Iowa Blue Chickens - Understanding The Traditional Type

[Hurley]

http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/hybrid-birds.htm

We've seen this photo before, but wanted to share it again, as well.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/NDG/Pheas/RingN/BRKRingNHybrids.html has more ringneck pheasant/bantam chicken hybrid photos.

Another:

Interesting to speculate, for sure.

 

[karimw]

The pheasant connection is why I think the Smoky variety has merit. These are ringneck pheasant chicks.



This is a chinese or golden pheasant, which were identified as the possible origin cross.







Beautiful aren't they? I can see why someone would be tempted to cross them.


Chicks from my hatch this weekend.

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Pheasants and chickens can be crossed, that is a genetic certainty. It is well documented and that's where modern chickens have been traced back to along with junglefowl. Early breeders, in this part of the country, who were not genetisits, would mostly likely appreciate the hardiness a pheasant could impart into a breed. My personal opinion is that it is more likely than not that pheasants were used!

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

It's been awhile since I've posted on this thread, but thought I'd share some really exciting things in the Iowa Blue world. As many of you know, I lost my flock to a disease that was brought in with a pair of New Hampshires we purchased. However, new seasons bring new changes. I was able to obtain a nice breeding group of birds from a good friend of mine. Eight pullets (ages 5-8 months) and a nice cockerel aged 5 months. But that's not the only exciting news............

One thing that has really confused me with the Iowa Blue and just didn't seem to add up were the historical accounts which stated that the chicks would be hatched out all different colors (solid chestnut-pheasant colored-mottled brown (with various shades of brown mottled from reds to grays to dark browns), and yet all of these different colored chicks were claimed to have matured to birds which looked very much the same in appearance. We weren't seeing this in reality with any of the breeding flocks and we as breeders where struggling to make any sense of these historical accounts. However, 2014 has proved to be the year which our historical accounts have been validated and proven accurate!

First of all, Smokeys without the salmon breasts have been bred in two flocks. A handful of hens in Denny Johnston's flock and one bred out of Sandhill's stock by myself which is now in Kari McKay-Widdel's flock. These hens bear a great resemblance to Silver hens as you shall see in the following pictures.
It was already known that Smokey and Silver males were nearly indistinguishable from each other at adulthood, and Charcoal males had only a couple of slight indicators which betray their genetic make-up. Now with the emergence of Smokey hens lacking the salmon breasts and a larger number of Charcoal hens in existence, we can analyze these three historical variations of the Iowa Blue with greater scrutiny. And the results?

While to the trained eye both the cockbirds and hens of these three variations have noticeable differences, one thing is certain; if the modifiers are locked in as they should be, they do mature into birds which very closely resemble each other. And to the untrained eye these three variations no doubt would be described as “looking the same”. What we end up with is the Silver hen expressing a pattern which could be described as the “middle ground” with the Smokey hen (free of Salmon breast) is a lighter version of the Silver and the Charcoal hen being a darker version of the Silver. Historically these three variations existed in Logston's flock and were still in existence in Bolson's flock once Kent Whealy obtained his start from Bolson. The next few decades after Kent's rescue of the breed brought about a lot of controversy as well as outside blood which caused a lot of damage to the original “breed rhythm” by messing up not only the genes themselves but also the modifiers which created the unique set of variations in the first place. But, to the credit of those breeders who have spent years working to restore the Iowa Blue to its original form, we can now say we have obtained this highly sought goal! No doubt there is still work to be done in order to fine tune the modifiers, however, we have for the first time since 1992 (when Glenn Drowns added in outside blood to prevent the breed from dying out) been able to set up flocks which exhibit, in its entirety, the traditional breed rhythm of the original Iowa Blue breeding population!

While this may seem inconsequential to most in the chicken world, this turn of events cannot be overstated in the Iowa Blue world. Decades of crossbreeding at the hands of hatcheries and the subsequent selling of these crossbreds came 6 birds shy of extincting the Iowa Blue as it was created by John Logston. But, thanks to the dedicated work of the breeders and of the club we have not only managed to save the breed from extinction, but we have been able to restore the original breeding pattern of Logston's vision. Having brought up Logston's vision, this will a great time to discuss the vision of our breed's founder.

