Does this look like a bielefelder pullet?

[bauerdog]

Six weeks old and looks like a pullet. Had chocolate down as a chick...

 

[BantamLover21]

Are you asking breed, or gender, or both? It looks like a pullet to me, but I'm not sure on breed (I'm not familiar with Bielefelders).

 

[Wyandottes7]

Are you asking breed, or gender, or both? It looks like a pullet to me, but I'm not sure on breed (I'm not familiar with Bielefelders).

Agreed.

 

[bauerdog]

Pretty sure it is a pullet. These chicks were given to me. The breeds were not disclosed and it is driving me nuts. He claimed that "he found these chicks in a vacant house". In december, in new jersey... I think his child ordered them online from a hatchery and hoped he would change his mind when he saw them..

 

[donrae]

That's a pretty rare, expensive breed to be giving away undisclosed. I'd be far more inclined to say mixed breed. Also not hugely familiar with that breed due to the rarity, but there is a thread about them in the breed faq section. You could try posting there where folks know what the chicks look like.

 

[bauerdog]

True. If he knew the costs incurred. The reason I suspect purebred birds is that the two females are identical. There are 3 identical black/white barred birds that are definitely male. There is also an EE bantam pullet.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I agree definitely a pullet.

I also agree highly unlikely it is a Bielefelder as no hatchery that I know of is selling them...you have to go to something like Greenfire or a specialty breeder...and they are VERY expensive...like $30 a chick!

It might be something like a Pioneer, aka Dixie Rainbow...several hatcheries have those.

It might even be a Rhodebar, which are still uncommon, but much more common than Bielefelders.

...or simply a barred over red mix that all the females came out looking like that.

Lady of McCamley

Bielefelders
http://omegahillsfarm.com/product-category/bielefelder/
http://greenfirefarms.com/chicken/bielefelder/

Pioneer/Dixie Rainbows
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/pioneer.html

Rhodebars
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/582327/the-rhodebar-thread

 

[bauerdog]

Thank you Lady of M. The bielefelder thread just ignored my post Would the males of any of your suggestions be just black/white barred? As chicks the males were a beautiful charcoal grey. Almost like the Columbian wyandottes, but with a straight comb. I also got a very dark penciled or laced bantam easter egger.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Thank you Lady of M. The bielefelder thread just ignored my post

Would the males of any of your suggestions be just black/white barred? As chicks the males were a beautiful charcoal grey. Almost like the Columbian wyandottes, but with a straight comb. I also got a very dark penciled or laced bantam easter egger.

I can only tell you what Rhodebars look like from personal experience, and the males of that breed are not charcoal grey as chicks and are not black/white barred as adults....as chicks they are brown/smudgy with a white head dot (if properly colored) or a goldenrod yellow (wheaten if improperly colored for the US) and grow up into beautiful white/red brown barred roosters with black barring at the tail, feather tips, and throughout the chest. The girls grow up to be basically red birds with faint barring throughout. Some pullets can be lighter red with barring, which is a flaw. I have 1 rooster (had...ate him as he was wheaten based) and 3 lovely pullets, one of which is a lighter red barred.

As to Bielefelders, I have to go to the breed links above to know that while also autosexing, both chicks come out chipmunk, but the male is described as lighter than the female with a head dot at Omega Hill farms...Greenfire doesn't state what they look like for the male. You can see photos of those at Greenfire http://greenfirefarms.com/chicken/bielefelder/ and Omega Hill Farms http://omegahillsfarm.com/product-category/bielefelder/

Pioneers/Dixie Rainbows are not autosexing so there would be no difference in the chicks, and both genders grow up to be barred birds with predominately red barring but also black barring. No two are supposed to look exactly alike. https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/pioneer.html

What you describe, without seeing photos of the chicks, sounds like Barred Rocks potentially, and you just happend to get males, while the reddish bird may be a different breed altogether....or they could all be barnyard mixes.

Take a look at the Plymoth Rock page here, and you may find that you happened to get Barred Rock males and a Partridge Rock female.
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Rocks/BRKRocks.html

Without really knowing the background of where they were acquired, and the parentage, it can be pretty hard to tell what they are, if not almost impossible, if they don't match a particular breed exactly.

Could you have Bielefelders? Possibly...but unlikely unless this was a rich kid with access to some pretty exclusive hatchery stock (as most of these exclusive breeds are on back order with limited availability).

However, Plymouth Rocks are very common and come in a variety of colors...and your chick could very well be a Partridge Rock in development as they start as a chocolate brown chick...at 6 weeks they are going through a juvenile molt and don't even have their adult feathers in yet...so the chick can change in appearance probably losing the cream chest.

LofMc

 

[bauerdog]

First day pics. Arrived in a jack o lantern with shredded packing material on a thursday