story about him months ago and that is what I think about when I think of what I want in a roo for my flock.

 

[bluejean55girl]

Where might?? the white tail feathers in the "occasional" Bielefelder Roos come from? the German breed standard doesn't mention white (""The tail is grey barred, brown traces are allowed."")

Is white in tail feathers a common genetic leakage? or a crop out of possible distant or (not so distant) breeding that doesn't trace directly to the German Imports?

 

[goldie1234]

Atla

Depending on where you are in Georgia.... you have some options for south Georgia.  Feels Right Farm, Buzzardairline.com or Greenfire Farms.  These are North Florida near the Georgia line.  Should have mentioned the cities.....

Feels Right - Live Oak Florida area
Buzzard Airline - Cairo Georgia
Greenfire Farms - Midway (Havana) Florida

Atlanta area

 

[Bine]

Single white feathers are a common in many breeds. It happends and is a prolblem that disqualifize the bird for show and breeding. It's easy to breed away from, if it shows in the first feathers. Unfortunatly some of my black Barbus sometimes develop this after very late after the 2. molt.
when it comes to Bielefelders it's not bad breeding, I think. It is just a very small gen pool and so side springs, wrong coloring, wrong tail angle and may other stuff shows up and is not easy to breed away from. B/c the next bird will have this or an other flaw, too.
It is said: First build the house, than paint it. That is very true.
Try to breed away from body shape flaws than look for better color.
It is never easy to breed a good bird and if your gen pool is limited it is even harder. If your bird is not perfect, don't give up and enjoy what it has to offer you, like beeing a good pet bird or a responsible flock guardian.
And remember that top birds are a result of long years and many, many try and errors. And still the highest mumber of point a bird can have is 97 b/c there is no perfect bird, there is no perfect human being, too.

 

[Bridebeliever]

Single white feathers are a common in many breeds. It happends and is a prolblem that disqualifize the bird for show and breeding. It's easy to breed away from, if it shows in the first feathers. Unfortunatly some of my black Barbus sometimes develop this after very late after the 2. molt.
when it comes to Bielefelders it's not bad breeding, I think. It is just a very small gen pool and so side springs, wrong coloring, wrong tail angle and may other stuff shows up and is not easy to breed away from. B/c the next bird will have this or an other flaw, too.
It is said: First build the house, than paint it. That is very true.
Try to breed away from body shape flaws than look for better color.
It is never easy to breed a good bird and if your gen pool is limited it is even harder. If your bird is not perfect, don't give up and enjoy what it has to offer you, like beeing a good pet bird or a responsible flock guardian.
And remember that top birds are a result of long years and many, many try and errors. And still the highest mumber of point a bird can have is 97 b/c there is no perfect bird, there is no perfect human being, too.

Well said! I went to the site that I will be getting my Biels from to look at their Roosters and sure enough, one prominent white feather in the tail! I guess I can expect that when I get my rooster from them. I'm going to breed because I like the breed! Is it irresponsible to breed a rooster that has this trait. More importantly will it be wrong to sell the extras knowing they carry this?

Okay, and this is purely from ignorance...I've never even been to a bird show...but couldn't you just pluck the offending feather before showing?

 

[otakalhasas]

Single white feathers are a common in many breeds. It happends and is a prolblem that disqualifize the bird for show and breeding. It's easy to breed away from, if it shows in the first feathers. Unfortunatly some of my black Barbus sometimes develop this after very late after the 2. molt.
when it comes to Bielefelders it's not bad breeding, I think. It is just a very small gen pool and so side springs, wrong coloring, wrong tail angle and may other stuff shows up and is not easy to breed away from. B/c the next bird will have this or an other flaw, too.
It is said: First build the house, than paint it. That is very true.
Try to breed away from body shape flaws than look for better color.
It is never easy to breed a good bird and if your gen pool is limited it is even harder. If your bird is not perfect, don't give up and enjoy what it has to offer you, like beeing a good pet bird or a responsible flock guardian.
And remember that top birds are a result of long years and many, many try and errors. And still the highest mumber of point a bird can have is 97 b/c there is no perfect bird, there is no perfect human being, too.

Amen! I love the analogy about building then painting. How very true! In the sport of dogs, there is a well-known quote from the esteemed Percy Roberts (breeder/handler/judge) that is also appropriate for breeding of chickens - "The Standard is the blue print, the Breeder is the builder, the Judge is the Building Inspector". I find that saying comes in handy when I'm faced with tough decisions in the center of the ring!

 

[DesertChic]

The first fight was a really stressful day. I had a pullet with a ruptured crop. It was so weird.... she was alert, walking around the yard, eating and drinking. The drinking was what alerted me to trouble..... she kept drinking and drinking and drinking. Her neck was wet, sticky and stinky. Her crop was gone, just a dead flap of skin and a whole. It is a mystery but the biggest mystery of all to me is how she stood the pain there must have been. Anyway, after we put her down I took at cat nap and when I woke up the roosters were into their death match. I am learning a lot about chickens very quickly! I want a roo like Hansel. You told a story about him months ago and that is what I think about when I think of what I want in a roo for my flock.

I've been pretty lucky with most of my roosters. Even my non-people friendly ones have been pretty good with their girls. I honestly wonder sometimes if Hansel is the reason why all of my cockerels develop good behaviors since as soon as they step out of line he sets them straight. My Silkie cockerels were the only ones that were consistently problematic, so I just invited them all to dinner.

EDIT: My Hansel bred with some of my Australorps and my Bosch bred with my Silkie hen. All three males from the Hansel mating have turned out to be very friendly and calm (and HUGE), and one of the two males from the Bosch mating turned out to be exceptionally friendly, with the other being standoffish, but attentive to his sister.

 

[bluejean55girl]

Amen! I love the analogy about building then painting. How very true! In the sport of dogs, there is a well-known quote from the esteemed Percy Roberts (breeder/handler/judge) that is also appropriate for breeding of chickens - "The Standard is the blue print, the Breeder is the builder, the Judge is the Building Inspector". I find that saying comes in handy when I'm faced with tough decisions in the center of the ring!

Well said! I went to the site that I will be getting my Biels from to look at their Roosters and sure enough, one prominent white feather in the tail! I guess I can expect that when I get my rooster from them. I'm going to breed because I like the breed! Is it irresponsible to breed a rooster that has this trait. More importantly will it be wrong to sell the extras knowing they carry this?

Okay, and this is purely from ignorance...I've never even been to a bird show...but couldn't you just pluck the offending feather before showing?

many thanks for that answer brine... selecting against white tail feathers is on my list for my future peeps (in incubator so far).. but as you so well pointed out... I also need to know the house/foundation.

1. is there a picture or drawing of the correct/desired? profile of what is expected to select for the bielefelder?

2. as there is only a German Standard that I am aware of... I would ASSUME that we here in the US should? be selecting to the German standard?

I hadn't done my research here in the thread for this yet. so if anybody has a link to where that has already been discussed?

 

[DMRippy]

Okay, and this is purely from ignorance...I've never even been to a bird show...but couldn't you just pluck the offending feather before showing?

NO! That is called Faking and is a DQ and YES the judge will notice.

 

[Bridebeliever]

NO!  That is called Faking and is a DQ and YES the judge will notice.

Yes, as soon as I hit submit I thought about it and thought, well, that's just cheating!