A Bielefelder Thread !

[otakalhasas]

I bought from numerous sellers off eBay, and none were "fault-less".

I have a BUNCH of chickens from the one who sells 2011 & 2013 imports and have so far 1 white earlobe hen out of a total of 4 chickens, the one roo has WAY too much chestnut coloring and should be putting out his long tail feathers by now (my 2 mth younger one already is putting out the long tail feathers)...

I have over a dozen more younger ones from His stock, and will have to wait and see which ones will be putting out white earlobes, and whatever else looks totally not SOP.

Unfortunately, can't go by leg color as my white earlobe hen has bold yellow legs.

Also, GFF does show a roo with a white tail on their website. Who'd figure?

The way I read the German Standard, a totally white tail is a DQ but a white tail with barring or color on it seems to be okay. Bine, what do you think?

 

[Fosmorefarm]

The most common problems I am seeing from the pictures of other peoples Bielefelder are poor body type, white ear lobes, dark barring on the breast and abdomen and more than 1/2 of a feather or multiple white sickle feathers. I had a lot of red going up into the back on some pullets but I culled all those with excess red. It seems that the cockerels with a lot of chestnut on the wing bow are the ones most likely to grow out to have the dark chest barring. I have not had any pullets that have had black inclusions.

 

[Fosmorefarm]

The way I read the German Standard, a totally white tail is a DQ but a white tail with barring or color on it seems to be okay. Bine, what do you think?

I have another translation that listed anything over 1/2 white sickle feather as a fault but I cannot find it right now.

 

[otakalhasas]

Yeah, when one starts talking about translations as well as interpretations, that can be really difficult!

 

[Fosmorefarm]

I cannot find the other translation so maybe it was something someone said. Each translation that I can find in my records right now say more than one full white sickle feather. Another thing I see quite a bit of are what the standard calls sootier neck hangings, so the hackle feathers, but I am not sure yet how much is right but I think I can tell when it is to much. Maybe Bine could shed some light on that for us.

 

[Bine]

The EE-Standard disqualifies pure white wing and tail feathers, the somewhat longer German breed introduction says that mostly white feathers are not desirable... but bevor you can paint a house, you need to build it, so a bird with a good bodytype with a white tipped tailfeather should be chosen over a bird with correct coloring but a u-shaped back.

 

[Fosmorefarm]

The EE-Standard disqualifies pure white wing and tail feathers, the somewhat longer German breed introduction says that mostly white feathers are not desirable... but bevor you can paint a house, you need to build it, so a bird with a good bodytype with a white tipped tailfeather should be chosen over a bird with correct coloring but a u-shaped back.

I have only had one partial white tail feather and the white is only closest to the body, I have never had white on the ends of the feathers. Is a partial white considered a fault or DQ? It does not look that way by the translations I have seen.

 

[otakalhasas]

The EE-Standard disqualifies pure white wing and tail feathers, the somewhat longer German breed introduction says that mostly white feathers are not desirable... but bevor you can paint a house, you need to build it, so a bird with a good bodytype with a white tipped tailfeather should be chosen over a bird with correct coloring but a u-shaped back.

Thanks, Bine! I could not agree more!

 

[mandelyn]

Man, you guys have me all worried now about the kind of quality I'll be getting from GFF here in 14 days! Will keep you posted on how they mature, 4 girls and 2 boys are ordered. Here's hoping for luck of the draw! We have 5 breeds coming, at least 5 birds of each. Hopefully at least one type I can run with, but more than likely I'll need to add more to each group after we see if they'll work for us.

Practiced yesterday with sorting when we moved the "general layer" birds into the barn to free up the brooder shed. A mish-mash of basic breeds I hatched out of a friend's flock to get some layers going. 15 pullets and 17 cockerels. 10 boys were easy culls, so they have their own stall to fatten up in. The others had merit and one was a hands down winner for favorite ranking. He's a cross, but friendly, even tempered, pretty, well built. I think he's EE and Orpington with a good width of body developing. Once we have the land fenced I want to free range and have a couple of decent roosters out on patrol. Hopefully the hero type and not the first to hide.

Once the pullets are at laying age they'll go to the food egg coop with 1 rooster to join the Olive egger trio already in there. Spare/cull males to freezer camp. Then the GFF babies will be getting some size to them and they can take over the barn stalls. More culling from there, new blood added in the fall and again in the spring until we have something good going.

Going to need another incubator so that I can stagger hatches. Plan in progress for a 2x8 triple decker brooder arrangement. The old barn that came with the property is 1600 sq ft, so plenty of room! It's been neglected for about the last 60 years, so we're patching it back together and using it as a massive chicken coop. Been going through a LOT of lumber. It's quite the project to take on, 2 sides will have runs coming off of it with pasture beyond for rotational turn out. The loft will follow the whole perimeter with the center open, serving as the roof to the stalls. And helping to hold the building together. A lot of rot has been replaced, with a lot of reinforcing. Good thing husband has the mind of an engineer!

 

[otakalhasas]

Man, you guys have me all worried now about the kind of quality I'll be getting from GFF here in 14 days! Will keep you posted on how they mature, 4 girls and 2 boys are ordered. Here's hoping for luck of the draw! We have 5 breeds coming, at least 5 birds of each. Hopefully at least one type I can run with, but more than likely I'll need to add more to each group after we see if they'll work for us.

Practiced yesterday with sorting when we moved the "general layer" birds into the barn to free up the brooder shed. A mish-mash of basic breeds I hatched out of a friend's flock to get some layers going. 15 pullets and 17 cockerels. 10 boys were easy culls, so they have their own stall to fatten up in. The others had merit and one was a hands down winner for favorite ranking. He's a cross, but friendly, even tempered, pretty, well built. I think he's EE and Orpington with a good width of body developing. Once we have the land fenced I want to free range and have a couple of decent roosters out on patrol. Hopefully the hero type and not the first to hide.

Once the pullets are at laying age they'll go to the food egg coop with 1 rooster to join the Olive egger trio already in there. Spare/cull males to freezer camp. Then the GFF babies will be getting some size to them and they can take over the barn stalls. More culling from there, new blood added in the fall and again in the spring until we have something good going.

Going to need another incubator so that I can stagger hatches. Plan in progress for a 2x8 triple decker brooder arrangement. The old barn that came with the property is 1600 sq ft, so plenty of room! It's been neglected for about the last 60 years, so we're patching it back together and using it as a massive chicken coop. Been going through a LOT of lumber. It's quite the project to take on, 2 sides will have runs coming off of it with pasture beyond for rotational turn out. The loft will follow the whole perimeter with the center open, serving as the roof to the stalls. And helping to hold the building together. A lot of rot has been replaced, with a lot of reinforcing. Good thing husband has the mind of an engineer!

Sounds like you've got a good plan (and tons of work coming your way)!!! Let us know how the GFF chicks grow out! Keeping fingers and claws crossed for you!