Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[Piet]

Hi Andy, I have a pen with 4 pullets starting to lay, 4 eggs a day 6 days a week. They take Sundays off. Barnevelders are quite religious.
I like a broody LF cochin. I hatch chicks in the incubator and if she is on eggs, will swap them at night. She will walk a away with 30 chicks under her. From all the pictures I have seen of Barnevelders in the USA and the ones I seen in real life here. The ones that I would have in my barn besides my own birds, would be only the pure stock from Johan. I have talked to Johan many years ago and I know he kept them pure and has never outcrossed to inferior birds or other breeds, like the cornish or Wyandotte. Both those breeds will cause many problems, maybe not right away, but for sure later down the road. Also I must add, I find it funny how we always talk about lines here and as if they never change. Once you start pairing them up, they become your line and its just a matter of taking them to shows to see how your breeding is going. Online pictures give you no insight other than misleading and false insight most of the time, showing does give you honest answers and there is much more to the Barnevelder than just a pretty pattern and a lot of gloss. Piet

 

[mountainvieworchards]

You have some good layers there. Religious indeed. Did you bring them with you in your suitcase?
Not to top you but I have one hen who lays eight days a week.

Kidding aside I would love to see pictures of your eggs for size and color.

Well you are right we do talk about lines here a lot, I suppose it is for the same reason you gave in your last post, you know, that you had talked to Johan and put some faith in his stock. Or maybe we are just more brand conscious in USA.

So there is value in knowing if I have kept a line of Johans that has not been crossed out, I place some value on them just for that reason. I agree with you that after a few selections and matings of your own you may have taken the line down a different path and your birds may be somewhat different, but lets say you start with a line like Johans and they are not broody, there is value to someone you give birds to, to know that this line is less or non broody and that you haven't introduced a more broody line. Also there were only a small number of lines of Barnevelders here, since they have recently gotten popular. In the Netherlands I imagine there are too many to count. I expect here as time goes on the names of the founding lines will be less meaningful and used less often. Identifying lines or origin has served a purpose in helping us sort things out in USA and to help us get off to a better start. I think more information is good.

Another example of traits of lines in the USA is the birds said to be Kratty line. In my experience and that of others here, while they have nice sharp lacing they a much lighter colored egg. The eggs are nice size but light colored.

How do your birds handle the winters in Alberta? What sort of housing do you use up there.



Andy

 

[Piet]

Hi Andy, if you can have a potluck of mixed birds and turn it onto a Barnevelder that meets SOP AND breeds true, then it does not matter what it has in the background. The "brand" may be important to you, I hear it all the time: oh, i keep three different lines of this , this and that. But how do you put the previous breeders name on the birds you now kept for years? Yes, I did say Johans birds were good, but I seen them then when he had them. He had a good and keen eye for birds and imo was a very, very good breeder.

 

[mountainvieworchards]

I think I already explained to you about why we put the former breeders name on the birds.

 

[Piet]

I think I already explained to you about why we put the former breeders name on the birds. 

So in 20 years we will still only have the Johan and Kratty etc Barnevelder. What lines are yours? Mine are a combination of several by my own choice of selection with the sop for as good as I understand it.

 

[RachaelS]

So who planning on what to hatch this next hatching season? Would love to see more pics

? Spring will come soon! I can't hatch so have to live vicariously through you guys. Let's hear it!

 

[mountainvieworchards]

Well Rachel sorry to hear you won't be hatching. The sun has been shining in Oregon and I have been getting my garden going and thinking about hatching too. Hence my posts after very few all winter.

I have been putting my pens together the past couple weeks and the first I put together was the silvers. I am running a silver split rooster over my silver pullets and one old black double laced hen. I hope to improve my silver this year in the silver on silver matings, we shall see how that goes. There is a wide range in the amount of red leakage in the pullets on a scale of 0 to 100 where 0 is silver and 100 is red I have one that is about a 25 another that is about a 50 and another that is about 75. The rooster I am using has a white triangle (about a 10 on the red leakage scale) so I am hopeful he brings some good juju to the program. I just made up the red leakage scale in case you are wondering, its not scientific really.

I also have a couple blue double laced matings I am making: one using a blue double laced roo over my best Barnie hens, I also have a little splash hen I will breed to my best black DL rooster, I am curious to see how the lacing comes on her progeny. I may do a later breeding of the silver with the blue as I got some beautiful pullets from that mating last year. The silver blues were not something I set out to make but they were so popular at the chicken swap I took names after I sold them all and feel obligated to make more.

Last but certainly not least I will be breeding my two lines of black double laced Barnies. using best that I have in feather, type and egg. I always have extra pullets that didn't make the cut for the breeding pens and I keep these in my main coop with my old Barnie rooster from last year and if an egg comes extra dark I set it. I am a believer in keeping diversity in the flock, I have enough space for these extra birds and I am pretty committed to keeping track of who is who with banding and note keeping.

So that is what I am putting in the incubator in the coming months. Now to clean it out.

Has anyone ever tried the product "Room Shock" to sterilize the incubator. It looks promising to me. It is used to clean smells and mold from rooms, you basically fumigate it with the vapors of a very concentrated bleach. I am going to give it a try since I have been using these bators so long I fear they may have bacteria in places I can't reach.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Andy - I can't wait to see your progress on the silvers this year.

I can't wait to hatch this year, but I don't want to hatch too early and have them all molt in the fall instead of start laying. So I'm waiting a bit longer. (unless I get a broody) I still have one blue cock bird, as I'd like to get some more blues out of him before I rehome him. Then I'll breed my blues and pure hens back to pure cock birds. I'd really like to set up another coop for the blues, but that's not happening this year.

 

[RachaelS]

Can't wait to see your pics! I have never seen a silver blue. I love your "leakage scale", sounds like it works! Do you have pics of your splash? As stated before, I am not sure why, but they are my 100% fav. The don't breed true right?

 

[Piet]

If you can breed double lace blue to double lace blue only, that is the most desired way to breed them. Because the blue itself is such an inconsistent diluter (of black) it is the best way to "boss" it and get it breeding more consistent. By adding pure double lace black to a blue bird or a splash to black is always diluting newly over again. Splash hens you cannot read their pattern anymore, so therefore best not to use. Its always gambling with blue and we still do not know exactly why it messes around the way it does. Have you noticed the fine black edges on the blue laces, these often show only on very well marked birds, where does that come from? Who knows!