A Bielefelder Thread !

[otakalhasas]

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

I know this is off topic, but is the hen in the front of the fourth photo a Marans? Love her leg feathering!

 

[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!

Yep, Silkies are loveable! Silkies are adorable and they think they're as bad as the big girls but then that gets their a*sses kicked when they get too bold! It happened to our spunky Black Silkie who thought she could challenge LFs and now she only bosses around the Silkie her own size

.

As for large fowl chicks that get hatched by a momma Silkie -- the LF chicks are good kids around the smaller momma Silkie. But I have read of a sad incident where a grown hatchling turned on her foster momma and killed her. After a couple months of raising chicks any momma chicken breed turns them loose to fend for themselves and nurturing bonds are usually severed. So I am on the cautious side about having ANY heavy LF breeds around our 2 Silkies. As much as I hate it, chickens are not nice to each other and I have to stop projecting human ties or moral bonds onto their animal behavior and accept them as what they are. Hence, I am careful about not introducing any LF breeds to the docile Silkies except our (so far in 6 yrs) tried-and-true Breda or pure Ameraucana breeds. I know Polish would be an excellent adorable docile breed to mix with Silkies but IMO Polish don't qualify as good an egg-producer as Breda. I would love a gentle 4-lb no-tail blue-egg Araucana too but again the egg production wouldn't be as good as the Breda. For a bantam, our Silkies lay a decent size egg and lots of them before going broody. I understand the cute bantam Cochins are similar to Silkies as broodies but I have room for only so many birds.

 

[Sylvester017]

I know this is off topic, but is the hen in the front of the fourth photo a Marans? Love her leg feathering!

How kind of you - TY for commenting! The Cuckoo with my Silkies is a Cuckoo Breda and is NOT a Marans.


I HAD a 7-lb Cuckoo Marans before and she was a bully to the Silkies roosting next to them and chewing them alive! A Cuckoo Marans is a darker cuckoo pattern and notice the presence of a red comb and wattles. Also, USA Cuckoo Marans do NOT have vulture hocks or feathered legs -- only the French Marans seem to have that standard.

USA CUCKOO MARANS

Damage done to the Silkie feathers by our bigger heavier bully Cuckoo Marans so we re-homed the Marans:



The Cuckoo chicken in my photos with the Silkies is a young Breda -- adult Breda have absolutely NO comb but have wattles and a triangle crest where a comb normally would be, they have vulture hocks, overly-long feathered legs/toes, and cavernous nostrils like Polish or wild Crows/Ravens. Bredas come in Cuckoo, White (Europe), Black-&-White Mottled, Blue-&-White Mottled, and BBS (Blue/Black/ or Splash)
and are a very docile bird.




OUR LARGE FOWL CUCKOO BREDA as a pullet - no wattles yet






BLUE BREDA hen which we sadly lost this summer to heat-related issues - she was one of the friendliest, outgoing, curious, people and flock-friendly girls we've ever had - excellent choice to have around children and other docile or bantam breeds.






Notice that Breda have large cavernous nostrils/beaks, absolutely NO comb, have a triangle crest, regular wattles, vulture hocks and feathered legs/toes which get worn down eventually from scratching and dust-bathing outdoors. They are not a broody breed and lay 4 to 6 MED-LG eggs/week their pullet year. Our Blue Breda layed for 10+ consecutive months without stop.

As gentle as Bielies are I would hesitate to mix 4-lb docile Breda hens with 6 to 7-lb heavier Bielie hens -- but then that would be up to each individual owner's choice. As a self-defense mechanism, docile breeds tend to become loners around other bigger or assertive breeds but having our docile Breda with the docile Silkies they are all staying together as a flock and I have no "loners."

 

[DesertChic]

How kind of you - TY for commenting! The Cuckoo with my Silkies is a Cuckoo Breda and is NOT a Marans.


I HAD a 7-lb Cuckoo Marans before and she was a bully to the Silkies roosting next to them and chewing them alive! A Cuckoo Marans is a darker cuckoo pattern and notice the presence of a red comb and wattles. Also, USA Cuckoo Marans do NOT have vulture hocks or feathered legs -- only the French Marans seem to have that standard.

USA CUCKOO MARANS

Damage done to the Silkie feathers by our bigger heavier bully Cuckoo Marans so we re-homed the Marans:



The Cuckoo chicken in my photos with the Silkies is a young Breda -- adult Breda have absolutely NO comb but have wattles and a triangle crest where a comb normally would be, they have vulture hocks, overly-long feathered legs/toes, and cavernous nostrils like Polish or wild Crows/Ravens. Bredas come in Cuckoo, White (Europe), Black-&-White Mottled, Blue-&-White Mottled, and BBS (Blue/Black/ or Splash)
and are a very docile bird.




OUR LARGE FOWL CUCKOO BREDA as a pullet - no wattles yet






BLUE BREDA hen which we sadly lost this summer to heat-related issues - she was one of the friendliest, outgoing, curious, people and flock-friendly girls we've ever had - excellent choice to have around children and other docile or bantam breeds.






Notice that Breda have large cavernous nostrils/beaks, absolutely NO comb, have a triangle crest, regular wattles, vulture hocks and feathered legs/toes which get worn down eventually from scratching and dust-bathing outdoors. They are not a broody breed and lay 4 to 6 MED-LG eggs/week their pullet year. Our Blue Breda layed for 10+ consecutive months without stop.

As gentle as Bielies are I would hesitate to mix 4-lb docile Breda hens with 6 to 7-lb heavier Bielie hens -- but then that would be up to each individual owner's choice. As a self-defense mechanism, docile breeds tend to become loners around other bigger or assertive breeds but having our docile Breda with the docile Silkies they are all staying together as a flock and I have no "loners."

