A Bielefelder Thread !

[DesertChic]

I love your x-breeding experiments, DesertChic. And Bielefelder are from Bielefeld and Bielefeld is a rainhole with over 200 rainy days, something between 800-900 liters rain per m²... so more than 230 gallons on 10 sqft every year... and a average temp over the year is below 50°F. But I still hope you will finde a way to create a Bielezona. The peach-colored Mixes you had were simply fantastic.

Thank you! My little Bielkies have turned out to be pretty cool birds, and really exceptional layers of surprisingly large eggs for their size. Since I still have my little Buff Silkie, and she just happens to be a favorite of Bosch, I may just have to hatch out some more some day. I sold a couple that I'd hatched out and the woman I sold them to told me she'd buy an entire flock of them if I bred them. That's how much she loves them. And most of them lay pink eggs!

 

[DesertChic]

Gypsy looks to have blue feet from the Ameraucana mix? or is that a camera effect? I know NNs are good birds from all the feedback I've received from owners. It's one of the reasons I was considering Showgirl Silkies - but since Showgirls are basically Silkies I just stick w/ the pure Silkies. I'm zoned for only 5 hens/no roos and it is so hard to make breed choices for my flock when there are so many good breeds to choose from. I've stayed away from NNs because they are a larger bird then I wanted to mix w/ 2-lb Silkies and 4-lb Breda's who are both extremely gentle breeds. Except for Ameraucana I haven't found any 5-lb+ hen that at maturity didn't eventually push her weight around our littles. I've re-homed too many supposedly "gentle-natured" large breeds because they eventually found they could push the littles/gentles around. Perhaps someday....

Gypsy's sire was a NN rooster with blue legs. She definitely takes after her father.

 

[Sylvester017]

My Orpingtons are gentle, but even so, a giant orp may push a little bantam bird away if she thought her food was in danger. (Orps love their food & treats! Their idea of "fair share" is all of the treats!) I think a bantam orp or bantam cochin would be some good, little, docile, companions for your silkies.....a "someday" option. Our flock has a very different dynamic. Most of the big, slow-moving, waddling hens are 8-10lbs. (I agree that often the 5-7 lb birds can be more aggressive.) The two little bantams we have are super fast & athletic. They zip in, grab the biggest piece of treat, & dart away before the big girls arrive on the scene. When it comes time for seconds, they also learned not to run toward the treats on the ground, but instead fly onto my arm or stand on top of my boots. That gets my attention, so they may get their own personal treats hand fed to them. Spoiled chickens! They know I'm a sucker, too. Thankfully my Orps & Biele never try that. LOL

I can identify with the endearing things chickens do to get our attention -- I've loved our hens, even one of our snottiest ones that we needed to re-home. But we finally sought peace for the backyard flock with docile breeds to enjoy them and not have to police their actions. Once we got the Silkie & Breda girls together as an experiment we never looked back at other breeds. We adored our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana girl for her non-combative and kooky nature but she suffered too much in our SoCal heatwaves with all that underfluff feathering of hers so we won't get any more of those sweeties. DH loves his Silkies but I wanted more eggs, hence the docile Bredas got introduced and it's been great. We tried Leghorns and Marans for eggs but they are too aggressive around littles. I like bantam Cochins or bantam EEs but I can't handle any more broody breeds w/ small eggs. The 2 Silkies are broody enough. The Bredas don't go broody at all and lay a decent size and amount of eggs -- and they are people-oriented and gentle flockmates. Our flock serves a triple purpose -- pets, eggs, and chicken TV!

 

[Sylvester017]

So far none of my NNs are in any way aggressive, but I will admit to having a few that are quite assertive. The NN hen from my very first hatch that was so calm and serene that I named her Zen beat the snot out of two roosters who's affections she did NOT appreciate. I was beyond impressed to see this gentle hen suddenly puff up like a prize fighter and put a 13 lb rooster in his place, so....yeah, I can understand your hesitation. For what it's worth, the two hens I got from my Biel/NN cross are actually sweeter, friendlier and much lower on the pecking order than the pure NNs.

