A Bielefelder Thread !

[Faraday40]

supposedly they say to build the house first. You can always work on color later. Might think about keeping a second roo for a backup. So maybe the first one for size and the second one for color?

x3 on keeping a back up roo. I only hatched 2 males (& 6 females). I sold my extra male with the extra females. When my 6 mo old male died of possible heat stroke, I was so upset, I sold off all my females. I missed having my Bieles all winter! Now I'm finding it much harder to get good eggs. At least I hatched one very sweet female. (Hen Solo is her name.)

 

[DesertChic]

I think at this stage we would prefer to choose for egg production. We will likely only have one or two hatches before our keeper is replaced by my Ameruacana boys. But once we move we will be sourcing another boy. So for egg production I should look for a streamlined body with long back and wide pelvis?

That body shape has given me some very good results with my egg layers. Good luck!

 

[Cynthia12]

Our beautiful Biel roo just attacked our 6 year old... She told me he did it yesterday too- I didn't believe her and had her go in the run where he couldn't see me. He's only 4 months old, with no spurs yet. He indeed came around the run, right for her, with his hackle feathers puffed and his chest out. I had always said I'd have a no tolerance policy... He's so gorgeous, but not more than our little girl. I told her I was so sorry I didn't believe her and that Big Handsome would be gone by morning

Oh no. I'm so sorry. I had to place a rooster this yr. that I caught by looking back just in time, I was knelt down on my knees, he was all puffed up ready to pounce, had to sweep my arm at him..he back off. We have a lot of grandchildren, no bad roosters here. I can't keep them if they are noisy anyway. I get to keep one once in a while if they aren't crowing much, or very loud. I let them breed as long as they are being mostly quiet...lol...this stinker that I'm talking about was a beautiful Blue Copper Marans. :/

 

[Cynthia12]

Anddddddd today is our first heat wave of the summer and my bielefelder dies from a heat stroke. Awesome.

Oh dear!

 

[Cynthia12]

Soon I will have to narrow it down to just one boy......






This one has a LOT of red in the wings



My big boy!





The left most one has the most even distribution of color, but the bottom one is the biggest.



Thoughts? I also have a little baby Biele boy, I'm hoping he ends up looking nicer than these ones.

Beautiful!

 

[Saris]

Beautiful!

Thanks!

 

[Cynthia12]

Boy, this pullet is growing like a weed! I need to get photos again. She is almost the size of my hens! She's only two months old.

 

[eyralis]

Hi folks! A quick update on our “San Francisco Super Breed“ project

Recap: We want to create a breed that is:
-super quiet (neighbors!),
-super friendly,
-good layers, laying often, all year round, and good sized eggs
-cold hardy (aka fog resistant)
-small-ish

Here's what we decided to go with in the end:
Faverolles (bantam)
Bielefelder (got a dozen directly from Greenfire, allocated one to this breeding program)
Swedish Flower Hens (got a dozen directly from Greenfire, allocated one to this breeding program)

We're hoping to cross these three breeds over several generations to benefit from hybrid vigor in addition to each breed's advantages.

First hatch due next week; we're really excited to see what comes out!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi folks! A quick update on our “San Francisco Super Breed“ project

Recap: We want to create a breed that is:
-super quiet (neighbors!),
-super friendly,
-good layers, laying often, all year round, and good sized eggs
-cold hardy (aka fog resistant)
-small-ish

Here's what we decided to go with in the end:
Faverolles (bantam)
Bielefelder (got a dozen directly from Greenfire, allocated one to this breeding program)
Swedish Flower Hens (got a dozen directly from Greenfire, allocated one to this breeding program)

We're hoping to cross these three breeds over several generations to benefit from hybrid vigor in addition to each breed's advantages.

First hatch due next week; we're really excited to see what comes out!!!

That is so freaking funny cute! We happen to think all those qualities you want are already in the Blue Breda - can't vouch for the other varieties as we've only had the Blue. We got her at 4-mo-old and have had our girl for a year now.

(1) She is a quiet bird who lays an egg without a song -- however the silly Silkies will loudly sing her prowess to our chagrin!
(2) She is so super pesty/friendly, funny, outgoing, curious, unafraid, people and/or dog-oriented, and easily handled as a family/children's pet.
(3) She started laying last November and still is cranking out eggs 4 up to 6x/week even in our heatwave with no complaints.
(4) Her eggs are 1.75-oz her pullet year with the breeder telling us they get to 2-oz as the bird gets older - pretty bright white eggs.
(5) Can't get any more cold hardy than a Breda that has feathered legs/feet, vulture hocks, & no comb whatsoever on her head to get frostbite.
(6) The Breda is smallish/lighter-weight than a Leghorn, is an extremely busy forager, and very easy on the feed bill for us.
(7) Some added pluses: She doesn't go broody and her feathers aren't so exceedingly fluffy like Faverolles or Ameraucana so vent feathers stay cleaner. The breed is a peaceable flockmate. Demeanor is alert/predator savvy. Not camera shy like some other breeds -- I swear she poses for pics! Such a pleasant experience that we have ordered another one.

Our girl's origins are from GFF stock!

 

[otakalhasas]

Hi folks! A quick update on our “San Francisco Super Breed“ project

Recap: We want to create a breed that is:
-super quiet (neighbors!),
-super friendly,
-good layers, laying often, all year round, and good sized eggs
-cold hardy (aka fog resistant)
-small-ish

Here's what we decided to go with in the end:
Faverolles (bantam)
Bielefelder (got a dozen directly from Greenfire, allocated one to this breeding program)
Swedish Flower Hens (got a dozen directly from Greenfire, allocated one to this breeding program)

We're hoping to cross these three breeds over several generations to benefit from hybrid vigor in addition to each breed's advantages.

First hatch due next week; we're really excited to see what comes out!!!

How exciting! Keep us posted with pics!