Chicken Breed Focus - Bielefelder

[sumi]

The Bielefelder is a relatively new breed, development beginning in the 1970’s by Gerd Roth in the area of Bielefeld, Germany, hence the breed's name. They were successful in creating a large fast maturing dual purpose breed with a kind calm temperament and excellent cold tolerance. The hens are friendly, gentle birds, excellent layers for a duel purpose breed, laying about 200 large dark brown eggs a year, and they are good winter layers. They will go broody occasionally. The roosters are said to have exceptionally nice temperaments. The breed has the added benefit of being auto-sexing by colour at hatch.

A number of breeds were used in the creation of the Bielefelder including Malines, New Hampshire Reds and Welsummers. They are a colorful attractive bird, in a cuckoo red partridge pattern reminiscent of the Legbars.

They are not APA recognized.

Details:

Breed purpose: Dual Purpose
Comb Type: Single
Broodiness: Occasional
Climate Tolerance: Good, cold tolerant
Weight: roosters 10lbs, hens 8lbs
Egg Productivity: Good
Egg Size: Large
Egg Color: Brown

Pic by @stoneunhenged


Pic by @plumcreek

Pic by @plumcreek

Pic by @Dcchicks


BYC Breed reviews:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/bielefelder

General breed discussion:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/727364/a-bielefelder-thread/0_20


Do you own Bielefelders? Are you a Bielefelder breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!

We have a bunch of other awesome breed-focus threads for you to enjoy. You can see all of them here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-project.975504/

 

[KayTee]

I have a Bielefelder roo and hen that were hatched this summer, and I absolutely love them! They are BIG birds - the biggest in my flock (a mixed bunch of production reds, Marans, Limousin, Sussex...) but by far the most gentle.

I have had three roos previously, (two production reds and one Sussex) and all have ended up in the pot, for being too agressive with my hens. But Ben the Bielefelder is completely different! He is the first roo I have had that has really cared for his girls, and he goes out of his way to look after them. He calls them over when he finds food - even special treats like sweetcorn - he doesn't eat it, but keeps picking it up and dropping it for the girls. He also comes running to see what's wrong whenever he hears one of the girls shouting, he checks on them on the nest to make certain that they are ok, and he runs up to separate any scuffles that break out between anyone! I couldn't believe it when I saw it for the first time - he literally pushed inbetween the two birds that were facing off and calmed the whole thing down!

He is also a wonderful influence on the two other roos in my flock (Black Copper Marans a few weeks younger than Ben). He tolerates them really well, and although he occasionally chases them off one of his favourite girls he never really does them any harm - just the odd peck to make certain they know who is boss!

Although he is still nervous of me (I was given Ben at 6 weeks old and he had never been handled before he joined my flock) he is getting better, and tolerates being stroked and handled at night. He has just started to eat out of my hand during the day - it's only taken 7 months! His mate, Chipmunk (not an original name I know, but she's the only female Bielfelder chick I've ever had!) was hatched by one of my broody hens, and I have handled her since day one, so she is much better. I can easily approach her and pick her up whenever I want to, although she has a habit of pecking at me if she thinks I want to touch her! It's not agressive, but just her way of saying 'I don't think I really want you to do that'. Once I pick her up she's fine - doesn't struggle at all, just waits patiently for me to do whatever I want to do and put her down again.

Ben, looking magnificent as usual

Chipmunk deciding (as usual) to photobomb my picture of Ben

Chippers looking at me suspiciously ("is she going to try and pick me up?")

 

[jeffsmith13]

Mr Fred hanging out with the wild turkeys. He's a big baby

 

[TLCMidMichigan]

I recently received chicks from Murry McMurray this spring. Plus I put 14 eggs to the hatch.
I liked the fact that their more rare and a heavier bird. I ended up with 16 roos, that 14 went to butcher at 15 weeks. I should have waited another month or more. They weren't too heavy at 15 weeks. Now with 14 hens and 2 roos that's enough to deal with.
The males are docile for the most part. The hens are curious at times. They stay close to the coop. Sometimes they will venture out maybe 70-80 feet in the weeds. Then back they come. I have a 4' fence of plastic wire around them. Plus a solar fence charger on 2 wires top and near the bottom.
I did lose some, my fault. I didn't have the lamp down far enough. They would snuggle on top of each other. lost 8 I believe. Lesson learned again. They should start to lay in late September of early October.
This is my setup.

 

[AgnesGray]

My boy RooBoo yesterday patrolling the yard. Love my bieles.

 

[dheltzel]

I have 2 pairs that have just started to lay (hatched 4/11), their first chicks should be hatching in about 2 weeks. I can't find any pics of them ATM, but here are their eggs, with other breeds for comparison:


The 3 on the left are Cream Legbars (the 2 marked with "R" are the new Reese line, 2 different pullets).
The light brown egg is a Rhodebar (not a pullet obviously).
The 3 medium brown eggs (BF) are from the Bielefelder pullets.
The very dark egg on the right is from a purebred Welsummer pullet.

Comments:
1. Didn't seem to grow as fast as I had heard, but ended up being quite large
2. POL in 8 months, but pullet eggs seem quite large. This is probably related to the time of year when they matured.
3. Beautiful pullets that look exactly like my Welbars, belying the extensive Welsummer in their ancestry
4. Temperment like Rhodebars and New Hampshires, a little calmer than Welsummers
5. I am surprised at how dark the eggs are, the eggs my parent birds hatched from were not as dark and were misshapen, which led to hatching difficulties, maybe a different environment or feed?
6. I like them and am planning to expand my flock this year

 

[jeffsmith13]

Freda's olive eggs

 

[jeffsmith13]

I've had them for a few years now. I hatch my own as well as other breeds . I wanted big docile birds that lay year round and dont fly over fences . I love the auto sexing trait and cross them with Crested Cream Legbars for auto sexing olive eggers . They tend to be very quiet and very docile , even the roosters . I will always have the Bielefelders around as pets if for no other reason . They follow me everywhere and listen well.

 

[jeffsmith13]

His daughter Freda , Bielefelder/Cream legbar olive egger

 

[jeffsmith13]

Bielefelder egg