A Bielefelder Thread !

[Thyme4Chickens]

It does! Can't wait to see this chickies grown up. I'm new to chickens, and the next ones I get are going to be Bielefelders!

 

[Chickielady]

So I am starting a new thread, "Can we have a Silver Bielefelder thread ???"
Anyone want to come over, please do !


https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/can-we-have-a-silver-bielefelder-thread.1254532/

 

[aliciaplus3]

I must be crazy

i just gave my broody biel more eggs.... sigh. Yup I am crazy. We will see how she does. The first time I gave her eggs she sat till day 19 then was done. Crazy bird

 

[PeepersMama]

I must be crazy View attachment 1442140 i just gave my broody biel more eggs.... sigh. Yup I am crazy. We will see how she does. The first time I gave her eggs she sat till day 19 then was done. Crazy bird

Oh my goodness she's so cute.

 

[PeepersMama]

Got a few pictures of my boy Eddy a couple days ago.

 

[aliciaplus3]

I must be crazy View attachment 1442140 i just gave my broody biel more eggs.... sigh. Yup I am crazy. We will see how she does. The first time I gave her eggs she sat till day 19 then was done. Crazy bird

update she is still sitting nicely!! her friend the white leghorn kept taking over her nest so I split the eggs between the two girls and both seem very happy now!

 

[TAM Farm]

Have any of you processed for meat?

 

[aliciaplus3]

I have not personally but only because I didn't have enough yet.... I have about 7 upcoming roos and only enough room for 1 maybe 2 do we will get to try some in the next 10 weeks or so
On a side note my white leg horn gave up sitting today, so my biel got the rest of her eggs back and is currently sitting on 8 eggs

 

[Nambroth]

Just posting to follow this thread, my newest birds are a flock of 9 Bielefelders and I adore them so far!

 

[paintedChix]

I found this thread and a "few" others for Bielefelders.

I was offered some from a breeder about 1 hour away from me after I had done some reading on GFF's site regarding auto sexing breeds. I already had CLBs (production lines) and Rhodebars, so I went for these.

I hadn't found these threads earlier and haven't finished this one yet. I jumped ahead to the end of 2017 and read all of 2018's posts. Otherwise, I'm still on page 2 or 3...

Some ?s that I have are pretty simple (& if they are answered in these 541 pages of this thread, I'm sorry to be asking again):

1 - I've read where some have stated they do or don't have birds to SOP. Can someone point me to the breed standards for this breed? I tried to download the english translation of the German one from GFF's site and it's always been "unavailable" since April of this year. Now, with Hurricane Florence hitting us, internet is spotty, so downloading can be tricky, but I can sure copy and past URLs etc...

2 - someone mentions silver Bielefelders? How would you go about getting them (still very NEW to chicken color genetics; love my pony color genetics, tho)...

3 - someone else wrote about the "bad standards" or chix that didn't come up to standards - to include white or partially white earlobes. Again, please point me in the direction for the proper Breed Standards for these guys.

4 - what weights have different folks on this thread seen and when are they actually hitting those mature weights? Was really surprised to see some REALLY large birds. Mine are smaller than Ameraucanas, but heavier and fluffier (not as fluffy as the Orps that I got from same breeder as my B's).

5 - When do the pullets hit POL? Hurricane Florence may have thrown our oldest girls out of whack, but I have 6 girls that were hatched between 3/5 & 3/12, 2018 (6 months old) and still no interest in nesting, laying or ??? The 2 roosters don't seem to actually be crowing yet either or sexually active! I originally got 12 birds - 9 pullets & 3 cockerels. They do get to free range out of an 8x10 coop/pen... 1 group of 3 pullets/1 cockerel went to a girlfriend and later I got another set of 4 to have a 3rd breeding group (maybe?).

Here's some pics of my yellow hatch group when I brought them home, they were not day old chicks -



And some pics later (I don't have pics of all of them the first couple of days, thought I'd gotten them, but hadn't)...



I think I have some more pics from between May and now, but they aren't cropped/noted yet. Some from the other day, before Hurricane Florence arrived...







These are my 3rd breed of Auto-Sexing chickens and I am IN LOVE. Now, I'm just getting impatient as to when they will start laying. (Got first CLB & RB eggs when they each hit about 7.5 months of age - both those breeds still laying pretty small eggs)

Once they do all start laying, how long do I wait before i start collecting eggs to incubate? That will be another learning curve - I don't have an incubator yet. I don't plan on selling the eggs or chicks right away. I would consider selling some started pullets - as I see/learn how they are developing. I do plan on processing birds next year & yes, these are one of the breeds I plan on doing that with.

I have more pics - just in extra large/un-cropped versions...