I think this is a good idea too. If we could put a "bulletin board" or blog or something on that site, it might be the better place for these discussions.
As far as the tail, I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm fairly new to chickens. I've shown dogs and horses against a standard, which is why it's normal of me to expect one when I hit on the chickens.
Right now I've been inspecting body types and, most especially, those of other breeds that LOOK to me very similar in body type to the IBs. Trying to figure out this whole square/rectangle thing. The Sussex I have are supposed to be more of a rectangular brick shape. I saw Dorkings, which I think hold a strong resemblance to the IBs (especially the silver greys), and their body type seems very similar. They consider those to be square. I know that Sussex and other "multi-purpose" birds tend to be described as rectangular, and maybe this is something we need to work back into the breed since they seem to be more square. It would be nice to have some old photos to work from.
On a side note, I was looking at the black Dorking as a vehicle for bringing some new blood into the IBs and maybe improve on size while still maintaining the "look" and type. We don't need to discuss this now, but definitely food for thought.
