Iowa Blue Chickens - Understanding The Traditional Type

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here's a fun picture of my Charcoal pair with a Smokey in the middle. The pullet on the left is a Charcoal that I obtained from Denny Johnston. She's currently around 4 months old and has some great size and substance to her for her age. She also exhibits some mulberry coloration on her face. The judges suggested that on the Silvers we breed away from that mulberry coloration on the face, comb, and wattles in our young pullets, but in the Charcoals I think this is a trait that will stay with the variety due to the genes that are in play. Next is a Smokey pullet from Sandhill that's 6 months old. She's got some great body depth to her and I'm pretty excited about that. And lastly, a Charcoal cockerel from Sandhill that is 6 months old. He's a real neat boy, not overly aggressive to the ladies, but definately fierce in protecing them. I've got these three together to work on producing some Charcoals this upcoming year and I've got a group of 8 Silver pullets and 3 Silver cockerels that I'll be using for producing my Silvers. Each of my Silver cockerels are developing nice black breasts with a single white spangle at the end of each feather.

The pic was taken while it was pitch black in the barn, so the flash sure surprized the birds! haha They were sleeping so comfortably too......

On another thread Connie was talking about how the old breeders seemed to be selecting the Charcoal cockerels and Silver pullets which is probably why there were never able to narrow down the chick down coloration and why there was some variation within the adult coloration. To this I absolutely agree. As we set up our Standard this last year, it appears that we created a standard for the cockerel that was closer to a Charcoal than a Silver, and a standard for the Silver hen. So, in light of this, our Standard Committee is being reformed in order to rework these slight details to make sure that what we are selecting in our standard is actually genetically possible. We are going to start the APA process with our Silver Iowa Blues, and this will require the males to have a breast coloration that is black with white spangles at the end of each feather.
I'm also noticing that many of my Silver pullets are developing a light colored shafting along their backs and into their tails. This may also be something we'll have to look into when reworking the standard to maybe make allowance for so that great examples of the breed aren't getting knocked out due to some slight shafting. It looks beautiful and helps to give an overall lighter look to the bird.

 

[Hurley]

I agree regarding the shafting. In my opinion, the coolest thing about the hens is that funky, shattered pattern. The shafting adds to this chaotic pattern and I actually favor the appearance of the birds showing shafting, for overall aesthetic, personally. We'll have to decide what we think of this as for the standard, considering shafting for most breeds is considered undesirable, we would have to specifically stipulate it if we want it to be in the breed.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

If my memory recalls right, I came across a Standard for one of the breeds where they listed the coloration of the feather pattern on a certain part fo the bird, and then added at the end of the sentence, shafting pemrissible. Can't remember which breed I thought I saw that in..............Silver Dorking maybe?

 

[Candy442]

I agree regarding the shafting. In my opinion, the coolest thing about the hens is that funky, shattered pattern. The shafting adds to this chaotic pattern and I actually favor the appearance of the birds showing shafting, for overall aesthetic, personally. We'll have to decide what we think of this as for the standard, considering shafting for most breeds is considered undesirable, we would have to specifically stipulate it if we want it to be in the breed.

If my memory recalls right, I came across a Standard for one of the breeds where they listed the coloration of the feather pattern on a certain part fo the bird, and then added at the end of the sentence, shafting pemrissible. Can't remember which breed I thought I saw that in..............Silver Dorking maybe?

what does it mean "shafting" for the IaB? I don't understand what that would look like?

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Not the best pic Candy, but you'll get the idea. You see the area that is called the quill? It's the long central part of the feather. This quill is sometimes called the shaft. When someone talkes about "shafting" in a bird, what happens is the "shaft" or "quill" is a lighter color than the rest of the feather. I suppose the opposite could also be the case where the shaft or quill is darker than the rest of the feather. In the Iowa Blue, we have some females that have a nice broken/stippled feathering on their backs, sides, and tail, but on some of the feathers the shaft is a lighter color than the rest of the feather.

Hope that helpf out some. In many breeds shafting is a serious fault as you could imagine. If a partridge wyandotte had white shafting on her back, she'd be DQ. But in our birds it's a beautiful complement to the coloration. In my opinion at least......(and Connies as well...)

 

[Candy442]

Not the best pic Candy, but you'll get the idea. You see the area that is called the quill? It's the long central part of the feather. This quill is sometimes called the shaft. When someone talkes about "shafting" in a bird, what happens is the "shaft" or "quill" is a lighter color than the rest of the feather. I suppose the opposite could also be the case where the shaft or quill is darker than the rest of the feather. In the Iowa Blue, we have some females that have a nice broken/stippled feathering on their backs, sides, and tail, but on some of the feathers the shaft is a lighter color than the rest of the feather.

