Chicken Breed Focus - Isbar (Blue Isbar)

[rotagen]

If I remember correctly mine starting laying about 1 week before 5 months old. She's a blue/grey one and she's an amazing layer, last month she has been laying more often than my 2 reds, only missing 1 day a week and her eggs are bigger. She was stubbornly broody for at least a month in spring, had to put some fertile appenzeller eggs under her to break it. The best forager by far of all my breeds, just crazy efficient. The roos in my experience are crazy full of testosterone though,

 

[PNWskye]

Hello - I am new to Isbars and just hatched some 3 months ago. right now I have 4 pulleys and debating which 2 to keep. Can someone tell me the typical age they start laying?

Welcome! I hatched some mid-July too! I will only be breeding the two blue since the black had some red leakage and was a known “maybe mixed” egg.

 

[PNWskye]

@fatcatx, I just saw a post for 5 months as a starting laying age too. Not sure if it’ll be true for our babies since that would be December. Please update the group when they start laying though! There’s a group on FB that has some great experts that will help you decide if you are trying to trim down your pullets.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1422994111329877/?ref=share

I recommend you wait till they lay so you can choose base on egg color as well.

 

[fatcatx]

@PNWskye thank you for the info! I'm thinking hoping for a December egg may out of reach. I kept my friendliest blues and one black, but the black has quite a bit of leakage. I'm not breeding but hoping for some varied egg color - fingers crossed. I'll pick the two with the best color and rehome the other two. I was hoping for a splash but it was not meant to be.

 

[orrpeople]

These have been my favorite breed for the 4 years I've been working with them. Lovely, petite, prolific, light on feed, predator savvy, strong immunities, kind roosters, ... I feel like I could go on and on.

I have heard folks distinguishing recently between the blue and the birchen blue. Generally, I call them all blues, but there are definitely 2 distinct color varieties of the "blue" color... Here's an example with 2 of my boys - this guy is darker, more classically just what I'd call a "blue"

This next guy is a lot lighter with much more light colored hackles, saddle feathers and wing points.

 

[orrpeople]

One of my goals is to work towards some nice feather lacing and distinct hackle feathering for the pullets. (Would like a less floppy comb than this one.)

 

[PNWskye]

Here’s an egg pic from some of my new layers. The left one is 1.4oz and was a first!

 

[eggspecto_patronum]

Hoping to have 3 new isbars in 21 days!
I'm so nervous

 

[Ali_Howard]

I would like to clear this up. Originally in Sweden, Isbar referred to any green egg laying chicken, and still does to many there. (Kind of like our struggle here with Ameraucana, Americana and Easter Egger.) The breed we know as Blue Isbar (Isbar Blue in Sweden) was specifically bred by Martin Silverudd as a production breed. He never accomplished the auto-sexing part of this breed before he died, if he intended it to be. There was a white Isbar, bred by Martin Silverudd, that was a precursor to the Blue Isbar, but is believed to be extinct. Blue, black, splash and white are the only recognized colors of this breed. It is also thought that the White Leghorn was used in the development of the Blue Isbar. I have seen some speculation that the Minorca may have been used, and perhaps that is how the blue color was introduced. Many of Martin Silverudd's notes on the development of the Blue Isbar have been lost which is why there is so much speculation.



I was originally drawn to the Blue Isbar because of its beauty and Swedish heritage. (DH's family is Swedish) My Isbars are by far the most productive breed that I own. (I have Swedish Flower Hens, Svarthönas, White Bresse, Black Copper Marans, Black Ameraucanas, a Rhodebar, an Easter Egger, and a few mixed breeds) They are on the small end of the scale for large fowl birds, but are reliable layers of large to extra large eggs. The have easily withstood winters with temps down to -20o F and summers with temps of 100o F+ with hardly a pause in their laying. Even during molt, they recovered and resumed laying very quickly compared to my other breeds. They are a thrifty breed and excellent foragers.

The Blue Isbar is a very intelligent breed (for a chicken anyway.

) They have a calm temperatment, but mine are not overly fond of being handled. I find that integrating new birds in an established flock is easier with the Isbars than with my other breeds. The cocks are not aggressive and take excellent care of the hens.

The Blue Isbar was originally brought to the states by Greenfire Farms in 2011. This first import was plagued by problems caused by inbreeding. Many breeders gave up on them because of fertility, hatchability, and vitality issues. The few breeders that stuck with them were able to solve many of the vitality issues with careful breeding. I know of only a handful of breeders, myself included, who still maintain a flock of 1st import birds.

In 2013, Greenfire imported a second group of Blue Isbars. Though this 2nd import line brought much needed diversity to address the issues that plagued the 1st import line, they also brought much more variability in the birds with some undesirable characteristics.

Thanks for sharing this. We're adding Isbars to our flock this year and are very excited about it!

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Here are some of the different egg colors mine lay. Pleasantly surprised when our blue Isbar pullet laid pastel orangy/tan color.