Iowa Blue Chickens - Understanding The Traditional Type

[Hurley]

Of particular interest to me in the "what were they then" vein is the nice lacing on the breast and the lack of white on the wing tips of the charcoal cockerel. On all of my silver cockerels, I've yet to get anything approaching lacing on the breast, getting either more splotches of white or closer to mottling. I don't know if this can be selected towards a more even lacing or not, but genetically I don't think we'll get an "easy" lacing to the breast with the silvers.

In regards to the charcoals vs. birchens, I have seen stippling (to a lesser degress, obviously) on birchens and the birchen chicks that go on to be the best laced often have some degree of the brown/chestnut tips to their feathers, those being the adult birds also more likely to show the stippling to the feathers in at least juvenile plumage.

Great photos and definitely a look to strive for. As we enter this second year and hopefully see more of not only the silvers but the charcoals, will be interesting to see where we're at at this time next year.

When we get back into revamping "the" standard for the Iowa Blue, this is going to come up on what to favor, particularly in the wing color stipulation and the appearance of the breast pattern.

Much like this year has been the year of the Silver, in trying to produce numbers to visualize and choose from, next year could very well be the year of the charcoal to increase those numbers to assess, evaluate, and go from there.

I think it's very probable that the original breed consisted of a mix of these. I can see why. Personally I think the silver hens are prettier, while I will probably favor the charcoal cockerels for their nicer lacing.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Great discussion Connie! I couldn't agree with you more. Like you, I believe without a doubt that both the Silver and Charcoal colorations were present in the original population. Based on what the historical accounts share, it seems past breeders tended to favor the Charcoal coloration. However, that was then and this is now. If present breeders prefer the look of the Silvers (and I can be thrown in that camp as I think (at this point) the Silver hens are prettier. That said I still plan on producing a sizable amount of Charcoals to get them into the hands of as many people as possible.) then breeders aught to move in the direction of the Silvers. They are amazingly beautiful as well as part of the original population.

We are definately at an advantage over past breeders in that we recognize the difference in these two colorations as well as the genetic understanding of these differences. As such we can maintain them as seperate variations where the past breeders were unable to do so.

From what I hear talking to breeders, there is a lot of enthusiasm for the variations and so it would seem logical that the breeders would carry both these varieties on..........(as well as the Smokey and possibly the Birchen).

Connie has done a great job of updating our picture section on the website. So feel free to check out the "Photo" section and compare the differences between each of our 4 variations, as well as the Historical pics.

 

[mrandmrschicken]

This would be a great discussion to have with a different set of judges at the EIPA show, with Curt there, to see how the judges would "describe' both traits and allow them on a standard. Pat Lacey with Art Reiber, was helpful in Mason city and perhaps a judge or two would be the same in Iowa city? Arts' daughter, Diana Dahir, is one of the Judges and Art will probably be exhibiting. not sure but maybe Pat will be there as well? trying to say there will be a wealth of Judges there and we should take advantage of that.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Great advice Eric. I personally don't know any of the judges........so........would you be willing to work on organizing the judges to allow us to pick their brains? (wink,wink)

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Great advice Eric. I personally don't know any of the judges........so........would you be willing to work on organizing the judges to allow us to pick their brains? (wink,wink)

I will try. but be prepared, those of you who listened to the judges at NIPA show, for a completely different outlook from different judges. That's what makes the whole thing a challenge and sometimes a compromise. But all in all, a great learning experience. Curt you should write down a list of questions you would like to ask the judge/s.

 

[mrandmrschicken]

We had a 4-h poultry workshop this am and got some interesting info. Zeb Skow was the speaker at this workshop, I asked if he could help us in Iowa City and he mentioned Art Reiber would be a good resource too, as Art was the one who was with Pat Lacey in Mason City.
In addition, some folks from a nearby town, who I have become friends with and have attended a few poultry shows they have been at, bought some MGB's from me this am. Found out Hannah, had an Iowa Blue! She got them from Sandhill a couple years ago and is looking for more! She had several but something got to one of them and she said " I think the male fought it off"! She was disappointed that the judge told her a year ago at their County 4-H fair, "What is this? There is no such thing as an Iowa Blue" and DQed it! She has one hen left and is going to send a pic of it but boy was I happy to hear her story and get correct info to her and she definitely wants more after the first of the year! I directed her to the IBCC website and urged her to join. told her I would help out any way I could. I also explained that the IB is not in the APA, SOP but that is what we are working on as a club.

 

[WVDan44]

That's a great story! We all need to be on the lookout for these kinds of situations; you never know heck a "missing link" may show up in someone's grandma's back yard or something. You are a good Ambassador for the breed - may I say well done!

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Here is the pic she emailed me of her Blue from Sandhill. She said she looks a little rough right now.

 

[karimw]

I saw some like that at Denny's. He is working on getting the heads to lighten up.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here is the pic she emailed me of her Blue from Sandhill. She said she looks a little rough right now.

I saw those as well Kari. Glenn also has one hen that has this dark head. Unfortunatley, this is an off color that needs to be culled out. However, if she was bred to a Silver male, some of the offspring should come out with the correct coloration. From what I understand, the Fayoumi is built on the ER base, however their ER has a slight mutation and is expressed as ER-Fay (for Birchen/Fayoumi) and as such has a different process of distributing the black melanizers. As a result, when the Fayoumi is crossed, one will find the black pigmentation isolating itself in various locations. The most common is to have the black isolate on the head, but other common locations (which I haven't seen in the Iowa Blue yet) are the thighs, and shoulder patches. Anyway, long story short, this trait comes from the Fayoumi that was introduced by Glenn. While they look so very similar to a Silver Campine, their genetic base is quite different and was not a good choice to bring into the genetic pie. This Fayoumi introduction is also where they Birchen colored Iowa Blues sprang from. Ideal obtained some chicks from Glenn and some where Birchen colored so he solidifyed that coloration. Darn those Fayoumis, they seemed to mess things up for a few decades!