A Bielefelder Thread !

[otakalhasas]

Yes good luck Saris!!!

Ditto!

 

[Chickielady]

@KWH1 some members have had problems with to much fluff preventing their vents from connecting

I have also, but trimming did not help, and AE did not work, the only thing that worked was getting a completely different line of Biel males.

I am gonna guess, there is an inbreeding infertile issue here, my males were acting male, and fledging male...and they were upset when I took them away from the females and placed them on the other side of the fence....after a week, put them back and they just sat, and sorta acted like hens.
They had no desire to mate, not one actually mounted, and no amount of cushion trimming would work...and seriously, we had 4 males & tried AE...and there was no joice !
I never did a necropsy on these males to see if maybe the testes were shrunkin or ?????

Like I said, I have gotten over 5 lines of Biels now, and it is working like magic !!!

 

[Bine]

Only out of curiosity. Does someone know how many birds where imported by Greenfire? I talked to one of the older breeders in our lokal club who breeds German Langshan, a realy rare breed. He worked for 10 years with birds that came form one 1,4 group with out inbreeding problems and only after 10 years he brought in fresh blood. Not finding good birds in black that were not related to his, he crossed white roos into his black flock to make sure that he new birds were not related to his birds. And I see many breeders of extrem rare breeds working for years with a very limited stock, so I can't imagin that the Bielefelders show problems after only three years. I can see why you have problems with flaws in birds that may come from the fact that even not that good birds are used for breeding, b/c if a breed is not only rare but expencive a breeder will be tempted not to cull non breeding stock bird but to sell birds. And I can totaly understand that. Noone culls a bird when the demant for the breed is that high.

 

[Saris]

Good luck Saris!     I've never incubated before...I can't imagine the pressure!  

Yes good luck Saris!!!

Ditto!

Thank you peeps, I'll take all the luck I can get.

 

[bluejean55girl]

Thank you peeps, I'll take all the luck I can get.

got fingers crossed for you! can't wait to see pics and peeps!

 

[bluejean55girl]

I've been looking through this thread and the massive amount of posts for an answer but I can't find one. I have three Bielefelder hens and one rooster. Almost 11 months old. They started laying last December and eggs were fertile around January. I've been watching and checking fertility very closely and most all eggs have been fertile since January. About three weeks ago ALL eggs are coming up infertile. I get two or three eggs every day and ALL stopped being fertile almost three weeks ago. I set a dozen eggs 18 days ago and I believe these were fertile. But everything I've gotten since has not been fertilized. Was planning on loading up the incubator after this upcoming hatch but now I don't have fertile Bielefelder eggs to set. Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

did you change feeds? what happened about 15 days before the eggs starting showing infertility? (about 15 days for sperm to form)

 

[Saris]

I've been looking through this thread and the massive amount of posts for an answer but I can't find one. I have three Bielefelder hens and one rooster. Almost 11 months old. They started laying last December and eggs were fertile around January. I've been watching and checking fertility very closely and most all eggs have been fertile since January. About three weeks ago ALL eggs are coming up infertile. I get two or three eggs every day and ALL stopped being fertile almost three weeks ago. I set a dozen eggs 18 days ago and I believe these were fertile. But everything I've gotten since has not been fertilized. Was planning on loading up the incubator after this upcoming hatch but now I don't have fertile Bielefelder eggs to set. Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

Is your boy molting? Or possibly a little under the weather? If it's all your eggs I would suspect the roo has the issue (or non issue, hahaha) instead of the hens.

 

[bluejean55girl]

did you change feeds? what happened about 15 days before the eggs starting showing infertility? (about 15 days for sperm to form)

http://articles.extension.org/pages/69065/feeding-chickens-for-egg-production


Commercial feeds from a reliable feed store have all the nutrients in the right proportions that chickens need. A balanced diet is necessary for optimal growth and production. If you use a good diet that meets the dietary needs of your flocks, supplementing with other items will upset the balance of the diet. The ingredients used in different types of feed are similar, but the proportions vary depending on the particular chickens being fed. Each bag of feed is labeled with its specific use.
Common mistakes made with supplements include the following:

• Providing vitamin and electrolyte supplements for more than 10 days
• Supplementing complete feeds with cracked corn, oats, or other grains
• Regularly adding green chops, lettuce, or other low nutrition ingredients to the diet
• Administering inappropriate or unnecessary medication

 

[KWH1]

did you change feeds? what happened about 15 days before the eggs starting showing infertility? (about 15 days for sperm to form)

Didn't change anything. If these 3 Bielefelder hens and 1 Bielefelder rooster were my ONLY chickens then I could see some random event possibly causing the problem. But ALL my other breeds are bringing in fertile eggs. Dominiques, Black Australorps and Buff Orpingtons are all fertile eggs. Every single egg from all the other breeds are perfectly fine. I will try to watch this weekend to see if the Bielefelder rooster is even attempting to mate.

 

[KWH1]

Is your boy molting? Or possibly a little under the weather? If it's all your eggs I would suspect the roo has the issue (or non issue, hahaha) instead of the hens.

Not molting. All hens and rooster are active and eating so none seem ill or under the weather. I agree it seems to be a problem with the rooster. I will attempt to watch them this weekend to see if he's even attempting to mate.