A Bielefelder Thread !

[Cynthia12]

I like going to the fruit and vegetable stands and ask for the fruit that they are not going to sell. Explain that it is for my chickens. They just give it to me. Not moldy every, just too ripe for them to sell that day.

 

[Honora]

I like going to the fruit and vegetable stands and ask for the fruit that they are not going to sell. Explain that it is for my chickens. They just give it to me. Not moldy every, just too ripe for them to sell that day.

That is a good idea!

 

[Coop de Grass]

Yes. My chickens love pumpkins & the neighbor's old Jack-o-lanterns never seemed to bother them. I guess my sister's watermelon basket was just too scary for them. It's been a couple weeks & every time we speak, she still asks me if they've forgiven her yet for that horrifying piece of fruit. LOL

Every time I hear the watermelon I want to bust out laughing! I nearly told the story at a Weight Watchers meeting, but then decided I didn't want to be known as the crazy chicken weight watcher lady!

 

[Coop de Grass]

This morning I saw Kaiser doing his courtship dance for one of my Bielefelder hens! It was really cute. Usually, he just grabs a hen by the back of the neck. She ignored him, but it was pretty cool to watch.

Life with chickens is sooooo interesting!

 

[DesertChic]

This morning I saw Kaiser doing his courtship dance for one of my Bielefelder hens! It was really cute. Usually, he just grabs a hen by the back of the neck. She ignored him, but it was pretty cool to watch.

Life with chickens is sooooo interesting!

I love when they start dancing for the girls instead of grabbing. And I really find it interesting when they start 'tending the nest'. I'm not sure how else to describe it, but my guys will actually walk the girls to the nesting boxes, start making some very unique sounds and will tend the nest, sometimes even climbing into the nest themselves in a very submissive way while the girls watch. Whenever one of my boys behaves this way I always hear a conversation in my head: "Come on, honey. It's really nice in here. Look...I even fluffed the bedding for you. You can just rest here, maybe lay a few eggs and hatch them so we can have ourselves a nice little family. I'll just stand guard right outside so nobody messes with my lady..."

 

[Faraday40]

I love when they start dancing for the girls instead of grabbing. And I really find it interesting when they start 'tending the nest'. I'm not sure how else to describe it, but my guys will actually walk the girls to the nesting boxes, start making some very unique sounds and will tend the nest, sometimes even climbing into the nest themselves in a very submissive way while the girls watch. Whenever one of my boys behaves this way I always hear a conversation in my head: "Come on, honey. It's really nice in here. Look...I even fluffed the bedding for you. You can just rest here, maybe lay a few eggs and hatch them so we can have ourselves a nice little family. I'll just stand guard right outside so nobody messes with my lady..."

The 1st time we hatched (& kept) chickens, we had a spectacular roo, Brownie. He was DD's fav, so we kept him along with the 6 hens we hatched. As the girls began to start laying eggs, we laughed that our boy was feeling left out. He sang the egg song right along with them & even "pretended to lay eggs." Multiple times we saw him go into a nest box, make some interesting grunting noises,stand up & roll the golf ball around, then hop out singing the egg song. All proud of himself - as if he had made that golf ball! We thought he was either trying to fit in with a coop full of females or show the girls how "easy" it is for him to lay an egg. He would also pace back and forth like an expectant father when the alpha female was in the nest box. The other pullets were also nearby watching the scene & chatting to themselves.

Brownie pacing when "Firefighter" was laying an egg. (Her curious friend was perched on the edge watching closely.)

Brownie Pretending to lay an egg


Our proud little roo!

FYI- Brownie was an Easter Egger & the friendliest roo we ever owned. His only downside was that he mated & crowed too frequently. The rooster collar only made his crows longer & higher pitched. We added more hens & 9 were just not enough for him. All hens had bald heads & backs, so we gave him away at age 16 months.

 

[UGLYFOOT]

My Biele roo was showing his girl how to nest when I moved them to their new breeding pen. It was so cute! He was scratching around making noise.

 

[Saris]

I think I know which boy I'm keeping. My hubby wants to breed the one with the feather stubs anyway though. I told him we shouldn't

Pretty girl! Keeper in the back, Feather Foot in the middle and Skinny Boy up front



Keeper side view



Feather Foot Skinny Boy



Skinny Boy again

 

[Coop de Grass]

I love when they start dancing for the girls instead of grabbing. And I really find it interesting when they start 'tending the nest'. I'm not sure how else to describe it, but my guys will actually walk the girls to the nesting boxes, start making some very unique sounds and will tend the nest, sometimes even climbing into the nest themselves in a very submissive way while the girls watch. Whenever one of my boys behaves this way I always hear a conversation in my head: "Come on, honey. It's really nice in here. Look...I even fluffed the bedding for you. You can just rest here, maybe lay a few eggs and hatch them so we can have ourselves a nice little family. I'll just stand guard right outside so nobody messes with my lady..."

Isn't love grand? I haven't seen nest tending yet, but I will keep my eyes open!

 

[CrowHollowFarm]

I haven't been on this thread in a while, but I wanted to make a few comments on my birds. I have heard a lot of people saying that they don't really lay big eggs or very many, and that they don't lay early. I have four pullets that were hatched in the beginning of January. Well they started laying medium eggs on June 2nd, and only layer a few eggs for the first week. Gradually the eggs have gotten bigger and more of them. This entire week I have gotten four eggs every day except one day I only got three. One egg is jumbo most of the days and two are at least large, and one is the light side of a large. How is it so much discrepancy between different peoples birds when they all came from the same place? I am very happy with the breed and will continue to raise them as long as I have chickens. Sorry for the long comment and happy farming.