Clearly, because Mr. Logston has been gone for quite some time, we can only speculate his vision and breeding goals by looking closely at what he left behind in his breed. The Iowa Blue as created by Logston was at best a landrace. It is obvious that he was breeding for a Silver type of bird as evidenced in all three of the variations exhibiting a Silver type of pattern at adulthood. What Logston wasn't able to account for were the genes in play and how they produced the results they did. In the 1920's when Logston set out to produce his breed, the e-locus gene base was unknown to the average farmer (it's entirely possible it wasn't even known to scientists at that time) and as a result, Logston had birds exhibiting e-locus bases of eb/e+/Er. But he didn't let this hinder his vision, and so, he continued to select birds which looked Silver in pattern regardless of the base gene.

Because of Logston's continued selection we now have a breed which possesses three variations, all of which are unique in the entire chicken world. The Silver hen expresses a beautiful breast with single lacing which transitions to a loosely double laced body which goes on to become stippled and shafted by the time the pattern reaches the tail. The Smokey hen exhibits a similar pattern, only with an overall lighter color and is the only e+ bird without a red breast which is embraced within a breed. The Charcoal hen is built on the Er (known as the Birchen gene), but does not look like a Birchen. This, I believe, is what caused so much havoc on the breed in the past few decades. All Birchen colored birds are built on the Er gene, but not all birds built on Er look Birchen. This fact has led many (including hatcheries) to breed a very Birchen colored bird as an Iowa Blue. However, what existed historically was a bird which was built on Er but looked very similar to our Silver pattern. Like the Smokey and Silver, these Er based Charcoals can be found in no other breed the world over! Pretty amazing isn't it? Here we have a breed which exhibits three variations, all of which are unique to the breed and found in no other breed standard. And what's even more amazing is that while this breed came so close to extinction with only 6 surviving Silver birds, the breed has made a huge turn around in the hands of our breeders and is now exhibiting the three variations it once exhibited!

It will be great to watch as more and more flocks begin to exhibit the original breed rhythm and as breeders seek to allow their flocks to possess the natural ebb and flow of these three variations.


Below are three pictures. The first pic is of a Smokey hen which is free of the Autosomal Red (notice she lacks a salmon colored breast). The second hen is s Silver hen. And the third hen is a Charcoal. Note how similar all three of these variations are in the hens(keep in mind, this breed is VERY DIVERSE in its color expression and there are countless degrees of variation which exist inbetween the three hens posted below) and it is easy to see how a farmer in Northern Iowa who would have ordered 150-200 of these birds as a laying flock in the 1930’s-1950’s could have easily stated that the chicks hatched out in multiple colors but all grew up to look alike. Especially so when you see a large group of birds exhibiting various degrees of variation within each of the three "base" colors. From personal experience, the birds so very much look like one color when seen in a large group of 50 or more adult hens.






The following pics are used to further demonstrate how these three variations have much in common when it comes to hen color and how we’ve finally come to a point where the breed is breeding true to type according to our historical accounts.

(Pullet on the upper left is a Silver-Pullet on the lower right is a Smokey (free of AR= no salmon breast. Note that the Smokey is a lighter "version" of the Silver.)

(Pullet on the left is a Silver – Pullet on the right is a Charcoal. Note that the Charcoal is a darker "version" of the Silver.)

Pretty exciting stuff going on in the Iowa Blue and I’m super pumped to see flocks getting established that are exhibiting a living example of the Iowa Blue according to our breed’s history. This has been a VERY LONG TIME COMING!!! Congratulations to all our breeders who have spent many dedicated years to get our breed to this point.

Upward and Onward!

 

[omas biddies]

HELLO Curt
I have enjoyed reading your up dates in the club. I have learned. I just love the Iowa blues.no black or smokies.or sandhill
You have done great things with the [email protected]

 

[dutchhollow]

So If I am looking to start in Iowa Blues, which color or colors should I look for to start my flock?

