Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[Apdeb]

I could tell around 4 weeks the roosters combs come in faster larger then the waddles show up between weeks 5 and 6
Theres another way to tell earlier by wing feathering but i really didnt try that
Also the roos do have thicker brighter yellow legs larger feet

 

[Helen in the Desert]

With barnies it is fairly easy. The males have a white/cream breast and the females have a gray breast. The ones with white bibs can turn out either way but in my experience those were male also.

 

[DiamondDust]

The other day one of my non-farmy friends was over looking at my mixed flock of layers. All of the sudden she exclaimed, "What kind of chicken is THAT one?! She is SO pretty!" and pointed to my only adult Barnevelder hen. I smiled broadly as I told her that is the breed I am switching over to and all my young stock are Barnies. I love my barnies...they are so beautiful that even non-chicken people can see it!

DD

 

[Frizzle13]

if the colour thing is right i have a hen

 

[Apdeb]

My barnies are 8 weeks old
If i were to take some to new hampshire show in october would i enter them as cocks and pullets?

 

[ke5hde]

My barnies are 8 weeks old
If i were to take some to new hampshire show in october would i enter them as cocks and pullets?

Yes, they would be cockerals and pullets.

Chris

 

[pysankigirl]

I hatched out 9 barnevelders this past winter and struggled to tell which ones were girls and which were boys. 7 of them developed combs a little faster so I thought those were the boys and was kind of disappointed. Then a guy that had agreed to take my boys from me as (eventually) food lost all his laying hens to a predator attack so when he took the boys I threw in the two girls just because they were all raised together and I felt sorry for him losing all his chickens.

He called yesterday. They’ve grown and it turns out they were all girls. Every single one of them. that’s why I couldn’t tell them apart. Who’da thought I would hatch out 9 girls???!!!??? He is thrilled.

 

[australorp]

One of my roosters from rocking g

 

[islandgal99]

I hatched out 9 barnevelders this past winter and struggled to tell which ones were girls and which were boys. 7 of them developed combs a little faster so I thought those were the boys and was kind of disappointed. Then a guy that had agreed to take my boys from me as (eventually) food lost all his laying hens to a predator attack so when he took the boys I threw in the two girls just because they were all raised together and I felt sorry for him losing all his chickens.

He called yesterday. They’ve grown and it turns out they were all girls. Every single one of them. that’s why I couldn’t tell them apart. Who’da thought I would hatch out 9 girls???!!!??? He is thrilled.

I've had that too, all girls hatch out. Last year I had 3 hatches that were all girls. This year my first hatch of barnies was 8 girls, one boy. Later hatches have evened out, and my last hatch is 8 boys, 1 girl.

If you are able to keep some to grow out, mark the chicks with a colored zap tie or something, and test the breast down theory. I marked all mine from this year, they are all an outcross (roo from one line, hens from another) and all the ones with dark or cream colored chests at birth are girls, all the blazing white chests are boys. They are old enough now I can remove the straps, and so far it's been 100% accurate. For some lines of barnies this may not work, but its working for me, even my outcross chicks. Before you rely on it, you should test it yourself if you can grow some chicks out.

And you can always post newborn chicks here for help as many are very good at picking the boys and girls out.

 

[Rancher3535]

I tried to sex out the chicks by the chest color and it was really accurate. Females had a dark or gray colored chest and males had light or cream colored chest. I kept 5 males out of each pen for possible next years breeders(15) and all 80 females so I have some major culling to do there. I only want about 30 (10 from each pen) The boys I did not keep went to the auction. It worked out really well for me.

Same thing with my Welsummers. Hatch out 30 and out of the 30, 21 were female and the other 9 males.