Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[pinkchick]

Are the eggs not fertile (tons of clears) or do the start developing then quit? I would first think about switching roos especially if many of the eggs are not developing. Or keep a son,

hopefully one of 2 eggs hatches a decent boy. Fresh blood would be a good option too.

I would think that if the problem was anything else like sanitation/incubator issues, feed or even illness you would see it effecting your other breed's hatch rates too. You could try taking a barnie hen or two that's laying and putting them in with one of your other roos (breed doesn't matter) and see if the eggs hatch better.

Trisha

Thanks Trisha! All other breeds are hatching great like normal. Some of the Barnie eggs that I have been tossing over the last few months have developed and quit and some have had blood rings...most all others are fertile but do absolutely nothing like Kelly described ( I call these clear).
My last good hatch of Barnies (9 total) was just before I sent eggs to Kelly. Since then (can't remember exactly when I sent eggs to Kelly) I have only had about 10 chicks hatch total out of all the eggs I have collected and put in. I have been setting 20-28 eggs every 2 weeks since I sent out 2 batches of eggs, one batch to Kelly and another batch to a gal in Oregon (that is alot of eggs to not get anything out of). Both Kelly and the other gal had an egg that developed but both quit.
I have only had approx. 10 chicks hatch out of all of those eggs I have been setting.

I have access to another rooster and several pullets, but the pullets are all offspring from my flock..... the rooster is straight from Johan and is a year younger than my Uggzie boy. He is a nice bird, total Johan, but has a funky comb. I'm sure my bestfriend would let me borrow him..............LOL! I already hijacked Uggzie boy and my beloved Stephanie from her.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I received your eggs Kim on 2/15, set 2/17, they hatched on 3/9.

I keep records in a spreadsheet. I know, I'm a chicken nerd.

 

[AyaBlodgett]

Way back in the 205 postings, Trisha mentioned how to get the double lacing to show on the roosters chest again. At least I think that is what she was talking about. And she referred to double mating. How is that done?

"The lacing I've seen on the US type Barnevelder males is very over melanized..resulting in breast feathers that are so heavilly laced that the breast appears to be solid black. If you look, you sometimes can see a reddish gold center to some of the breast feathers on the males. This may be a case of having to double mate and keep pullet and cockerel breeding lines like they do in other partridge/pattern breeds in order to get perfect males and pullets for show.

From what I've seen the darker males produce females with thicker and cleaner lacing (though sometimes overly thick). Lighter males produce redder females with thinner black lacing. The redder hens tend to have more peppering in their lacing than the darker hens. Probably due to melanizers or lack of. So like everything else one need to balance the traits to get what you want. I personally would rather try and find a balance than resort to a double mating system.
Trisha"

 

[tls_ranch]

Aya, I'm not familiar enough with the double mating system, so I really can not give you accurate advice. I don't know much about it, but based on just some general info I've read here is my "basic" understanding how it works (hopefully someone else will know more)

A double mating system uses multiple lines of a breed to produce show quality coloration. Usually you need to develop pullet and cockerel breeding lines, keep them separate and do controlled crosses. These "lines" can vary greatly in color and it can be a complex system of mating JUST to produce a perfect show bird. This is not and easy breeding system for the general public or hobby breeders (which most customers are). I agree with Royce and would rather do the best I can finding a "balance" for color in both male and females rather than develop "specialized lines" to cross to create perfect show birds that will not "breed true" when bred back to each other.

I think the Johan line tends to have more lacing on the breast though I have had some lacing show up on vB line males... if that is what you desire then look for and breed for males that have more red in the breast.

Trisha

 

[AyaBlodgett]

Thanks, Trisha. It does sound complicated. I like your advice.
P.S. 5 more days!!! It's all I can do not to go turn the temp. up just to hurry those eggs along! Only joking. But it is sure hard to wait. Aya

 

[pinkchick]

Good luck Aya! Hope you have a great hatch!




Kelly~ Thanks for the dates and ain't nuffin' wrong with being a chicken nerd.

2 little babies went into lockdown this morning. Collected another dozen+ eggs this week from the girls to try out and see what happens. Changed feed a couple weeks ago to slighter higher protein content, right now I will experiment with anything I can to see if it makes a difference in hatchability.


Thank you Trisha and Andy for the advise. I will definately see what I can do to mix things up....something has to help.

 

[AyaBlodgett]

I am definitely interested in a Barnvelder Rooster with a reddish double laced chest. If anyone has anything close to that I would love to know. Thanks. Aya

 

[tls_ranch]

Aya,
Here's some interesting links to Barnevelders overseas just to add to the black vs laced breast debate with roosters.

Here's a page with "German" style Barnevelders. They tend to have more extreme tail sets.Though the roos still seem to have pretty dark breasts. It's hard to see if there's a lot of lacing.
http://www.sv-barnevelder.de/?seite=bilder

This page is about bantam Barnevelders and doesn't translate well, but it seems a darker breast is desired in the males. "The glossy green breast is black on the front"
http://translate.google.com/transla...aker/Blauw.htm&hl=en&rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS250US250

Silver Bantams.. Note the solid black breasts in the pics.
http://translate.google.com/transla...aker/Blauw.htm&hl=en&rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS250US250

Cheshire poultry in the UK has these "high scoring blue" and regular Barnevelders. The blue male doesn't show much lacing on his breast at all but was said to have gotten high scores when shown. These are dutch bred birds.
http://cheshirepoultry.co.uk/blue_double_laced_barnevelder.html

 

[mountainvieworchards]

Hi Trisha


Thanks for sharing the links.
I think both of the German sites you linked are displaying bantams. There are some beautiful specimens in these links
Andy

 

[tls_ranch]

Andy,
It is interesting to me to see the different "styles" of Barnevelder over seas. The German type seems way different to me than the Dutch type.

I've also seen some really laced breasts in photos of Australian Barnevelders. But the hens generally look more single laced ( maybe wyandotte bood???).
Trisha