No experience but like this breed also and have been doing some research. From what I have found there demeaner is very calm, quiet and laid back and are just as cold hardy as most heavy breeds. If you want them for the dark brown eggs. I would steer away from exibtion or show stock. From what I gathered these lines usally have the dark egg gene bred out.
i looked into the barnevelder.... the info i got was that they are not very cold hardy . they are high on my list of birds i wanted but the hatchery i bought from does not carry them
My Barnies stay out in a tractor with a raised coop but our night temps seldom get below 20. They do great and in the summer they like to stay in the shade, of course. It can get up to 98 with 100% humidity. They are not the greatest layers. It seems a change in weather throws them off but that is the way some breeds are. I think they are gorgeous and the males have superb feathering.
I would think that they WOULD be cold hardy since they are from Holland. Still, I have no personal experience them. I am in the process of getting ready to incubate eggs in late spring and will know at the end of winter what their cold hardiness looks like. We don't get the ice storms that some folks get, but we do get very high winds that can drop us down to zero. They'll be out there with the cochins, who so far have been incredibly hardy. We shall see!
Quote:who knows :s/ i read on the hendeson chicken chart that they are "less cold hardy" .. i wish meyers sold them i really wanted a few
Barnies are nice birds....but in this country they do NOT lay especially dark eggs. So don't get them just for the egg color!
This is a great chart that someone here on BYC pointed out. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html They say less cold hardy, good in damp condidtions. slow to mature and some chicks can be easily bullied. well adaptable to confinement or free range; calm, can be friendly. I was actually scheduled to get some chicks from Ideal Poultry in March, but i found Vluehenhatchery.com (BYC member) and am getting some hatching eggs from him. I am very excited about giving this breed a try. So I cancelled my order with Ideal for them.
We have 2 barnevelder pullets. They're not laying yet, so I can't tell you anything about their eggs. I don't know their cold tolerance for cold climates, but they did great here in an open coop (only 3 walls) when we had our 'freezes' (30 degrees is the coldest it gets here). Recently, there were a couple threads devoted only to barnevelders. You might be able to find some answers here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=129430&p=1 https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=126917
Not yet - but I'm about to. I have a batch that is supposed to be hatching out tomorrow with some Welsummers that I am getting from one of my breeders. I hope to pick them up on Saturday. Once you see my last name, you'll probably quickly guess one of the reasons why I'm getting Barnevelders. Another reason is because I understand they are rare now (not withstanding that the hatcheries have begun to sell them unfortunately) and I know their egg color needs to be worked on. So, since I enjoy the challenge of improving a breed, I thought the Barnevelders would go well with my Ameraucana and Welsummer projects. Although I won't be able to devote a whole lot of focus on them for probably two years. Lastly, the breeder I am getting my birds from was one of the original five folks that got the Barnevelders and Welsummers accepted into the APA at Vancouver, WA in 1993. He is where I got my first Welsummers from. His original birds came from Germany. I am also hoping to get some Barnevelder and Welsummer chicks or birds from one of the other original five breeders and his birds came from the Netherlands and maybe Wales too. I can't remember for sure. The temps here have been colder this year that I recall in a long time. It got down into single digits in December and we had temps below freezing last night with a dusting of snow. So I will be able to tell you more next year as to how they handle the cold but I can't imagine it's that much warmer three hours south of me where I'm going to pick up the chicks. I'm looking forward to being the happy owner of Barnevelders! God Bless,
