A Bielefelder Thread !

[myfavoritechicken]

Love Bielefelders! Great dual purpose breed. Mine are very friendly, and the hens are prolific layers! Will be hatching my first set of chicks in the next few weeks. Got the breeders from Greenfire Farms.

The only thing that concerns me is the auto-sexing. Yes, it should be a great selling point for this breed, being able to sex the chicks and distinguish between the males and females. However, most people just want the females and that leaves you with the dilemma of what to do with all those males. It is so much easier selling chicks as a straight-run...

Will share pictures of my first chicks soon!

 

[Rickw]

On the white earlobe subject: at what age can you tell if they have white earlobes? I hatched out some eggs at the end of Feb and since reading this thread have been looking at chicken ears every time I go in the pen.

 

[Faraday40]

Maybe it was DD who was the main attraction! Pretty girl!

Here's our Black Silkie with a visitor who was scared to death of chickens before!

Thanks.

and admittedly, it's really hard to be afraid of a silkie.

 

[I Love Layers]

Love Bielefelders! Great dual purpose breed.  Mine are very friendly, and the hens are prolific layers!  Will be hatching my first set of chicks in the next few weeks.  Got the breeders from Greenfire Farms.  

The only thing that concerns me is the auto-sexing.  Yes, it should be a great selling point for this breed, being able to sex the chicks and distinguish between the males and females.  However, most people just want the females and that leaves you with the dilemma of what to do with all those males.  It is so much easier selling chicks as a straight-run...

Will share pictures of my first chicks soon!

I'm thinking of only selling females and butchering all the males. I'm hoping to build some chicken tractors, that could be pulled behind a pickup around the hay fields and pastures and they can free range until 16 to 20 weeks when they'd be butchered. I would also sell the carcasses which would quickly pay off the cost of tractors, feed, and would also help pay for the breeders along with the female chicks

 

[I Love Layers]

Also i will probably do an early hatch to check fertility, keep this hatch for around 16 weeks, and then if I see anything I like out of that hatch I will keep it for breeding the next year or otherwise I will butcher the males and sell females as pullets.

 

[HARRY47264]

This is my best looking Biele cockerel the biggest anyway he is starting out with 6 points on his comb and nice yellow feet. He will be 8 weeks on Thursday will be 4 more months before a good evaluation can be made. The pullet on the far right is going to be a big girl too
Looks like a rainy day in SW Arkansas

Have a nice day anyway
Harry

 

[Fosmorefarm]

On the white earlobe subject: at what age can you tell if they have white earlobes? I hatched out some eggs at the end of Feb and since reading this thread have been looking at chicken ears every time I go in the pen.

You should be able to see if the ear lobes are red or white about the time they start laying. For my 2011 import birds that is about 7 or 8 months of age. The 2013 birds start to lay earlier than that from what I have heard of them.

 

[Sylvester017]

@Faraday40 DD won't need makeup!

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks.

and admittedly, it's really hard to be afraid of a silkie.

You would think so, wouldn't you? But I've had visitors think they were being attacked just because the pesty Silkies were are their feet squawking for a handout!

 

[ChickenGoesRuff]

On a side note: I had a Red Ranger that was friendly as all get out after she had a neck injury as a chick and bonded with people. She was separated from the other birds for her own safety, and got at least one hour of bonding time with me or my family every day. She mostly watched tractor videos with my dad on Youtube... Anyway, I took her to Petco and also to our town's "beef days" celebration and she loved the attention. She was trained to a leash, and would sit/lay down on cue (if food was involved). I rehomed Buffy to my mom's friend who loved her (and would bring her treats in the nestbox, as Buffy would hide in there all the time). Buffy died of a heart attack 2 months ago, but she was a funny chicken.
My bieles are not quite scared of me, nor are they very aware of me getting close to them. The other chicks run, but the bielefelders, especially the boys, just sit there and watch me with a look of "What is she going to do?". I usually can grab them before they realize they don't want to be caught...