BIELEFELDER COCKEREL

[Eggscoozme]

I could not see how to start a new topic under the Bielefelder breed discussion board, so here it goes:

Purchased a flock of Bielefelders from GFF. My one and only cockerel is just showing 1 wattle. The other one just doesn't look like it will come in. Is this a genetic issue?

I have a level of disappointment. I paid more for these birds and he's my only Roo-to-be of my Biels

 

[Bine]

Hmm... I never saw that on a rooster. I have a breed where no or very small wattle are desirable and that is indeed a genetic thing and roosters with small wattles are often breed with no wattle-line girls but the outcome is always symetric. So I really curious how your cockerel has developed in the last two weeks.

 

[Eggscoozme]

Hmm... I never saw that on a rooster. I have a breed where no or very small wattle are desirable and that is indeed a genetic thing and roosters with small wattles are often breed with no wattle-line girls but the outcome is always symetric. So I really curious how your cockerel has developed in the last two weeks.

Well my Bielefelder Roo is doing just fine. He's 3 months old now and has been crowing for a month. Yes, he was only 2 months old when he started to crow; however sickly he sounded, he WAS crowing. He's since perfected his crow to sound less like an adolescent boy. Still only 1 wattle. The other side where the wattle should be is just a tiny raised red area that just never grew out to be a wattle. I was going to have him butchered (he's BIG already), but he's grown on me now, soooooo....probably going to keep him.
I was happy that GFF sent me 6 replacement cockerels for the 1-wattle Roo. Two of them died from possible dog attacks, but the other 4 are growing strong.

 

[Eggscoozme]

Here's our 1 wattle roo. Well, he's got a tiny one and reguar size.

 

[Bine]

oh... I think, he works on a position as lap-rooster and maybe the one wattle has nothing to do with his genes. Could be an injury or a hatching issue...
Hope you are pleased with the breed over all. It would be really nice to see more breed exchange between the continents. I think North America is a big market for dual propose breeds, from here it seems it has more people who are taking pride in selfsuficientcy.

 

[Eggscoozme]

I do like the way the Biel Roo looks and he is quite gentle so far. I've even found my Cream Leg Bar Roo who is the same age, hanging out in Big Roo's coop. They seem to get along.

I bought the Biels for their size, temperament, and autosexing capacity.

Am working towards being self-sufficient ........tired of processed foods, dyes, preservatives, low nutritional value, having to drive to grocery store

One of the next projects is finding perennial grain(s) to plant next year for chicken and human food.

Love projects!

 

[Bine]

Here Secale multicaule is popular with organic farmers b/c it is a good food sorce for cattle in the first year and you can harvest rye-like grain in the secound year.
I like buckwheat as summer seed between a spring and a fall vegg.. The chicken love the grains and the rest is great for green manure.

 

[Eggscoozme]

Here Secale multicaule is popular with organic farmers b/c it is a good food sorce for cattle in the first year and you can harvest rye-like grain in the secound year.
I like buckwheat as summer seed between a spring and a fall vegg.. The chicken love the grains and the rest is great for green manure.

I'll remember that. Thank you for the tip!

Will have to do some research as I'm totally ignorant about grains, what grows best in our area, which are perennials......it got me thinking, too, that if I have enough variety of items on are tiny growing farm, we wouldn't need to be buying layer crumble. I use up SO much in the Winter months.


Do I need to mow the grain to harvest or what?
Right now, we don't have to mow.

 

[Eggscoozme]

Well my Bielefelder Roo is doing just fine. He's 3 months old now and has been crowing for a month. Yes, he was only 2 months old when he started to crow; however sickly he sounded, he WAS crowing. He's since perfected his crow to sound less like an adolescent boy. Still only 1 wattle. The other side where the wattle should be is just a tiny raised red area that just never grew out to be a wattle. I was going to have him butchered (he's BIG already), but he's grown on me now, soooooo....probably going to keep him.
I was happy that GFF sent me 6 replacement cockerels for the 1-wattle Roo. Two of them died from possible dog attacks, but the other 4 are growing strong.

My Bielefelder Roo pictured is 13 weeks old there. Roos are new to me. He seems big. What are other people's opinion?

 

[Bine]

Secale multicaule is a rye-typ for a two year growing cycle. Traditional sowed around the 24. June, but you can sow also in spring or fall, it is mown before it sets on the grains in the first year, in the 2. year it is cut like the normal rye.
It not only doesn't need crop protection products or artificial fertilser it doesn't tolerate the chemical stuff.
It grows 2 meters high and has many small but deep roots, so it is great for cultivating a new patch or as prep for vegg.
It is a good sorce for green feed in the first year, but as a rye-typ it isn't good for chicken feed in the 2. year but many organic bakeries work with it b/c it is sweeter than the normal rye, has more protein and deeper colour.
But still... you can let them hunt in the patch b/c it's 100% chemical free.

Buckwheat is not a sweet-grass it is a knotweed and the only other crops that are related, I think, is rhubarb and cotton. So you can grow it before and after almost all other crop without risking cross infection by plant diseases or bugs. I has a very short growing period form 10 - 12 weeks and grows well without fertilser even on acidic and sandy soil. A patch with buckwheat is not only an eye candy it will bring bees into your yard like only a few other plants, so it is a good neighbour for everything that needs a pollinator. And if you plan to keep some bees... they make a fantastic dark honey from the white-pinkish flowers of the buckwheat. It grows so fast that summer weed has no chance and so it "cleans" the patch for other crops. You can mow and thresh it. The little dark grains are rich in protein and your chicken will love it. If you want to use it as food for yourself, you should peal it, most coop mills can do that here but o/c they would do it only for bigger quantaties than I want/can produce on my allotment.

Harvesters are very expensive, so maybe you should learn how to hand mow with a scythe or use a sickle bar mower,.... some lawn mowers can be aquipt with sickle bars.