HomeTable Birds → Bielefelder
This is the uber chicken: autosexing, beautiful, friendly, and it lays gorgeous jumbo eggs! If you buy just one breed, this is it.
Item1+Quantity
Crele Bielefelder Day-Old Chick Female29.00
Crele Bielefelder Day-Old Chick Male19.00
Crele Bielefelder Eggs8.00Sold Out
Silver Bielefelder Day-Old Chick Female29.00
Silver Bielefelder Day-Old Chick Male19.00
Silver Bielefelder Eggs8.00Sold Out
What would happen if you took the extraordinary sophistication of German engineering and applied it to the challenge of creating the uber-chicken? You might create something like the Bielefelder.

Breed History

This breed was developed in Bielefeld, Germany in the early 1970s by a poultry breeder named Gerd Roth, and the breed is highly valued in its native country. Herr Roth used a number of breeds in developing the Bielefelder including the cuckoo Malines (also imported by Greenfire Farms), Amrock, Wyandotte, and the New Hampshire.

The introduction of modern chicken breeds is often accompanied with much hype, but in the case of the Bielefelders the superlatives happen to be true. If you could choose only one breed of chicken to keep the Bielefelder would be the breed to select. Their large meaty carcasses, huge eggs, autosexing function, gentle temperaments, and beautiful feathers make them a top choice in almost every category.

Embedded in the Bielefelder DNA is the autosexing function; day-old chicks can be easily sexed based on their feather color patterns, and this trait is passed on with each generation. To learn more about autosexing chicken breeds read the section on this subject on this website. Even in its native land Bielefelders command a very high price today, and they are virtually unknown outside Germany.

Breed Standard

You can read more about the Bielefelder by visiting this site, you'll just need to translate the page from German - Bielefelder Kennhuhn.

Appearance and Behavior

We now have 3 types of Bielefelder on our farm: the crele and silver varieties, as well as a bantam crele version. The crele color pattern in the adults is known as cuckoo red partridge and in German is referred to as Kennsperber. The silver color pattern is similar in pattern as the crele however, this variety lacks red and orange pigment. So these birds are a lot lighter in color. In German, the silver variety is referred to as the Silber-Kennsperber.

The Bielefelders consistently lay some of the largest brown eggs of any chicken breed that we have kept at Greenfire Farms. You should expect to see around 200 to 230 eggs per year (that's about 4 eggs per week). The eggs are a beautiful shade of brown, which often contains pink undertones and is distinct in appearance from other chicken breeds. This breed is large and makes for a great table breed with roosters normally weighing between 8 to 10 pounds and hens normally weighing between 6 to 7 pounds. Hens are also unusual in that despite their large size they are extremely gentle, and you can remove the eggs from under the hens without being pecked; a practical everyday benefit given the mass and power of these birds.

Since these birds do tend to be very calm and docile, they do sometimes tend to be not as energetic. They don't tend to be very flighty. They also don't tend to roost very high and due to their larger size, we recommend that you keep their perches lower so that when they jump off they are not at risk of injuring themselves when they land. Our observation has been that during the winter months, the roosters tend to get lazy and egg viability normally decreases. In spring and summer, we have noticed a much higher viability. This breed is quite large but they don't necessarily need a huge enclosure. They do enjoy space to roam and they will happily forage for grass, bugs, seeds, and any other tasty treat they can find. However, the larger the enclosure you have your birds in, the more likely you will notice that your roosters will pick favorite hens and will not actually mate with all of the hens in the flock. In short, if you plan to breed them you need to find that sweet spot in terms of the hen-to-rooster ratio as well as space per bird. We recommend a rooster-to-hen ratio of 1 rooster per 8 hens.

Notes

In 2011, Greenfire Farms was the first to import Bielefelders into the United States. In 2013, and again in 2017, we imported unrelated bloodlines of Bielefelders. In 2021, we were able to import the silver and the bantam crele variety as well!

Hatching Eggs

We incubate at 99.5F and 55% humidity. They tend to hatch well, normally at least 80% of the eggs in our hatcher will hatch on day 21. Sometimes a few eggs will need an extra day. They tend to hatch at about 50:50 male to female chicks. Just like with the bantam version, we have observed that a few chicks will hatch with a feather or two on their leg. Unfortunately, that is a cullable trait as this breed should be clean-legged. So you should inspect each chick thoroughly on their hatch day.

Breed defects or issues

This breed needs more Vitamin E in their diet than other breeds. So a vitamin supplement or foods naturally high in vitamin E are recommended for optimum health. A few foods that are naturally high in vitamin E are dark, leafy greens (like spinach, swiss chard, mustard greens, turnip greens, and beet greens), sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, butternut squash, and avocado. Just please make sure that if you offer avocado to your birds, you only offer the flesh and not the skin or the pit of the avocado.

If you see a Bielefelder hen laying an undersized egg and she continues to lay an undersized egg even after passing 1 year old, you should consider culling her. You only want to breed hens that lay jumbo-sized eggs.
Egg Color brown
Egg Size Jumbo
Average number of eggs per year 200 - 230
Gamefowl no
Table Breeds Yes
Country of Origin Germany
Cold tolerant yes
Year of import(s) 2011, 2013, 2017, 2021