4 week old Beilefelder.

[sekeyslaks]

I’m currently raising five 4 week old Beilefelder’s.My sister and I hatched them from mail-order hatching eggs and when the babies hatched they all looked like males!

…Or so we thought! One of the chicks is looking different than the others despite the fact that it has the same large size and big comb as it’s brothers!Could we be mistaken and it’s actually a pullet?the bottom is one of it’s brothers for comparison.

 

[Sally PB]

@BlueBaby, what do you think?

 

[BastyPutt]

The Bielefelder is a sex link, with the females having no pronounced dot on their head. Sometimes the females will have the chipmunk pattern, and sometimes they may not. Id say in the first picture, the group of three at the bottom, the chick in the middle has a chance of being a pullet.

However, if I were just looking at the first of the two comparison pictures, and didnt know anything else, Id say that is a cockerel.

 

[BlueBaby]

The Bielefelder is a sex link, with the females having no pronounced dot on their head. Sometimes the females will have the chipmunk pattern, and sometimes they may not. Id say in the first picture, the group of three at the bottom, the chick in the middle has a chance of being a pullet.

However, if I were just looking at the first of the two comparison pictures, and didnt know anything else, Id say that is a cockerel.

They are not a sexlink. They are an auto sexing breed that breeds true as long as you breed a Bielefelder to a Bielefelder. Sexlinks do not breed true.

 

[Sally PB]

The Bielefelder is a sex link, with the females having no pronounced dot on their head. Sometimes the females will have the chipmunk pattern, and sometimes they may not.

Oh, I didn't know that. I thought the females *always* had the chipmunk pattern. Thanks for the information.

 

[BlueBaby]

I’m currently raising five 4 week old Beilefelder’s.My sister and I hatched them from mail-order hatching eggs and when the babies hatched they all looked like males!View attachment 3510012…Or so we thought! One of the chicks is looking different than the others despite the fact that it has the same large size and big comb as it’s brothers!Could we be mistaken and it’s actually a pullet?the bottom is one of it’s brothers for comparison.View attachment 3510015View attachment 3510017

When you first got them any females would have had the "V" shape on top of it's head with the darker colored chipmunk stripping down the back. The males would not have the "V" on the head and would have had a white or yellowish looking dot on the head, and any chipmunk stripping on the back would look washed out and faded.

 

[BlueBaby]

Oh, I didn't know that. I thought the females *always* had the chipmunk pattern. Thanks for the information.

He is wrong about that.

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

All the Bielefelders seem to be males.

 

[BlueBaby]

All the Bielefelders seem to be males.

I agree with you.

 

[BastyPutt]

He is wrong about that.

To each their own.