A Bielefelder Thread !

[Red Banks]

Quote: Thanks so much. Does anything look sadder than a chicken with an injury/illness? Poor thing! Glad she is leading the good life again!

 

[Coop de Grass]

Okay this is a new question. I believe the pullet has lost her eye. It looks as though her eye is gone, certainly not a healthy eye. I am sure she is in pain. How can I help her? And when she recovers will she be okay with one eye?

 

[Coop de Grass]

My little cochin is currently broody after recovering from losing an eye a few months ago to an unknown attack. She recovered, laid a few eggs then went broody. She is doing fantastic and all of the birds accepted her right back into the flock.

 

[Cynthia12]

Thanks so much. Does anything look sadder than a chicken with an injury/illness? Poor thing! Glad she is leading the good life again!

Aww, glad she is doing well!!

 

[Cynthia12]

Well, they do grow fast. She was still in the brooder last time I posted, in fact just a few days old. Out to the nursery, and now, she is in the grow out pen. The gold around her neck/chest is coming in!

 

[Cynthia12]

So fun seeing all of the older birds. Can't wait to see how my little one turns out. Beautiful birds.

 

[otakalhasas]

Aww, glad she is doing well!!

So hope the injured heal quickly - they will adapt (Nature is pretty cool that way!).

Quick question - how long do Biels need to be on grower feed before they go to layer feed? I know we've discussed this before, but with Biels not laying until nine or ten months old, when should I give them layer feed? I've 2 five month old pullets, one 4 month old pullet and one 4 month old cockerel in with my main flock and I have them all on grower (with oyster shell for the older hens). Any idea where I should go from here????

Thanks!

 

[Red Banks]

Quote: When I have a mixed flock I feed Flock Raiser Crumbles until all are laying. My older hens are fine, shells are thick. Everyone is on flock raiser right now.

 

[otakalhasas]

When I have a mixed flock I feed Flock Raiser Crumbles until all are laying. My older hens are fine, shells are thick. Everyone is on flock raiser right now.

Great - thanks!

 

[Sylvester017]

They aren't lap chickens that is for sure but...... Wheatens are a different story. So sweet..... always want to be with you. Blacks are the worst. I did have a blue hen that I lost to a hawk, she was wonderful..... followed me everywhere chatting the whole time. Me, the cats and the blue hen walking around the yard having these chicken talks. They are the noisiest hens I have when they lay an egg. I have heard so many good things about Silkies.

I agree the B/W Amer and Blue Amer are the sweeties. We lost our Blue Amer before POL - so sad. My Blue Wheaten Ameraucana (my avatar) is 3-yrs-old and very nice to our two Silkies. Amers, and EEs, seem to have a non-combative nature. They prefer to flee rather than fight if possible. One of my Silkies went bonkers on our B/W Amer fighting her and the Amer defended herself but she was not retaliatory -- only defended herself. Any other chicken breed would've drawn blood on the squirrely Silkie. The B/W Amer kept away from the Silkie while the Silkie was in her hormonal jag. Silkies are sweet birds but they have a bad day too once in a while. Amers are wonderful birds to have around other so-called gentle breeds. Amers are more like the sentinels of the flock rather than the alpha leaders. They are so wary, skittish, and alert, they spook at any hawk, mylar balloon, or plastic bag that floats across the yard. My girl is never snoozing if the coop door or egg door is opened at night -- all the others are not moving but the B/W Amer stands up and murmurs/talks if there's disturbance in the roosting coop. I don't know how these Amers or EEs get any sleep the way they always seem to be in a hyper-tense mode. The only thing that bothers us about the B/W Amer is that she is an unreliable layer and has extremely noisy egg songs. Quirky too -- her suspicious nature keeps her from rushing into new things in the yard. She waits several days before trying a new feeder or waterer. She went in and out of the new coop several times a day to scope things out, test the perches, sniff the nestboxes -- like I say, she's our sentinel. A really sweet bird to have in the flock. I keep following the Bielie thread because so many say they are such gentle natured birds. The only thing keeping me from trying Bielie is that they get so heavy. Since the assertive Leghorns and aggressive Marans beat up on the Silkies I keep all my breeds 5-lb-&-under around the Silkies.