 

[Candy442]

So If I am looking to start in Iowa Blues, which color or colors should I look for to start my flock?

Hi Dutchhollow!

The breed standard is being voted on by the membership committee right now. The breed standard is suggested to be the silver (silver penciled) color. They come in four distinct patterns of Silver, Birchen, Smokey, and Charcoal. Here is the web link if you have not been there to see pictures of the various types

www.iowabluechickenclub.com

I was given four by a man who hatched eggs from Kari's stock, so I did not have much of a choice at first but I am happy to see what I am getting from them in hatches! I have a silver cockerel, a silver (maybe white smokey) pullet, and two birchen pullets.

They are fantastic birds!

Candy

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Dutchhollow,

That's going to depend on what your flock goals are. If you want a traditional type flock that exemplifies the original coloration and color rhythm, then ideally, you'd have all three of these variations (keep in mind, these three colors are variations at this time and have not been "technically" separated into varieties as of yet. However, the Birchen has been segregated as a seperate variety) within your flock. If, on the other hand, you want to show your Iowa Blues and breed toward the goal of APA acceptance, I would just stick with the Silver type.

Now, on a personal note and preference, I like the traditional variation of the breed and therefore breed all of these variations together. I like that the chicks are supposed to hatch out all different colors, but end up looking very much the same at adulthood. It's part of the breed's history and I like that we've been able to really capture and perpetuate this trait in the breed. I do belive in time and with the proper amounts of selection, all three of these variations can and will look very similar at adulthood. One can see that they have similarity in look, but our original birds are claimed to have looked even closer in color at adulthood. I would like to see the breeders move in this direction and we'll see in time if they decide to take this route or not. However, there are others in the Iowa Blue world who really like focusing on one variation and fine tuning the breed so that there is no variation in chick or adult coloration. So, in all reality, it'll be up to the breeders as a whole which way they end up taking the Iowa Blue. As I mentioned before, I'd prefer them to take up the original color types and have all of them in existence in our flocks and breeding pens, even if that means we have to forgo APA recognition.

When I talk to some of the SPPA leaders they share similar sentiments as I do when it comes to the Iowa Blue being more of a landrace breed and was originally created as such. The one "rubbing point" the APA has with some people is the fact that the APA doesn't do landraces (take a look at the Icelandic for instance, they will never be to a point where they are uniform enough for APA acceptence. However, the Icelandic has a lot ot offer the homestead, and in some ways much more to offer than many of the APA accepted breeds, even though they aren't viewed as a "breed" by the APA). I guess in the end it's all about perspective...........

 

[YgritteChick]

I recently discovered the Iowa Blue breed and find it very intriguing, not surprising since I love history and am interested in heritage breeds and enjoy things from the Midwest. I was very excited to see that I can learn more about it and keep updated on whats going on with it here on BYC! I am new to chicken keeping and am enjoying having a mixed breed flock. I am curious though, since so many people are working so hard on the Iowa Blue breed, are breeders mostly only interested in sharing good quality birds with other breeders who are also working on breeding them for specific goals? Or are breeders willing to sell chicks to people interested in them, even if they might not help to contribute to the breeders goals?

 

[Candy442]

I recently discovered the Iowa Blue breed and find it very intriguing, not surprising since I love history and am interested in heritage breeds and enjoy things from the Midwest.  I was very excited to see that I can learn more about it and keep updated on whats going on with it here on BYC!  I am new to chicken keeping and am enjoying having a mixed breed flock.  I am curious though, since so many people are working so hard on the Iowa Blue breed, are breeders mostly only interested in sharing good quality birds with other breeders who are also working on breeding them for specific goals?  Or are breeders willing to sell chicks to people interested in them, even if they might not help to contribute to the breeders goals?  

go to www.iowabluechickenclub.com . There is a breeder list to contact for chicks or eggs. We sell and ship chicks