A Bielefelder Thread !

[Faraday40]

Here is a pic of some of my birds. Just curious how the roosters of this breed usually act. Right now my cockerel is almost always right by my feet. He has not tried anything but eith his size, i think he is a little intimadating to my young son. I slso have a niederheinner roo but he just kind of observes from farther away. Neither of them come up for pets or anything which is fine by me. Not sure if i should try to rehome any or not. What has your experience been anyone with boys who have acted aimilar? How did they turn out.

Our Biele Boy was roo#3 out of 3. He allowed the orps to be in charge. At 6 mo, he never crowed nor mated the hens but was the best hawk spotter. All 3 roos worked as a team to keep the hens safe. It was very cool to watch them jump into action.

Personality: Our boy was not jump in my lap friendly but he did take treats from my hand & allowed us to pick him up w/o much fuss. Hi huge size alone deterred predators & fighting. He never had the desire to be top roo & allowed the other two to be in the spotlight. Sadly, he died (probably from the heat) at 6 mo. old.

His brother was sold to a friend. They used him as a flock roo. He had what sounded like a grumbly smoker's crow & did a great job protecting the hens. (However, he didn't fertilize the Biele eggs as well as the BSL eggs.) He was a perfect roo until age 1. All of a sudden he got a god complex & started attacking the kids, guests, dog & eventually the husband & wife. He became soup. I hear so many stories about how terrific these roos are, so I wonder about if they had another roo, would he have turned out differently.

 

[morgan85]

Thank you for your input. I have so many roosters riggt now (st. Run was not kind to me lol) now i am trying to figure out who i should keep and who to rehome. Very hard.my bielefelder roo follows us around closely and watches us. The neiderheinner keeps an eye from affar but has alerted others to goodies etc. Still to young to be mating. Then i have tons of swedish flowers and barnevelders too. So many decisions!

 

[DesertChic]

Here is a pic of some of my birds. Just curious how the roosters of this breed usually act. Right now my cockerel is almost always right by my feet. He has not tried anything but eith his size, i think he is a little intimadating to my young son. I slso have a niederheinner roo but he just kind of observes from farther away. Neither of them come up for pets or anything which is fine by me. Not sure if i should try to rehome any or not. What has your experience been anyone with boys who have acted aimilar? How did they turn out.

He's a handsome boy!

Out of 9 Biel eggs that I originally hatched, 6 of them turned out to be boys, and while that certainly wasn't the result I'd hoped for, it did allow me time to examine variances in personality in this breed. I still wholeheartedly believe that this breed provides some of the sweetest, friendliest and most docile roosters you will find, but not all breeders breed for temperament so you WILL see variances. Of my six boys I've kept two...the best two, in my opinion.

Rearden, the first "cull" of my boys was huge and outstandingly attentive of the girls, but he was also nervous and easily agitated. He died of heat stroke his first summer, cluing me in on the fact that his breed is not naturally heat tolerant.

Taggart, the second cull was quite nervous to the point of being annoying. He was vocal, startled at nearly everything, and really did treat the girls well. He was also small and skinny compared to the other.

Galt was a lovely boy and very friendly, but had a nasty habit of pecking us very hard when he wanted attention, which was often. He wasn't mean per se, but getting pecked hard enough to draw blood got old very soon, no matter how sweet he was when being held.

Brom was a decent bird with a decent personality...friendly, but not snuggly and quite good with the girls, but his coloring was off and I began to suspect underlying health issues with him since, like Rearden, he seemed to show greater heat intolerance than the other.

And finally, the keepers. Both Hansel and Bosch were always VERY friendly and actually behaved much like you described of your boy. They were constantly underfoot almost to the point of being a nuisance. From the start and probably since he was the lone chick for so long, Bosch was my little love. He always ran to me and wanted to be held and would ignore both food and the rest of the flock in favor of being snuggled. I assume that he imprinted on me after hatching since I spent so much time comforting him during the twelve hours he spent alone before the rest of the eggs hatched.

