A Bielefelder Thread !

[KWH1]

Great idea !
It is horribly dark and more often than not, misty, rainy, monsoon, or flat out hurricane weather here.
I have lights in the coops on timers, coming on at 5 AM and off at 6 PM.
The Calicium theory sounds like it would hold true...and I know the males need a bit more zinc than the hens, and not as much phosphorus and Calcium...hmmm, you have me thinking now.
But still, like the others, I have many many breeds, and none have ever not wanted to mount & mate.
Even the hens wanted to mate.

All my chicken breeds eat the same thing. So I'm having a hard time thinking it's diet related. Everyone else is breeding like crazy and producing fertilized eggs. But I'm going to try to boost the Bielefelder's protein over the next few days and watch them this weekend to see if he's at least attempting to mate. Maybe it is the Calicium and due to his enormous size it's just not affecting my NORMAL size breeds.

 

[DesertChic]

I'm starting to think I need to rent out my Biel boys for stud service. They both mount everything they can at least twice per day.

 

[Coop de Grass]

@DesertChic What a great idea!

sign me up please!.

I wonder if anyone has harvest sperm from roosters???

 

[Bine]

The food thing can be linked to my breeds size. It must not be true for bigger birds. My hens are around 17 oz and lay eggs around 1 oz every other day during "season" and my roos are around 22 oz. Tiny birds need more food per oz body weight to mantain themselfs than bigger birds and when you compare the egg weight to the body weight you can see that this breed is for it size a high performer. A full size 6,6 pound hen had to lay 3 oz egg every day to come close to what my pixies achieve. So they need to eat a lot and I don't complain about the more or less eggless time from late Nov to early Feb. My girls need a rest and my little rooster are happy when the girls calm down a bit.

 

[TNBielefelder]

@DesertChic What a great idea!

sign me up please!.

I wonder if anyone has harvest sperm from roosters???

I talked to a lady that has been instrumental in developing certain breeds and she had told me that in fact it is possible and had already been done. I haven't tried to fact check that but I'm sure its coming if it is possible.

 

[Red Banks]

I talked to a lady that has been instrumental in developing certain breeds and she had told me that in fact it is possible and had already been done. I haven't tried to fact check that but I'm sure its coming if it is possible.

I wouldn't want that job!

 

[KWH1]

Assuming I EVER get fertilized Bielefelder eggs again - I have a few questions for those of you who HAVE successfully hatched.

My experience: Back in January when I first started getting fertilized eggs, I loaded up my incubator with Bielefelder eggs along with a few Dominique and Black Australorp eggs. The Dominique and Black Australorp all hatched as expected but not a single Bielefelder egg made it to hatch. Most started and appeared to just stop about 5 to 7 days before hatch. From reading through this thread it seems like a common occurrence. My questions for those who are successfully hatching:

What temp are you running your incubator?
Dry hatch up to day 18 and then increasing humidity OR with humidity for the entire hatch increasing humidity on day 18?
Still air incubation or forced air?

After several discussions with someone who gave up on the Bielefelders (he was having the same low to no hatch rate) I am beginning to believe this breed may require special incubator conditions that differ from all my other chicken breeds.

 

[DesertChic]

Assuming I EVER get fertilized Bielefelder eggs again - I have a few questions for those of you who HAVE successfully hatched.

My experience: Back in January when I first started getting fertilized eggs, I loaded up my incubator with Bielefelder eggs along with a few Dominique and Black Australorp eggs. The Dominique and Black Australorp all hatched as expected but not a single Bielefelder egg made it to hatch. Most started and appeared to just stop about 5 to 7 days before hatch. From reading through this thread it seems like a common occurrence. My questions for those who are successfully hatching:

What temp are you running your incubator?
Dry hatch up to day 18 and then increasing humidity OR with humidity for the entire hatch increasing humidity on day 18?
Still air incubation or forced air?

After several discussions with someone who gave up on the Bielefelders (he was having the same low to no hatch rate) I am beginning to believe this breed may require special incubator conditions that differ from all my other chicken breeds.

My first Biel hatch was highly successful, with an 85% hatch rate from eggs shipped to me from across the country. I kept the temp at 99.5º F and 45-50% humidity until day 18, at which time I lowered the temp by half a degree per day and increased the humidity to 65%. I use the Rcom20 incubator so it automatically circulates air and, thankfully, is pretty much dummy-proof.

My second attempt at hatching Biels was a disaster, and it was from eggs that I drove 3 hours to acquire from a woman in Phoenix. It turned out the eggs tested positive for pullorum. Only one chick out of 14 eggs hatched, and he died in less 3 days.

Right now I've got some of my own Biel's eggs in the incubator, but I don't perform my first candling until tomorrow night. I do have some concerns about whether or not they'll hatch properly not because of fertility issues, but because the eggs are more torpedo shaped than would be ideal. I'm afraid the chicks won't be able to move around properly inside the egg and may suffocate.

 

[Coop de Grass]

I bought 8 Bielefelder NPIP Eggs on eBay. They arrived well packaged. This was my first try at incubating, and I couldn't see much until about Day 15 - never saw movement but could see the dark mass. 2 Chicks hatched, 1 roo and 1 hen.

Now I have a bit more knowledge about the process, and my next hatch will be OE and Crested Cream Legbars. I think that I will stick to autosexing breeds!

 

[Saris]

I have 4 pips!