Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[juststruttin]

Hi Trisha, I was actually referring to egg color of the OE X Barnie offspring down the road. My OE lay a nice olive colored egg and it will be interesting to see if they maintain that color when crossed with the Barnie roo.

I am so smitten by the blue barnies themselves, I am not going to be too concerned with egg color at this stage. You have done an incredible job with this project, and I am thrilled to have some of your birds.

Deann

 

[juststruttin]

BTW, when do barnies typically start laying? One girls comb is getting reddish, but they still seem to have a ways to go. I think they girls hatched mid March.

 

[tls_ranch]

Deann,
They should start laying soon. Mine usually start laying at around 26 weeks (some earlier and some a bit later). I've been culling the ones that take tooo long to lay in the hopes of improving egg laying. Like other heritage breeds, Barnevelders do take longer than production breeds. But I expect them to start laying at a "reasonable" age. I also expect a "spring pullet" to lay pretty well through the winter without lights. After their first year, hens usually need added lights to keep them going through the winter. Soo much to think about when selecting future breeders!

Trisha

 

[juststruttin]

thanks,

 

[acw123]

had a question and thought this might be the best place to get an answer...

I have several breeds of chickens, Barnevelders included. All of my chickens are less than 2 years old and have all been healthy with no problems. I have however had two Barnevelders that have died for no visible reason. One died while sitting on the nest, I autopsied and she wasn't egg bound. I had another one who died overnight, no wounds or signs of anything visible to cause death. I know it could be a host of non visible reasons but am wondering is this a breed that this early death is a normal occurence in? Death at less than 2? I would say the first one was probably 14 months old and this one was about 17 months old.

Any thoughts you want to share would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[mountainvieworchards]

I really enjoy looking at all of your pictures of your flock. I got the camera out this morning before the sun came out from the woods, when the birds are all out and about.

The first two shots are of my 7 mo old cockerel blue project, 3/4 Johan, he was an awkward teenager when I first posted one of him back in July and has since come into his own. He is a very even tempered bird, and being 1/4 Plymouth Rock he has more size than my pure Johan roosters. He was long in the back and didn't have a nice back curve before but he has improved as his feathering came on. He is still long in the back but I feel like his depth of body helps him carry this length. My pure Barnies also have more of an upright neck, they sort of look like they are trying to see over a wall. I am not unhappy with his size and welcome it, if I can keep the size as I move more toward Barnie type in future generations.




Here is his front showing lacing on breast and some of the red centers.


And just so we don't go too crazy with only blue birds here is one of my 2.5 year old Johan Hens, she is running on the large size and more rustic type, which I personally like.

 

[tls_ranch]

Hi Andy he looks really nice and I think your right about the size. I would keep a good bodied roo over perfect color. I love the Johan hen especially her size

It's funny I also took some pics today.LOL but I can't tell if they are any good, because this "ancient" laptop I'm using (because our computer crashed) really doesn't view pictures very well.... The color of pictures seems way off too me.

Here's my dark blue cockerel. I really like him, but wish the under color in his hackles was darker. I think he has a pretty good body too.


Solid chest with no lacing though.

A lighter blue cockerel that I really like due to his short back. He is a bit too brassy for my goals, but I like his type and may use him anyway.

A medium blue cockerel (older than the other 2) I like him too, but he's too long in the back and a bit too narrow. I will probably not keep him. He does have better color than the light blue cockerel pictured above, but I would rather have a shorter back and more "body". On a side note do you see how brown the oaks look? That's not from fall weather...it's been so dry and hot they started loosing leaves and turning brown almost 2 months ago. Hope we get rain soon.

 

[mountainvieworchards]

Nice boys Trisha you really have some good stuff to work with. I love the type on the top bird, he really is on the dark side, does he have any red stripe?. He is really barrel chested, reminds me of my original Barnie rooster that was wide like him. He has a nice short back very concave. Nice tails and combs.

I really like having a bunch of roosters too bad they make so much racket. I am trying to whittle down to my breeder plus backup, but I don't want to pull the trigger to fast. I did cull four barnies this week, and the other birds immediately looked better. I think having too many culls in the pen makes it harder to see the keepers properly. I usually put them in a holding pen for two weeks to fatten them a bit and in case I change my mind. But I rarely change my mind once I get a good look at the ones I keep.