Hansel is my huge (11 lbs) uniter of flocks and all-around fantastic rooster. As he grew larger and larger he quickly became the dominant rooster in my yard, but without serious displays of aggression to the other more mature roosters. One battle was typically enough to establish his place, and then he would work together with my other roosters for the benefit of the flocks. As big as he is, even total strangers who come to visit can walk up to him, pick him up and carry him around...though most take one look at his massive spurs and cower from the idea of doing so. And Hansel is the one who lays on the floor of the coop with my bantam Silkie hen and two frizzles at night instead of roosting, just so they're safe and not alone. Watching him mate with this little birds is positively tragic, but he's extremely attentive to all the girls, not just the little ones, and magnificently gentle, and yet doesn't shy away from defending his "peeps" from any potential threat.

The biggest problem I have with Bosch and Hansel is that they're almost too affectionate with me at times. The wait outside the sliding door to my bedroom for me to come out and sit on a chair I have out there so they can jump up on my lap, rest their heads on my shoulder, and sleep while I pet them. It's not uncommon for them to try to push one another off my lap to get in better position, though it's also not uncommon for me to have one on each leg, pressing against my chest while I hug them close. If they see me come through that door they often come running and parade around the chair, waiting for "snuggle time".

So....could your cockerel be signaling potential aggression. Sure, and how you handle him will help determine his actions from here on out, but rest assured that this is typically a VERY friendly and trusting breed. Your boy is currently at that awkward age when they're trying to figure out how to react to all the hormones raging through their bodies. As wonderful as my two boys are, even they nipped me a few times during their adolescence, but I'm convinced that my calm response did more to teach them that I wasn't a threat to them or the girls than all the other time they spent with me. Be patient, but cautious, and don't be too reactive to "normal" teenage boy behavior.

Here's a recent photo of one of my Bosch, unfortunately still in the midst of molt as he postures in the hope that I will pick him up to snuggle. (Sometimes they're like cats circling my legs!)

 

[morgan85]

Thank you. Maybe i will wait a little longer and see what i think.

 

[luvmyroos]

My big boys and ladies came from Greenfire. The females were $29, and the males $19. Love them, especially the roosters, beautiful.

 

[karib574]

At what age did your bielefelder rooster begin to crow? I have a 20-week-old who, as far as I know, anyway, has still not crowed. Or, hopefully, he has crowed, but is not obnoxious about it. Also, around what age do roos begin to try to mate?

 

[Honora]

At what age did your bielefelder rooster begin to crow? I have a 20-week-old who, as far as I know, anyway, has still not crowed. Or, hopefully, he has crowed, but is not obnoxious about it. Also, around what age do roos begin to try to mate?

Mine hatched on June 1st, so 2 and a half months old I guess, and at least one started crowing last week. He is still pretty quiet.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I just picked up a pullet and a cockerel yesterday. I actually went to get just wheaten Marans but then she told me she had these too and I jumped on it.

 

[luvmyroos]

At what age did your bielefelder rooster begin to crow?  I have a 20-week-old who, as far as I know, anyway, has still not crowed.  Or, hopefully, he has crowed, but is not obnoxious about it.    Also, around what age do roos begin to try to mate?

I have two Isbar roosters and two Bielefelder roosters. I would say the BIelefelders were quieter to start. I think they started around 16 weeks.
All are 24 weeks now, and try to mate the ladies daily lol.

 

[DesertChic]

At what age did your bielefelder rooster begin to crow? I have a 20-week-old who, as far as I know, anyway, has still not crowed. Or, hopefully, he has crowed, but is not obnoxious about it. Also, around what age do roos begin to try to mate?

The first of mine began crowing at 3 weeks. Most of the rest waited until roughly 14 weeks old. My Biels aren't usually big crowers though. Compared to many of my other birds they're fairly quiet.