On farms, in private farms, the breed of barneweller chickens is still rare. It belongs to the universal types that give excellent meat and are capable of carrying a lot of eggs. Moreover, in terms of egg laying, these hens are not inferior to the known egg breeds.
It’s easy to keep barnveloders. They are unpretentious, calm and do not create problems for farmers. Another distinguishing feature is its beautiful appearance.
Origin
Barnevedels are Dutch chickens that were bred in the nineteenth century. Initially, breeders wanted to get a bird that could not only carry many eggs, but also such that it had a beautiful dark chocolate color. In those days, it was animals with this color that were in greatest demand.
As a result of painstaking work, a new breed was obtained, which has a beautiful dark chocolate color with a double edging, and the eggs have a reddish hue.
The Barnovelder chicken breed was obtained by crossing breeds such as the island genus, Langshan, Brama and Kokhinhin. They also added the blood of Indian fighting chickens. The breed was finally formed only in the twentieth century and was recognized by the National Association. At the same time, the breed standard appeared.
Breed description
Hens have a beautiful decorative color, as well as excellent consumer characteristics, due to which they began to be in demand. The body of the bird is wide, strong, rounded. The plumage on the neck is plentiful, of medium length. The back is slightly raised in the saddle, medium length. The chest has a slight bend. The breed of chicken barnovelder differs wings tightly pressed to the body. In roosters, the tail of operas can be either high or low. At the base a little open, wide, lace. Belly - low set, emphasizes body volume. It is well developed, soft to the touch.
The chicken’s head is characterized by a smooth and fledgling “face”, a rounded beard. The crest is small, simple. The teeth are evenly distributed. The earlobe is red. By the way, it is the color of the ear that indicates which eggs the hens carry - in birds with a red ear, eggs are red, and with white - white.
The beak of the bird is short, wide, dark yellow. The eyes are red-orange. Paws are yellow, with a smoky bloom.
Deviations from the standards
The barnveeder chicken breed may have defects in the standard. Over the many years of the bird’s existence, all of them have been identified and recorded.
Defects include the following:
- very high or low body fit;
- too narrow chest;
- on the earlobes a white tint;
- feathers with plumage;
- insufficiently feathered tail;
- the stomach of chickens is poorly developed.
In the presence of these deviations, the chicken is rejected and is not used for breeding.
Breed colors
There are several types of colors of chickens:
- The most popular color is brown-red with a double border.
- The black.
- Dark brown.
- Light colors: white, with light creamy or silver colors.
Until now, new colors continue to appear. Instead of a brown-red hue, blue is often found. Not so long ago, chickens appeared in England with silver-black color. Despite the emergence of new ones, the most common is a brown tint.
Content Features
According to the description, the breed of chickens barnoveldar differs from other types of friendliness. Moreover, they are not only friendly with people, but also with their own kind. This character trait allows you to settle them with other breeds of chickens and bird species.
Another good quality that owners note is stress resistance, as well as unpretentiousness. The breed is not shy, not a cocky. No special conditions are necessary for their maintenance.
Birds feed on everything the owner gives. They do not look for favorite grades of seeds in the mixture, as other breeds do. Bernevedealers peck everything without a trace. They will gladly eat corn, grass, and other types of feed.
The period of egg production in young animals begins with six months of age. A distinctive feature is high egg production even in winter.
Despite all the positive aspects, according to the description, the barnveler is a breed of chickens that often suffers from paw atrophy. This is due to too calm lifestyle, lack of movement.
Quality data
According to the description, Dutch hens barnovelder have high egg production. For a year they are able to carry up to 200 pieces per year, weighing up to 80 grams.
The mass of roosters is about three kilograms, and hens weigh 2.5 kilograms.
Description, reviews, photos of the breed of chickens of the barnovelder show that this bird does not apply to precocious. Layers quickly gain weight, but their maturation takes place at an average pace. She lays the first eggs only at the age of six to seven months. Chickens continue to grow for up to a year and simultaneously lay eggs. Their shade can be from dark brown to terracotta. Different hens in different periods of time lay eggs of various colors.
At the beginning of its laying, the laying hen carries small specimens weighing about 50-60 grams. Gradually, their weight and size increases.
Incubation
One of the many advantages of a bird is its instinctive instinct. Because of this, she became the darling of many farmers, especially those who do not have an incubator.
On the first day after hatching, the chickens weigh about forty grams. The gun can have a variety of colors: from cream to black. As the babies grow, the feather begins to appear. From this moment, the chicks begin to look more like their parents. The plumage speed is average. Chicks appear with stable immunity, so they practically do not get sick most of infectious diseases. With proper care, babies develop quickly and well. To do this, it is necessary to provide the chicks:
- Proper nutrition. It is best to use compound feeds that contain a large amount of protein. Also needed vegetables, herbs.
- Purity. Chicks must live clean. It is best to keep them not in a drawer, but in a special room or in a cage.