I'm also now starting to work with Silver Grey Dorkings as my heritage flock and acquired good breeder stock for the first time this year. My flock is 9 weeks old this weekend and so far they're proving to be exceptionally gentle...but they're still young. I'll keep you posted on how they mature. Truthfully, if I'd been able to start with SGDs as I had originally wanted I don't think I would have ever even sampled another breed. With the exception of my beloved Biel rooster, Bosch, the SGDs are my primary "therapy chickens". They've actually ignored meal worms and sunflower seeds in favor of snuggling on my lap. It blows me away! They've yet to be "heat tested", but the breeder I got them from has been raising them in southern CA so I'm hopeful that the climate is similar enough for them to adapt to.

I was really serious about gentle Dorkings about the same time someone suggested Breda to us and as fate had it the Breda was available first and we were pleasantly surprised with the breed. Like I said before, there are so many wonderful breeds to choose from and it's been a difficult 6 years paring down breeds to be compatible in our 5 hen/no roo zone limit. DH loves the Silkies so I guess we'll always be limited to what breeds we introduce to them. I don't like flock dramas so we seek docile and smaller breeds that still give a good size and amount of eggs.

Winter Silkie eggs and one brown "Happy Egg brand" store egg.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you! My little Bielkies have turned out to be pretty cool birds, and really exceptional layers of surprisingly large eggs for their size. Since I still have my little Buff Silkie, and she just happens to be a favorite of Bosch, I may just have to hatch out some more some day. I sold a couple that I'd hatched out and the woman I sold them to told me she'd buy an entire flock of them if I bred them. That's how much she loves them. And most of them lay pink eggs!

When my Silkies were pullets they layed pink eggs but after about year 3 the eggs were only slightly tinted and now at age 5 and 6 they are mostly creamy white eggs. I've seen photos of pullets that were barred/cuckoo feathers and by age 6 they feathered out pure white. Guess we all go "gray" or fade in our old age

.

 

[DesertChic]

I was really serious about gentle Dorkings about the same time someone suggested Breda to us and as fate had it the Breda was available first and we were pleasantly surprised with the breed. Like I said before, there are so many wonderful breeds to choose from and it's been a difficult 6 years paring down breeds to be compatible in our 5 hen/no roo zone limit. DH loves the Silkies so I guess we'll always be limited to what breeds we introduce to them. I don't like flock dramas so we seek docile and smaller breeds that still give a good size and amount of eggs.

Winter Silkie eggs and one brown "Happy Egg brand" store egg.

Just out of curiosity, have you ever had your Silkies hatch out some fertile eggs? I wonder if larger breeds would be gentler with Mama Silkie who devoted her time and love to raising them. I only ask because my Buff Silkie, Didi, grew up with both Australorp and Barred Rock chicks, some of which have been quite aggressive in the barnyard, but since they were all chicks together they've always been very respectful of little Didi. Heck...I've come to call her "Diva Didi" because she's grown more assertive as she's gotten older. I love watching that little 32 ounce girl yell at the bigger members of the barnyard, get all fluffed up and walk away griping as if to say, "Don't you think you can push me around because I'm little! I'll kick your feathery butt from one of the barnyard to the other! And I can do it too!"

I love my little Silkie!

 

[chickendreams24]

Gypsy looks to have blue feet from the Ameraucana mix? or is that a camera effect?  I know NNs are good birds from all the feedback I've received from owners.  It's one of the reasons I was considering Showgirl Silkies - but since Showgirls are basically Silkies I just stick w/ the pure Silkies.  I'm zoned for only 5 hens/no roos and it is so hard to make breed choices for my flock when there are so many good breeds to choose from.  I've stayed away from NNs because they are a larger bird then I wanted to mix w/ 2-lb Silkies and 4-lb Breda's who are both extremely gentle breeds.  Except for Ameraucana I haven't found any 5-lb+ hen that at maturity didn't eventually push her weight around our littles.  I've re-homed too many supposedly "gentle-natured" large breeds because they eventually found they could push the littles/gentles around.  Perhaps someday....

I love our little silkies too. One breed idk if you've looked into that we tried for the first time last year was salmon favorelles one of our pullets was so docile that even our super gentle orps intimidated her and we ended up placing her with each hatch of chicks as the went to the grow out side of our coop. She finally graduated out of it with the last chicks from the summer of 2016 and has done extremely well. I am not sure but I think they'd do okay in heat.

