Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[mountainvieworchards]

Yes I am guessing at day old.

I like the idea of using a normal distribution curve method in sexing like that described with leg diameter. I think that becomes more reliable as you develop a line and get the birds to be more consistent. If you do introductions of new stock where one line is considerably larger than the other this will can mess that up. I have a project like that where I am working in increasing the size and if a female has the larger body size gene she would be tossed in with the boys and vice versa, but after this breeding settles down I agree that the sexual dimorphism will be more pronounced.

This is sort of how it is with breast feather sexing at hatch, there are clear girls and clear boys and some that throw you and you need to guess.

I often use single matings in my breeding especially if I feel strongly about a pair, I still consider this a "pen" mating because in my system I track the pedigrees by the pen the birds came in, but there is only a pair in the pen if that makes sense.

Andy

 

[Happy Chooks]

I need to get some pictures of my 2 Blue Barnie cockerels. I'm torn on who to keep. (though I am leaning in one direction) One boy has a nice tail angle, but his tail is more "thin" for lack of a better word. He also has a very erect comb, which seems to be very un-barnie like. The second boy has a beautiful, full tail and a nice comb - but his tail angle so far is lower. He's young still - not quite 6 months old. But his stature looks far more like a barnevelder should look. So I'm leaning towards him - but I'm also going to keep a pure barnevelder cockerel as well. (too many hens in that coop for only 1 boy)

 

[loveourbirds]

I didn't realize that barnevelders had a sex linking trait? as I always say, in the chicken business there is always something new to learn. I have had barnevelders in the past but ive hard a hard time getting a good line of them going. for instance last fall I bought a trio, when they came to me (on a cold day in the back of a truck) the hens were covered the roo was out in the air. he made it about 2 weeks. I knew a guy who had several roosters left over so I went and picked the best he would sell. I noticed on the way home he had some rattle in his breathing. i separated him from the rest of my stock, gave acv and antibiotics. he healed and everything seemed fine a month later. so i mixed him with my two double laced hens from that original trio. 2 months later i lost the roo, and one hen within a week. the two month time makes me think the problem didn't come from him, but maybe another chicken i had purchased. my tests all came out fine this spring, so i still don't know what the problem was.
a friend of mine, knowing i was having trouble with the breed; brought me a cockerel Saturday. we put him in a temporary cage and done a quick walk around the farm (he wanted to see some new birds i had bought, he also brought me some rhodebar chicks). i went out about 45 mins later to move the cockerel from the temp cage and he was dead. i know i don't have any diseases on this farm that can kill a healthy 3 month old bird in 45 minutes.

you folks are doing your best to improve the breed and i cant even get mine started. i do raise a few of the more sensitive breeds here with no problems. the birds have came from 4 different local people.

have any of you encountered this, is it lack of genetic diversity (they were all excellent double laced)? is it possible that i have bought all the birds from a line that had problems? i don't want to raise a group of birds that i have to give antibiotics to every other week.

any input on this would be great.

 

[DiamondDust]

I contacted someone who lives in my area about Barnies because I am very interested in breeding them. She told me she had gotten out of breeding Barnies for exactly that reason...they were just not strong and died too easily. I'm a little worried since I have some eggs ready to hatch in a couple of days to start my own Barnie flock but I'm willing to give them a try and do my best. Those of you who breed plenty of Barnies...have you ever heard that they are a "less hardy" breed?

 

[tls_ranch]

I contacted someone who lives in my area about Barnies because I am very interested in breeding them.  She told me she had gotten out of breeding Barnies for exactly that reason...they were just not strong and died too easily.  I'm a little worried since I have some eggs ready to hatch in a couple of days to start my own Barnie flock but I'm willing to give them a try and do my best.  Those of you who breed plenty of Barnies...have you ever heard that they are a "less hardy" breed?

I really haven't had any serious problems. Heat can be an issue, but we get well above 100 for days on end. I expect that over the next few generations, my flock will just naturally do better with the heat. I provide misters during the hottest days.

I expect my birds to thrive...not baby them other than provide good food etc. my chicks go with out heat lamps by 4 weeks no matter what the weather. Broody raised chicks are free ranged durring the day...no matter what the weather...but we rarely get snow just dry freezing nights or cold rain.


Trisha

 

[tls_ranch]

Just hatched one of the darkest "reddish/gold" splash chicks so far ( I have my 3rd set of eggs hatching right now). Usually the splashes are more silverish, but this is a 6th generation chick. I am wondering if I finally got some of the modifiers or enhancers that can help to improve lacing quality. Splashes tend to have the messiest lacing, but I've seen some splash dutch barnies that have pretty decent lacing.