- Heat. From the first minutes of life, the chicks need to provide a sufficient temperature - 30 degrees. Gradually, it is reduced by three degrees a week and brought to room temperature.
- Vaccinations and other means to enhance immunity. Inoculations are given to babies, they add fish oil to food, fodder yeast, vitamins. All this helps to increase immunity and significantly reduce the risk of disease.
Feeding adult birds
A description of the breed of Dutch chicken hens barnovelder shows that these birds consume little feed, but grow large. For the preparation of the diet, the same feed is used as for other meat-egg breeds. For good egg laying, laying hens need proper nutrition. It includes:
- Dry grain throughout the year. It can be a mixture of wheat, barley, corn and other cereals.
- Green feed. Chickens with pleasure eat grass, tops and other vegetation. In winter, grass is given to chickens in dry form or in the form of flour, granules.
- Vegetables. Throughout the year of keeping chickens, vegetables should be included in their diet. This is ideal for enriching the body of laying hens with vitamins, fiber, carbohydrates and other useful elements. In winter, the number of vegetables increases.
- Mineral supplements. In order for the chickens to rush year-round without harm to the body, it is necessary to add a shell or chalk to the diet, as well as include fodder yeast, fish oil, vitamins. It is especially important to monitor bird nutrition in winter and early spring, when there is no green food.
Little secrets
According to the reviews left, the breed of chicken barnoveldar flies well. Despite the rather large weight, chickens can easily fly over high fences. This should be taken into account when fencing the walking yard with a net. Do not keep chickens in cages. This breed needs room. The peculiarity of barnveloders is in their massive paws and calm nature, low activity. If there is still limited space for walking, then the bird will constantly get sick, fall to its feet. Due to the low level of movement, hens develop atrophy of the limbs.
In the cold season, the laying layer should be in a warm room with good litter. A distinctive feature of the barnovelder breed is that it does not have resistance to frost, but tolerates cold well, provided that its paws are on a warm litter. For this reason, in winter, chickens are kept in a closed, warm room without a walk.
Molting
The plumage of hens is changed twice a year - during the cold weather and as soon as it gets warmer. In rare cases, molting occurs in early autumn, sometimes closer to winter. In the latter case, there is a risk of overcooling the bird.
Shedding lasts about two months. Chickens do not lay eggs at this time.
Breed diseases
According to the description of the breed of chickens, silver barnweelder, they are kept no longer than two years. This is due to the fact that with age, productivity decreases. During this time, you can completely replace the herd with young animals.
So that during the growth process the birds are not sick, they need to be vaccinated in time, give vitamins.
The most common breed problems are parasitic diseases, joint problems, vitamin deficiencies, and cannibalism. All this is easily solved by correcting the diet.
To eliminate cannibalism, the menu includes fishmeal. From vitamin deficiency, the bird is periodically drunk with vitamins. They can be given any complex vitamins sold at the veterinary pharmacy, or the human Undevit.
In order not to cause problems with the joints, the chickens provide sufficient area for walking.
Photos of the breed
Having decided to get birds, it is not enough to know the description of the breed of hens barnoveldra, the photo also needs to be seen. This will help determine the color and see the standards. Such information is valuable, especially when buying hens.
A photo of the breed of chicken barnoveldar is as follows (chickens).
Breeding Benefits
There are practically no shortcomings in the Barnovelder breed, but there are many advantages. Layers have good performance, attractive appearance. They are unpretentious, tenacious. In laying hens, maternal instinct is well developed, good egg laying. Large, tasteful eggs.
When breeding chickens do not need an incubator. Layers themselves will sit to incubate the chicks. The percentage of brood of the breed is 95%. When grown chickens by adults, they grow quickly, develop correctly. During the season, the chicken is able to sit two or more times twenty chicks. If you plant five chickens for hatching, you can get one hundred chickens at a time without any additional effort on the part of the farmer. However, in order for the laying hen to breed, she needs to provide a separate room (usually all laying hens are separated from the main herd into a separate room). Subsequently, all laying hens with chickens remain in a separate room until the babies are one month old. After that they can be transferred to the common courtyard.
Similar breeds
There are many breeds, which, like the barnwealer, have high egg production, quite a lot of meat and beautiful plumage. These are hens of the following breeds:
- Araucana.
- Amrox.
- Krevker.
- Curly hens.
They have the same data on egg production and bird weight. Therefore, it is possible to replace the barnelder with the above breeds. They also have beautiful plumage. In terms of their characteristics, health and difficulty of leaving, they are not inferior to the Dutch.
If you need a breed that will also be meat-egg, you can pay attention to the following:
- Adler silver.
- Oryol.
- Sussex.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that the breed of barnovelder is unique. Layers have good health, unpretentious, give a lot of eggs and a sufficient amount of meat. The bird itself produces offspring. From the farmer it is only necessary to think once about the place where the laying hen will breed chicks, and then subsequently in this place there will always be hens with young animals.