 

[otakalhasas]

Thank you! My little Bielkies have turned out to be pretty cool birds, and really exceptional layers of surprisingly large eggs for their size. Since I still have my little Buff Silkie, and she just happens to be a favorite of Bosch, I may just have to hatch out some more some day. I sold a couple that I'd hatched out and the woman I sold them to told me she'd buy an entire flock of them if I bred them. That's how much she loves them. And most of them lay pink eggs!

Yes! Thank you! I've been looking for an excuse to get some silkies and now you've given it to me!!!!! Hot dog (or chicken) another new breed!!!!!!!

 

[DesertChic]

Yes! Thank you! I've been looking for an excuse to get some silkies and now you've given it to me!!!!! Hot dog (or chicken) another new breed!!!!!!!

For the simple pleasure of seeing those little puff balls running around...I truly think every flock should include a little Silkie. This was also my excuse for getting Frizzled EEs. Just looking at those three girls makes me smile and often chuckle. My little Silkie is a fantastic layer of little white eggs, and my two frizzles give me large blue eggs. Those three girls are pets and I dote on them for the therapy they give me.

 

[Sylvester017]

Just out of curiosity, have you ever had your Silkies hatch out some fertile eggs? I wonder if larger breeds would be gentler with Mama Silkie who devoted her time and love to raising them. I only ask because my Buff Silkie, Didi, grew up with both Australorp and Barred Rock chicks, some of which have been quite aggressive in the barnyard, but since they were all chicks together they've always been very respectful of little Didi. Heck...I've come to call her "Diva Didi" because she's grown more assertive as she's gotten older. I love watching that little 32 ounce girl yell at the bigger members of the barnyard, get all fluffed up and walk away griping as if to say, "Don't you think you can push me around because I'm little! I'll kick your feathery butt from one of the barnyard to the other! And I can do it too!"

I love my little Silkie!

I have two polar opposites in my 2 Silkie hens. The oldest, a Partridge, at 6 yrs was raised with same hatch large fowl chicks who picked on her in the brooder and she and her brother had to hide all day from the larger breed chicks so she is rather shy and we named her "Shrinking Violet" because she grew up having to hide all the time. She was further picked on by a bully Marans who roosted next to her and picked her scalp, face comb, and outer feathers bald. We re-homed the culprit as soon as we realized Violet was not molting but being eaten alive!


Violet has always been such a sweet delicate Partridge and once we got rid of all bully breeds, she fluorished and grew back her lovely feathers but the comb is gone.



Because of the abuse Violet went through we have been extremely careful since then to have only docile breeds and under 5-lb large fowl to mix with our 2 Silkies. We had to re-home Violet's brother who was mercilessly mounting her 12x an hour and she was too shy to say "no" to him. She has been through so much abuse so after we re-homed her Partridge brother we got a Black Silkie pullet to be a companion but unfortunately the Black Silkie is a bit bossy -- still, they toodle around together.



The Black Silkie is quite the opposite personality. She has been around the same pushy bullies as Violet but has managed to be a good runner from trouble. She has occasionally scrapped with Violet and definitely is bossy with Violet. We're happy that any new Bredas introduced to the 2 Silkies are kept in line by BOTH Silkies -- currently we have a Cuckoo Breda in photo above and have a Blue Breda on order for Spring. So even though Violet gets pushed around a little by the Black Silkie, Violet does seem to enjoy warning new Bredas that she gets first choice on treats. The Black Silkie gets bossy toward Violet at treat time but Violet is holding her own. Bredas are only 4-lbs and are docile -- we hit on a good non-broody egg-layer who happens to be a gentle docile breed and respectful of the 2 Silkies' alpha position. Our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana was a docile gentle breed around the Silkies and Breda but she couldn't take our brutal hot summers and we lost her at 3 yrs old.

I'm zoned for 5 hens only so breeding was never my intention and never had fertile eggs. My broody Silkies will set "empty" nests and after a couple weeks they rejoin the flock like normal again. Violet gets extremely docile and reclusive when she goes broody or is molting and she is very easy to intimidate at those times giving high-pitched squawking/warning sounds before any flock member gets near her. The Black Silkie gets very bitchy and does the fluffed out turkey dance when she gets agitated/broody.
TURKEY DANCE