I want to post a pic, but I've tried 5 times and my old computer just won't do it.

 

[mountainvieworchards]

My Barnies are all pretty healthy as much as my other breeds (rocks, sussex, marans). One thing I don't do is keep bringing in new birds from outside. I keep my flock pretty much closed. I have lost birds before but that's part of keeping chickens. I have had chickens just drop dead but its not just Barnevelders. If I add stock I usually add by hatching egg. If I on occasion bring in a live bird I am pretty strict with quarantine and try to get young stock and not someone else's castoffs. I suspect your problem is not because of the breed in general.

If you want to try Barnevelders again maybe get a setting of eggs from a good flock and try again.

I

 

[tls_ranch]

My darker splash chick. It looks to have much more red than the other splashes I've hatched. Not the best pic, but hey I finally got one to load....

Trisha

 

[tls_ranch]

My oldest chicks from this year. They love to hang out in my potted plants...not the greatest for my plants LOL. They love to dig all the dirt out of the pots.... In this group I have 2 blue pullets, 2 pure barnie pullets, 1 splash pullet, 6 pure barnie cockerels, 1 splash cockerel and my silver project pullet. I already "culled" for size and quality 3 times so far with this group.




When not hanging out in my plants, they free range and run all over the place. They love to eat the clover in the lawn and destroy my flower beds.


I just started letting out my 4+ week old chicks to free range too. I just let the cockerels out for the first time to get used to the older chicks. I will let the pullets out tomorrow. I have 12 in the 4+ week old group and have already culled once for size over all and also basic combs quality in the boys. The younger chicks will soon adjust and run wild during the day with the bigger chicks ( my poor plants, LOL). I will also graft a bunch of the chicks hatching in the bator to a blue hen who has been very broody. I will let her raise most of the cockerels so that they will be very "flock" bonded. Since I'm a bit short on pullets (gave a bunch this year to friends)...I will raise the pullets in the brooder until they get older.

Trisha

 

[Tailfeathers]

I contacted someone who lives in my area about Barnies because I am very interested in breeding them. She told me she had gotten out of breeding Barnies for exactly that reason...they were just not strong and died too easily. I'm a little worried since I have some eggs ready to hatch in a couple of days to start my own Barnie flock but I'm willing to give them a try and do my best. Those of you who breed plenty of Barnies...have you ever heard that they are a "less hardy" breed?

I may know who that is and many years ago I was hearing that all the time. In fact, I had the same problem. Chicks would just mysteriously start dropping dead for no apparent reason at all. Perfectly healthy one day and dead the next. And they would be in the same brooder with other birds of same age that never showed a problem. I'm positive it wasn't Coccidiosis either. Then one day a full grown cockerel/cock just keeled right over in front of me. Plus I was constantly having to fight CRD in the winter months.

I remember during those first couple years there were several other folks having the same problem. Especially with CRD. Some of them got so fed up with fighting illnesses that they gave up on the breed. I almost did too. Finally, after trying probably every antibiotic known to chickens, I decided to cull everything that got so much as a sniffle or sneeze. Wound up keeping a cockerel and two pullets. That was it. They never showed any signs of sickness. Either they would fix the problem or I was done with them.

I also stopped medicating my entire flock at the same time. If it got sick, it got better or I culled it. I continued to do the same thing and within 3 years I saw CRD all but completely disappear. And I can't recall the last time I had a sick Barnie. The only thing I do now is put Chlorine Bleach in their water during the winter months. Now, out of a couple hundred birds, I never see more than 2-3 birds get runny noses.

Andy makes a good point about keeping a closed flock and I highly recommend it too. I even read Kenny Troiano recently in the Poultry Press tell how getting birds from other parts of the country can result in health problems. It makes sense to me. Think about it. We live in an area that is cold and wet most of the year. Imagine how well a bird that comes from FL or maybe AZ or MN would do here? And if you bring in an adult, imagine what all you could be bringing into your flock.

And, not to belabor the point, but it's also another great reason why NOT to breed pullets. I know a lot of folks who sell hatching eggs and they are selling eggs from pullets that haven't been laying more than a couple of weeks. Not only are the smaller eggs more prone to hatching problems but
when you breed pullets that are only 6 months old, you have no idea how resistant to disease the bird is. It hasn't even made it thru it's first winter yet. So what happens if you hatch out a bunch of chicks from a pullet that gets sick its first winter and never heals up? I've had those in the past.

Just some observations that might help ya.

God Bless,