Iowa Blue Chickens - Understanding The Traditional Type

[mrandmrschicken]

Actually I'd like to plan a trip over to the statue after the birds are released on Sunday so those of us with birds can pose with them It's pretty easy to find, right off Interstate 80, just west of where the show is held.

That sounds easy enough, and a good idea.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Ok! Good Morning. It's been a busy time of year for the Iowa Blues and the IBCC as well. So, forgive me for my long abscence. I've got some pictures to post that I think you'll all enjoy. They are of my Charcoal pair.

First up is the chestnut colored chick that I obtained from Sandhill Preservation center on May 22nd. Here's a pic of the fella at one week and again at 5 months. He's coming along very nicely- with a weight of nearly 6 lbs at 5 months old. He's still working on obtaining his adult feathers, but he's almost there. Take a particular look at his wings. You'll notice on his secondaries that there is a stippling pattern expressed. Our birchen cockbirds have what we call crow wing which produces solid black secondaries. Our Silvers have a duckwing pattern which produces a white triangle on the closed wing over the secondaries. But on our Charcoals we see this stippling pattern. A point of interest is that our historical accounts state the the "proper" color was a solid chestnut chick and that these would grow up to the right coloration at adulthood. We have a very limited number of pictures of Iowa Blues before the outside blood was introduced, however two of the three cockbirds have this same stippling pattern on their secondaries. (The Ransome cockerel and the Roe cockbird).

 

[Candy442]

Is that cockerel coming to the show?

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Next is a picture of a bird I obtained from Dennis Johnston. She too was hatched out solid chestnut, however I do not have a pic of her as a chick. Here she is at 3 months old. Yo will notice that her front of neck, breast, abdomen, and shoulder are all lighter colored than her wings, back, and tail.This isbecause she's in the process of growing in her next set of feathers.Based on the pic from Ransome's stock, this pullet is the closest I have to a bird that resembles the Ransome hens. I've very excited to see how she finishes out.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Now, this is the same pullet from above. The first pic is from when she was 1.5 months old. The second pic is her at 3 months old. Notice how dark her head was in the first pic and now her head is this amazing metallic silver color.You can see how much she has lightened up and I expect her to continue to lighten up as she ages. Both pictures were taken outside on a sunny day at roughly the same time of day.....

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

And here is a Smokey pullet that


is now out at my in laws. She's 5 months old now. She donesn't stand like this, but I woke her up from sleeping. However, she's really pretty so I thought i'd share the pic. I obtained her originally from Sandhill.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Is that cockerel coming to the show?

No he is not.....There is only 6 Charcoals that I could locate. I am very fortunate to have a pair of them. Personally, I'm of the opinion that charcoals were the desired coloration of the original population. No doubt other colors existed in the original population (Silvers) however, I believe these were the birds that were desired. I don't want to risk brining home a disease until I've bred these birds as well as getting stock out of this cockerel on other hens. I plan on using him almost exclusivly over my 20+ hens/pullets with the plan of having my whole flock consist of the Charcoal pattern. But, we'll see if I get there. hahaha

 

[Candy442]

No he is not.....There is only 6 Charcoals that I could locate. I am very fortunate to have a pair of them. Personally, I'm of the opinion that charcoals were the desired coloration of the original population. No doubt other colors existed in the original population (Silvers) however, I believe these were the birds that were desired. I don't want to risk brining home a disease until I've bred these birds as well as getting stock out of this cockerel on other hens. I plan on using him almost exclusivly over my 20+ hens/pullets with the plan of having my whole flock consist of the Charcoal pattern. But, we'll see if I get there. hahaha

oh....we don't want disease at all! We will probably keep ours at home too!

Sweetie the hen is sort of charcoal colored, but she shows a bit more black on the back of her neck instead of silver unfortunately. Otherwise, she is a very nice brick shaped hen! I have no idea what these birds looked like as babies, but from the way Gandalf is chasing around the girls I am sure we will have some fuzzies to check out in the spring time...as long as he just has lazy tail!

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Candy, don't take that the wrong way!!!!! The chance of disease is VERY small. What I was getting at is that with only 6 Charcoals that I could locate in the entire United States, I wouldn't want to take even the slightest risk with them until numbers were larger. Please, Please, Please don't take my comment as anything other than what I just shared!!! Shows are a fantastic way to get one's birds out there and to help promote the breed. So do bring yours along if you get the chance!

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

If I can make my plans work for the weekend I'll be bringing a few of my Silvers to the show, just not going to bring the Charcoals. I currently have plans on Friday and Sunday that may prevent me from being able to show that weekend. I do have my Saturday open though and am planning on being there for the club meeting as well as helping out with the club booth if we have one.