The oaks are looking a bit tired. Do you have live oaks there on your property? I really love that landscape. We are in our dryest fall on record here in Western Oregon. The winegrowers are really happy looking like the best vintage ever. No rain in the next week forecast either.

I am going to show that hen next week in Salem. She is a real puffball and quiet enough she won't mind being shown. I put her sister in the fair this summer and she was so stressed she immediately molted.

Andy

 

[tls_ranch]

had a question and thought this might be the best place to get an answer...

I have several breeds of chickens, Barnevelders included. All of my chickens are less than 2 years old and have all been healthy with no problems. I have however had two Barnevelders that have died for no visible reason. One died while sitting on the nest, I autopsied and she wasn't egg bound. I had another one who died overnight, no wounds or signs of anything visible to cause death. I know it could be a host of non visible reasons but am wondering is this a breed that this early death is a normal occurence in? Death at less than 2? I would say the first one was probably 14 months old and this one was about 17 months old.

Any thoughts you want to share would be appreciated.

Thanks,

I really haven't had too many problems with my barnies. I've heard about others that have had some like sudden death, weak birds or fertility problems. I have lost a few birds here and there due to issues like being egg bound, crop issues, bumble foot, heat stroke, choking on a chunk of apple, etc. I also had a rooster that died suddenly after being in a confined space. I think he spooked and broke his neck or had brain damage (blood on his comb). But i don't think the losses were unusually high numbers and I think are average for any chicken breed. Loss from heat stroke was my fault because I didn't provide that pen with a cool place to escape the heat like free range birds would. The weather was only supposed to get to about a 100, but reached 105 that day

I have some older hens in the flock that are over 4 years of age. They seem pretty healthy to me and laid a respectable # of eggs this year despite their age. Chicks have been pretty hardy and healthy too. I'm sorry you are having issues, but you probably won't know for sure unless you get them autopsied by a lab.

 

[tls_ranch]

Nice boys Trisha you really have some good stuff to work with. I love the type on the top bird, he really is on the dark side, does he have any red stripe?. He is really barrel chested, reminds me of my original Barnie rooster that was wide like him. He has a nice short back very concave. Nice tails and combs.

I really like having a bunch of roosters too bad they make so much racket. I am trying to whittle down to my breeder plus backup, but I don't want to pull the trigger to fast. I did cull four barnies this week, and the other birds immediately looked better. I think having too many culls in the pen makes it harder to see the keepers properly. I usually put them in a holding pen for two weeks to fatten them a bit and in case I change my mind. But I rarely change my mind once I get a good look at the ones I keep.


The oaks are looking a bit tired. Do you have live oaks there on your property? I really love that landscape. We are in our dryest fall on record here in Western Oregon. The winegrowers are really happy looking like the best vintage ever. No rain in the next week forecast either.

I am going to show that hen next week in Salem. She is a real puffball and quiet enough she won't mind being shown. I put her sister in the fair this summer and she was so stressed she immediately molted.

Andy

Thanks Andy The dark cockerel does have some red in his hackles and saddle, but is darker (less red) than my average barnie roo. I also have too many crowing cockerels. I will probably keep 2 blues and 2 pure BV's this year. That'll be way too much racket, but I don't want to be left hanging. I want to have a back up roo for both blue and pure BV this time. 5 am is VERY noisy and it doesn't help that several neighbors are now keep roos. They have a morning "crow off" now that they can hear other strange roos in the area. I have 5 cockerels I'm culling this weekend too.

No live oaks, but there's some just down the road. I was going to get some live oak and black oak acorns to plant this winter. I probably won't get to enjoy their beauty, but maybe someone else in 30-50 years will It's may get back to 100's next week Some of our oaks don't look as bad as others in the area. My husband says when he flies over the northstate the foothills look like they have huge dead patches because large areas of oaks are completly brown.

Good luck at the show with your hen! You should see my barnie hens that are moulting.....a few look almost 1/2 plucked!
Trisha