Oh my gosh! Your poor little Silkie! Chickens can be so darn mean to one another! At least those Breda's are really beautiful as well as docile. I think that Blue Breda is especially gorgeous.

One of my little NN chicks got pecked so badly by the others that they went all the way down to the bone in her skull. I had to keep her separate from the others for a few months and worked with her nonstop to get her to calm down and trust me, but she turned out to be the loveliest little hen and a great layer.

You can see her exposed skull in this photo:


And months later once I reintroduced her to her flock:

 

[otakalhasas]

How kind of you - TY for commenting! The Cuckoo with my Silkies is a Cuckoo Breda and is NOT a Marans.


I HAD a 7-lb Cuckoo Marans before and she was a bully to the Silkies roosting next to them and chewing them alive! A Cuckoo Marans is a darker cuckoo pattern and notice the presence of a red comb and wattles. Also, USA Cuckoo Marans do NOT have vulture hocks or feathered legs -- only the French Marans seem to have that standard.

USA CUCKOO MARANS

Damage done to the Silkie feathers by our bigger heavier bully Cuckoo Marans so we re-homed the Marans:



The Cuckoo chicken in my photos with the Silkies is a young Breda -- adult Breda have absolutely NO comb but have wattles and a triangle crest where a comb normally would be, they have vulture hocks, overly-long feathered legs/toes, and cavernous nostrils like Polish or wild Crows/Ravens. Bredas come in Cuckoo, White (Europe), Black-&-White Mottled, Blue-&-White Mottled, and BBS (Blue/Black/ or Splash)
and are a very docile bird.




OUR LARGE FOWL CUCKOO BREDA as a pullet - no wattles yet






BLUE BREDA hen which we sadly lost this summer to heat-related issues - she was one of the friendliest, outgoing, curious, people and flock-friendly girls we've ever had - excellent choice to have around children and other docile or bantam breeds.






Notice that Breda have large cavernous nostrils/beaks, absolutely NO comb, have a triangle crest, regular wattles, vulture hocks and feathered legs/toes which get worn down eventually from scratching and dust-bathing outdoors. They are not a broody breed and lay 4 to 6 MED-LG eggs/week their pullet year. Our Blue Breda layed for 10+ consecutive months without stop.

As gentle as Bielies are I would hesitate to mix 4-lb docile Breda hens with 6 to 7-lb heavier Bielie hens -- but then that would be up to each individual owner's choice. As a self-defense mechanism, docile breeds tend to become loners around other bigger or assertive breeds but having our docile Breda with the docile Silkies they are all staying together as a flock and I have no "loners."

Thank you so much for the very interesting tutorial! Yet another breed I'll have to check out!!!!!!!

 

[otakalhasas]

Poor little girl - bless you for your working her through it!

 

[Sylvester017]

Oh my gosh! Your poor little Silkie! Chickens can be so darn mean to one another! At least those Breda's are really beautiful as well as docile. I think that Blue Breda is especially gorgeous.

One of my little NN chicks got pecked so badly by the others that they went all the way down to the bone in her skull. I had to keep her separate from the others for a few months and worked with her nonstop to get her to calm down and trust me, but she turned out to be the loveliest little hen and a great layer.

You can see her exposed skull in this photo:


And months later once I reintroduced her to her flock:

I guess we've had some pecking issues w/ our girls! And you're right about chickens not being nice to each other! Your girl recovered gorgeous! Did the scalp skin reconnect growth to itself to cover the bone again or did a vet do skin graft?

She was probably afraid during recovery because there was pain in the affected area whenever you needed to treat the wound. Glad you were patient w/ her -- she's a beauty!

 

[DesertChic]

I guess we've had some pecking issues w/ our girls! And you're right about chickens not being nice to each other! Your girl recovered gorgeous! Did the scalp skin reconnect growth to itself to cover the bone again or did a vet do skin graft?

She was probably afraid during recovery because there was pain in the affected area whenever you needed to treat the wound. Glad you were patient w/ her -- she's a beauty!

She completely healed on her own with only minimal medical attention from me. I kept the would clean and used a variety of topical ointments on it, mostly petroleum jelly or Desitin (yes, the diaper ointment) and the skin grew back beautifully. I learned from my dermatologist after having some skin cancer removed that keeping the area moist is the trick to facilitating natural healing. Her head still indents slightly, but if you don't know to look for it you'd never know she'd been so badly injured.

 

[Sylvester017]

She completely healed on her own with only minimal medical attention from me. I kept the would clean and used a variety of topical ointments on it, mostly petroleum jelly or Desitin (yes, the diaper ointment) and the skin grew back beautifully. I learned from my dermatologist after having some skin cancer removed that keeping the area moist is the trick to facilitating natural healing. Her head still indents slightly, but if you don't know to look for it you'd never know she'd been so badly injured.

She was lucky with your helpful knowledge. A Silkie or Polish with their vaulted open skull bones would've suffered massive nerve/brain damage or death so your girl was lucky to have a normal closed skull bone which saved her from worse injury.

VAULTED "OPEN" SKULL BONE - not all vaulted skulls are this extreme but you can see the open skull bone at the top of this Silkie skeleton.

 

[Mahlzeit]

Wow that was a lot of reading to get through this thread but I finally made it. Hoping to join the club with some Bielefelders this year. I follow The Swedish Homestead on youtube and that's where I first saw and heard about the Bielefelders. They are not only appealing physically but coming from Germany myself it would be awesome to have a dual purpose German breed I can enjoy here.