Iowa Blue Chickens - Understanding The Traditional Type

[IowaBlueCurt]

And last but not least are the back shots. Again in the same order Pullets 1,2,3 and 4.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Ok, now, here's some pictures of my Charcoal cockerel. He's 7 months old now. I haven't weighed in in awhile so I don't have an updated weight for him. I built a photo box on my vacation and I just "had" to try it out. So, you all get some pics out of the deal.

One thing I like about him in particular is his saddle. The old accounts shared that the cockbird's "mane" (his hackles) was full and would flow in what looked like a solid continuation across his back and down to his saddle. His saddle was long and graceful looking. This fellas "mane" could look fuller and whiter as could his back be, but he has a nice saddle. Notice how far they hang over his secondaries.......




His main tail feathers seem a bit "pinched" to me. I would have liked to have seen them fuller. And I would have liked to have seen less black in his hackle and saddle. It's a real tricky balance of melanizers going on in what was described as the "perfect bird" by historic accounts. To have a white hackle, back, and saddle requires less melanizers, however, to have the blue sheen on the black parts of the feathers required added melanizers. So what that means to us as breeders, is that we have to limit the melanization on parts of the bird while exaggerating the melanization on other parts of the bird.....not an easy feat. This fella's tail has more green in the sheen than I'd like to see, however his breast has a nice blueness to it (though not visible in the pictures).

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here's some pictures of my oldest Johnston line Silver cockerel and pullet. The cockerel is coming along nicely. You can see the blue sheen on his breast which is a sight for sore eyes! Although not really visible in the pictures below. Also, he's got a decent blueness to his tail. It does appear he carries some gold leakage. The pullet didn't stand well for me and after a lot of pictures I just gave up. So keep in mind, she looks much better in person than in photo! I share them because she has a nearly solid white head, white front of neck, and her hackles are majority white as well. It really creates a stunning bird.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here I have two sets of feathers. The two feathers on the left are from one pullet and the two feathers on the right are from another pullet. These feathers were taken from the area between the saddle and abdomen fluff. You'll notice the feathers on the right have a heavy reddish brown coloration whereas the feathers on the left do not. My suspision is that the reddish brown coloration is an indicator that the pullet/hen is carrying autosomal red. It can be very difficult to tell when pullets or hens are carrying AR, however, I've noticed a few pullets/hens that have this brown coloration on them. Usually this coloration is accross their back, into their saddle area, and in their wings. Could it be the red trying to leak through the grey color giving an overall brown color? Time and breeding tests will either confirm or deny.

Phil Roe gave us an account in his historical accounts that some of the hens had a brown coloration to them. Also, Jere Gettle's birds that he recieved from Kent Whealy show a little autosomal red on his cockerel. So, clearly the AR was present in the original line. Although from what I can gather from the accounts, it was not very prevelant like we see today in the various lines.

My advice? If at all possible, avoid breeding from hens that have this brown coloration and stick with the hens that have a nice "clean" coloration. However, be wise. If you have a hen with amazing type and size but has this brown in her feathers, don't be afraid to use her, just make sure the cockbird she's bred to is clear of AR. But expect some of the offspring to come out with AR.

 

[karimw]

Great pictures Curt! Those feathers are great, and I will attempt to do the same. My older show girls are finally finished feathering out after their molt, so I hope to get some good pictures of them. I agree that the AR probably exists in the reddish colored pullets. I have tried to eliminate them from my flock even though it has left me with some pretty dark birds. I know my birds from Denny's line has the red in it though, so I'll suffer a bit of a setback in that department when I introduce them to my line. A lot of my F2 rock crosses have the red too. Once you get rid of it though, the effect is amazing. This is an F1 IaB Rock pullet I believe is pure for silver and no AR. She doesn't look much like her Iowa Blue sire, but over all her color looks very clean and remarkably blue!

 

[karimw]

Here are some more pictures to share. This is a Johnston line cockerel I got from Curt. He is in with the two pullets I got from Denny and some of my newest generation pullets.


Here he is with a Denny Johnston (DJ) line pullet (middle) and one of my Dark Horse Acres line (DHA) on the left. My little girls are August - October hatch, I believe the DJ hen was hatched in June. Hope to see some eggs before too long.


DHA pullet on the left, DJ on the right.


The other DJ pullet on the left, DHA on the right.

 

[karimw]

In my current breeding pen we have the DJ cockerel I took to the show.

Bentley





Except for the wings, I think this rooster is pretty nice.

I have since removed the rock cross and selected the best 8 from all my 2013 Jan - May hatch girls. I was able to remove all the light eye, yellow leg and white earlobe flaws as well as the smallest. I can't wait to candle this weekend and check fertility!

 

[karimw]

This is a cockerel from my line I think has some pretty good potential too. He was hatched out of my January chicks in August and is probably the best cockerel I have ever raised. Pure for Silver and so far no AR showing. He has been the biggest chick in the bunch since hatch. I think he has a terrific top line and nice full breast.




He isn't fully molted yet so his color is still patchy and some barring is still present. Observe the nice clean pattern on the barred feather though. I think that will translate to some pretty nice female offspring.


I'll use him as an example of how quickly you can make changes in your line.

Grand sire Rex: Birchen father of quite a few birds out there right now, hatched spring 2012.


Sire: Lightning, hatched March 2013


Quite a difference in 2 generations, don't you think?

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

It's amazing how quickly one can make improvements if they are willing to put in the hard work. And Kari, you've definately done that! For those who may have less experience with what we call "clean" barring, I've zoomed up on Kari's picture. And Kari is absolutely right, this boy is "clean"!


When the Iowa Blues are juveniles, the autosomal barring is expressed on many of their feathers. Look at the barred feathers in his secondaries. Notice how they are black and nearly white barred. Sort of a very light grey/cream color in between the black barring. This is highly desireable as we are finding that the birds which have "clean" barring in their youth develop into the nice slate grey base color as adults.

Now, compare the above picture to the picture that I posted earlier.....


Look at how red/brown the color is between the black barrings in these feathers. These would be what would be called "dirty" feathers. As adults these birds generally have a much darker base color and the red/brown detracts the overall color goal in the ideal specimens.

Kari, that cockerel is mighty fine. I look forward to seeing his pullets!

 

[mrandmrschicken]

The question has come up about the pheasant X chicken. Thought I'd share this pic I found on the net. There was also a pic of hybrid chicks, they looked familiar!