Barred Holland breed of chickens

[msladyhawke]

I pretty much collect the same way. Store on kitchen counter in a cool spot. Turn twice a day.

 

[hollandchicks]

Good morning everyone,

I have the Barred Holland Community and Page set up on Facebook and the link to my site is

www.parishfarmgirl.com. The info is under the chicken craze button.

I email the info to the Albc and I am sending out the info to every site I can think of that might have an interest in the bettering the Barred Holland Breed.

If you have the time please join and participate --- photographs, stats, conversation , concerns, problems etc. . The more traffic ....the more people who will find it and the more interest it will generate for the breed.

Thanks
Suzanne Holland

 

[Beanhead]

Howdy! We are proud new parents of 16 Holland hatching eggs from Msladyhawke! They are in the incubator now, and we cant wait for day 21!

My wife and I decided to start a small farm a few months ago, starting with a small egg laying flock, and then maybe moving on to some meat birds to try later this spring/summer. Well, 10 weeks later, we have a nice mix of 58 Delawares, Copper Marans, and ameraucanas, with 12 welsummers ordered, and the 16 hollands in the inc. Our current birds are all from our local friend, Will Morrow, of Whitmore Farm in Emmitsburg Maryland. We are free ranging with poultry fences, and look to raise naturally raised, pastured animals. Whitmore farm has great success selling a mixed color dozen of eggs with his dark browns, light browns and blues. My wife likes the idea as well and said " We should get white eggs too!" So, I liked the idea of saving rare breeds, like Will did with the his Delawares. So I checked out the conservancy list for rare white layers, and alas, the Barred Holland!

We hope to help out a lot of help with the improvement of the breed. I think a unique thing we have to offer is the amount of land we have access too, allowing us to house a larger number of birds. After reading all 33 pages of this thread it seems like there aren't many people who have the room for a large flock of these chicks. So we hope to do our best to offer the same helps as everyone else on here.

This is our first time hatching any eggs, but it seems to be going well so far. After this batch, I believe we are getting another dozen for msladyhawke. Does anyone else have eggs available now or soon? I'm just thinking ahead, and looking for some diversity. Well, i guess ill stop rambling. It's great to be a part of this project!

 

[hollandchicks]

Welcome to the group and congrats on your soon to be new family members.
I will have eggs when my Spring hatch starts laying. I want confirmation that I have a solid third
Generation of white layers before I market them.

 

[msladyhawke]

Howdy! We are proud new parents of 16 Holland hatching eggs from Msladyhawke! They are in the incubator now, and we cant wait for day 21!

My wife and I decided to start a small farm a few months ago, starting with a small egg laying flock, and then maybe moving on to some meat birds to try later this spring/summer. Well, 10 weeks later, we have a nice mix of 58 Delawares, Copper Marans, and ameraucanas, with 12 welsummers ordered, and the 16 hollands in the inc. Our current birds are all from our local friend, Will Morrow, of Whitmore Farm in Emmitsburg Maryland. We are free ranging with poultry fences, and look to raise naturally raised, pastured animals. Whitmore farm has great success selling a mixed color dozen of eggs with his dark browns, light browns and blues. My wife likes the idea as well and said " We should get white eggs too!" So, I liked the idea of saving rare breeds, like Will did with the his Delawares. So I checked out the conservancy list for rare white layers, and alas, the Barred Holland!

We hope to help out a lot of help with the improvement of the breed. I think a unique thing we have to offer is the amount of land we have access too, allowing us to house a larger number of birds. After reading all 33 pages of this thread it seems like there aren't many people who have the room for a large flock of these chicks. So we hope to do our best to offer the same helps as everyone else on here.

This is our first time hatching any eggs, but it seems to be going well so far. After this batch, I believe we are getting another dozen for msladyhawke. Does anyone else have eggs available now or soon? I'm just thinking ahead, and looking for some diversity. Well, i guess ill stop rambling. It's great to be a part of this project!

Very nice to meet you and please keep us updated on the hatch! This is a nice group of people on this thread, glad you joined us!

 

[mhollow]

It has been a while since I last posted. Here is an update on what I've been doing. I have hatched about 45 BH chicks so far this spring and have another batch of 20+ eggs in the incubator that are due to hatch next weekend. I've experimented with my hatching procedures/incubator settings and my hatch rates have increased considerably. My goal is to get feet on the ground and I am feeling pretty good about that right now. Also, I 'm planning on setting a small autumn hatch for sometime in October. I believe that I will have some culls from my early spring hatch available for purchase in the fall. PM at the end of August if you think you might be interested. I should have a better idea of what birds I will be parting with at that time. These are Gracie Mae line Barred Hollands that I purchased from Kevin DeLong in Feb 1013. They are still a work in progress. I also have a second line of Barred Hollands that Cross Creek and I are working on. These are unrelated to the Gracie Mae birds that I already mentioned. They are also a work in progress. I plan to hatch some eggs from them in October also. I hope to meet some of you in Slippery Rock, PA in August. Best wishes to all of you and good luck with your BH projects.

 

[Warwolf]

Hello, I have been researching Barred Hollands now off and on for a few weeks. Trying to decide if they should be my new chickens or not. I have snooped around on this thread a bit and it seems most of you guys start with stock from Ideal Hatchery. I have found 2 other places to get them (Sand Hill and The Poultry Hatchery) as well but I am having trouble deciding where to start.

 

[mhollow]

If you are looking to raise Barred Hollands as a breed improvement project with the goal of getting them as close as possible to the APA standard then my advise would be to seek out private breeders. If your goal is to raise them for the purpose of getting eggs and or meat then either private breeders or commercial breeders will do. Some of the BH enthusiasts on this thread can speak about the pros and cons of purchasing from commercial hatcheries. I would recommend a private breeder if you can find one that has what you are looking for (eggs, chicks, or juveniles). That way you can take advantage of the work that the breeder has already done. You may have to be patient as only a few private breeders exist and many don't sell stock other than occasionally. I hope you find what you are looking for. This breed needs as many enthusiasts as possible.

 

[hollandchicks]

Hi
So glad you are interested in the Barred Holland Breed. I agree with mhollow on deciding if you want the breed for meat and eggs or to improve the breed to standard . I am working with two lines. A Gracie Mae and a Gracie Mae/ideal mix. If possible try to go with a private breeder who trying to breed to standard. You will get a better bird. Bigger and more robust. Commercial breeders are breeding for volume .....that is where they make their money , not selective breeding. That is not exactly a bad thing, just business. I have not seen the Barred Hollands from The Poultry Hatchery... But I did try to purchase some from them and they never could produce the birds. Sand Hill is said to have nice chicks but not consistently laying white eggs. But I have not seen either so this is only word of mouth.

My advice is the same as mhollow. Be patient and wait for a private breeder who has made substantial progress with the breed and is ready to sell quality birds.

Feel free to PM me in the Fall as I will know then how my Spring hatch is doing and I will likely set another Fall hatch also.

 

[Warwolf]

Well, I have always had dual purpose birds just for the sheer notion, I just think it makes more sense. Also the birds I have right now are getting old they're just not laying as good anymore. I currently have one separated to see if she is laying so far it's her second day, and I have yet to get and egg from her...so she may have to go. I going to give her one more day and then start checking on another one. My mom is hatching me some more but they will just be mutt chickens. Plus, I do really just like the idea of helping out with a breed that's declining. I've never got to do anything like that before. Everyone at work probably thinks I'm chicken crazy because all I do is talk about chicken genetics and things I read the night before while researching them. My mom and sister also probably think I'm crazy, but oh well. lol