Hope that helpf out some. In many breeds shafting is a serious fault as you could imagine. If a partridge wyandotte had white shafting on her back, she'd be DQ. But in our birds it's a beautiful complement to the coloration. In my opinion at least......(and Connies as well...)

I agree! I think Sweetie has this "shafting" too. I was imagining a ridge of light color down their back to the tail or something like that before you explained it...LOL! I like the way the very VERY thin lighter quill adds to the dark charcoal color on the back section of feathers on her. It adds to the "blueness" in Sweetie and I imagine in your IaBs too? I like it and can't imagine how it can be taken out,especially since Sweetie who is the only SP pullet we have, shows so very light shafting.

 

[karimw]

Shafting is something you also see in Welsummers, so I think it's appropriate for Iowa Blues. Wellies have a stippled pattern too.

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Here's a fun picture of my Charcoal pair with a Smokey in the middle. The pullet on the left is a Charcoal that I obtained from Denny Johnston. She's currently around 4 months old and has some great size and substance to her for her age. She also exhibits some mulberry coloration on her face. The judges suggested that on the Silvers we breed away from that mulberry coloration on the face, comb, and wattles in our young pullets, but in the Charcoals I think this is a trait that will stay with the variety due to the genes that are in play. Next is a Smokey pullet from Sandhill that's 6 months old. She's got some great body depth to her and I'm pretty excited about that. And lastly, a Charcoal cockerel from Sandhill that is 6 months old. He's a real neat boy, not overly aggressive to the ladies, but definately fierce in protecing them. I've got these three together to work on producing some Charcoals this upcoming year and I've got a group of 8 Silver pullets and 3 Silver cockerels that I'll be using for producing my Silvers. Each of my Silver cockerels are developing nice black breasts with a single white spangle at the end of each feather.

The pic was taken while it was pitch black in the barn, so the flash sure surprized the birds! haha They were sleeping so comfortably too......

On another thread Connie was talking about how the old breeders seemed to be selecting the Charcoal cockerels and Silver pullets which is probably why there were never able to narrow down the chick down coloration and why there was some variation within the adult coloration. To this I absolutely agree. As we set up our Standard this last year, it appears that we created a standard for the cockerel that was closer to a Charcoal than a Silver, and a standard for the Silver hen. So, in light of this, our Standard Committee is being reformed in order to rework these slight details to make sure that what we are selecting in our standard is actually genetically possible. We are going to start the APA process with our Silver Iowa Blues, and this will require the males to have a breast coloration that is black with white spangles at the end of each feather.
I'm also noticing that many of my Silver pullets are developing a light colored shafting along their backs and into their tails. This may also be something we'll have to look into when reworking the standard to maybe make allowance for so that great examples of the breed aren't getting knocked out due to some slight shafting. It looks beautiful and helps to give an overall lighter look to the bird.

That's some nice looking wood Curt! Is that in your man cave or the family room? Hahahaha.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope all is well. These past couple weeks I was on vacation (well more like a "stay-cation"). Much of my time was spent in the barn checking out my Blues, holding them close and analyzing their feather patterns and coloration. While the birds looked rather similar in pattern from a distance, I was amazed at how much variation existed in the patterns from one bird to the next. As I studied them, I realized that I had 4 main variations in patterning and color. So, I took a pullet from each of the varations and harvested some feathers to do a little compare and contrasting. I think you all will find this exercise as interesting as I did.....

In each of the pictures moving left to right is Pullet 1, Pullet 2, Pullet 3, and Pullet 4. In the first picture I've only got hackle feathers of Pullets 1,2 and 3. Pullets 4's hackle feather was identicle to Pullet 3 so I didn't find a need to take hers. Throughout the next couple of posts, this same pattern will repeat itself.


Silver Pullet Hackles

Silver Pullet Front of Neck

Silver Pullet Upper Breast

Silver Pullet Lower Breast

Silver Pullet Upper Back Between the Shoulders

Silver Pullet Lower Back Just Before the Tail

When they were all compared side by side, I found it quite interesting how varied the patterning is. In some instances the patterning is super close between a couple of pullets, but then in the next picture the two pullets who looked so similar now look so different...... As we work on getting the Iowa Blue to a point where we can petition the APA for admitance into the SOP, it may not be a bad idea to talk to a few judges to get their feedback on what allowance we have when it comes to color variation.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here are the breast shots of each of the pullets. Again in the same order of Pullet 1, Pullet 2, Pullet 3, and Pullet 4.