Iowa Blue Chickens - Understanding The Traditional Type

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here's some pics of my last hatch. I'm pleased with how they came out. I didn't have any Smokey (homozygous or heterozygous) or Charcoal eggs in this hatch so you won't see any of them in here. I've got some of them ready to go in the incubator in the next couple of weeks. I might be partical, but there isn't a chick more amazing than Iowa chicks. (You can see alot of the chicks with the wide, dark brown backs like Kari was talking about in an earlier post).







This chick appeared in this hatch....interesting. It's clearly a Silver, but the modifiers have really done something different on this one. I've tagged it, and will be curious to see how it matures.

 

[Candy442]

Looks like a lot of reddish tones in there how many did you hatch?

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

There is a lot of reddish tones in this group along with quite a few that have a flat dark brown tone to them. You never quite know what you're going to get when they hatch out. All of the chicks are Silvers and yet some have back stripes some don't. Some have reddish tones, some don't. Some are lighter, some are darker....I enjoy the variation.

In total there was 35 chicks. I had 69 eggs in the incubator so the hatch wasn't as good as I had hoped. Interestingly, I had 20 eggs out of 24 eggs hatch from one hen, 10 of 11 chicks out of another hen, only 1 of 13 hatch from a young pullet, 2 of 14 on another pullet, and 2 of 7 on the last pullet. All the eggs were fertile, so I don't know why the low hatch on a few of the hens, and at the same time a bumper hatch out of the other hens........all were in the same incubator. Mysteries always abound.

 

[karimw]

This chick appeared in this hatch....interesting. It's clearly a Silver, but the modifiers have really done something different on this one. I've tagged it, and will be curious to see how it matures.

Keep an eye on those! I hatched some like that too and I'm very excited about them. Mine have more mottling and they are growing up to be very light color. I'm hoping it's the key to getting the white heads on the females.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here is a Charcoal pullet posted by Kari on another Iowa site.

This Charcoal pullet is outstanding in color compared to what we've been seeing as of late in the breed. Look at how crisp white her head is as well as her upper breast. She also appears to have the desired type of lace on the upper breast as well as it transitions into a stippled pattern by the time it reaches her lower abdominal and fluff regions. She looks like a Silver Iowa, only darker in ground coloration. Notice now much closer this hen appears to match our current Standard than the previous pics I've posted of the couple of Charcoals that are currently in my breeding pen. She also has great eye color and leg color. This is the way I remember my Charcoal hens looking like when I raised a small flock in the early 2000's before I left to help my uncle in Virginia. It appears the modifiers are really locking into place on this hen, and I'm excited to see what Kari is able to obtain out of this pullet.

This is a perfect example of what where we should be breeding our Charcoal hens. She could have a slightly lighter ground coloration to really set her apart from the Birchen coloration as well as to get her yet closer to out Standard as written. That said, this is a great looking hen. Thank you Kari for posting this hen. Do share with us her breeding so we can work on recreating it!

 

[de kippendame]

I'm not entirely sure this is the proper place for me to post this, but my questions/comments are specifically about the Iowa Blue and I was hoping to gain some insight from the pros, I apologize in advance if I am guilty of hijacking this thread.

A couple weeks ago my neighbor came over and asked what he called an "odd" question. He had received a call from the Iowa Historical Society saying that they had too many Iowa Blue roosters and asked if he would be interested in taking any. He had never heard of them so he came over and asked me(as I am a self admitted "crazy chicken lady") if I had ever heard of them and if I would also be interested in taking any. Of course I had to contain my excitement as I have had my eye on Iowa Blues for a while now, preferring hens, but immediately my wheels were turning with the possibilities. I am not a breeder, but I have certainly not ruled out the prospect. He called yesterday morning for us to come take our pick! He's acclimating very well, our hens are letting him know he's not "top dog", but he's not trying to be either. He's a little guy, but is crowing.

I did a little research and I may be way off base, but in searching the Iowa Historical Society for "Iowa Blue", I came across an article http://www.iowahistory.org/about/news/2014/pr-iowabluechicken-05082014.pdf that puts our "Little Boy Blue" at about 4 months. I will be getting paperwork for him so I could be completely off, but it is certainly plausible. If this is the case, he may be from Kari McKay-Widdel? Looking at pictures here of some of her roosters, it could be, but again I'm speculating right now.

Ok, my questions, I really don't know much about breed standards though I am reading a great deal on here! I would like to know what "kind" he is(charcoal, birchen, etc.) and if he shows any undesirable traits. My son will be in 4H this year and may want to show him. I honestly find him dashing!

Thank you in advance for your input!

 

[iamfivewire]

good luck on your iowa blue project - we weren't intending on breeding iowas (or any breed) 18 months ago when we got our first chicks. then late last year a friend was looking to re-home his iowas , & after researching the breed, we decided that it would be a worthy project & breed to do ehat we could to help save them from near extinction. we've had a few hatches & have a ways to go on improvements to optimal breed standard & had lost a few of our most promising prospects due to dome unfortunate circumstances, but we have some uounger ones we're hoping for some nice results from.

 

[karimw]

I'm not entirely sure this is the proper place for me to post this, but my questions/comments are specifically about the Iowa Blue and I was hoping to gain some insight from the pros, I apologize in advance if I am guilty of hijacking this thread.

A couple weeks ago my neighbor came over and asked what he called an "odd" question. He had received a call from the Iowa Historical Society saying that they had too many Iowa Blue roosters and asked if he would be interested in taking any. He had never heard of them so he came over and asked me(as I am a self admitted "crazy chicken lady") if I had ever heard of them and if I would also be interested in taking any. Of course I had to contain my excitement as I have had my eye on Iowa Blues for a while now, preferring hens, but immediately my wheels were turning with the possibilities. I am not a breeder, but I have certainly not ruled out the prospect. He called yesterday morning for us to come take our pick! He's acclimating very well, our hens are letting him know he's not "top dog", but he's not trying to be either. He's a little guy, but is crowing.

I did a little research and I may be way off base, but in searching the Iowa Historical Society for "Iowa Blue", I came across an article http://www.iowahistory.org/about/news/2014/pr-iowabluechicken-05082014.pdf that puts our "Little Boy Blue" at about 4 months. I will be getting paperwork for him so I could be completely off, but it is certainly plausible. If this is the case, he may be from Kari McKay-Widdel? Looking at pictures here of some of her roosters, it could be, but again I'm speculating right now.

Ok, my questions, I really don't know much about breed standards though I am reading a great deal on here! I would like to know what "kind" he is(charcoal, birchen, etc.) and if he shows any undesirable traits. My son will be in 4H this year and may want to show him. I honestly find him dashing!

Thank you in advance for your input!

I see he is in a awkward stage, so his looks should only improve! I sent the chicks to Montauk and can tell you they hatched May 6th. Likely he is a Silver since I only sent them 2 smokies. If you decide to breed them, you would want to avoid the white stain on his red face, and try to breed for darker eyes. The standard also changed this year to prefer slate legs over the willow legs he has. Too bad, because he has nice green legs

It will take me a generation or two to make the switch. When I introduced the Sandhill birds to improve size, tail and blue legs last fall, I also got the white earlobes and autosomal red back in my line. I have yet to see a cockerel that has everything he needs to match the standard, so be aware this is a long term project! If you have any other questions about your cockerel, send me a PM

 

[redrooster99]

So are do Iowas realy have pheasant in there bloodlines or is that a hoax

 

[redrooster99]

So do Iowas realy have pheasant in there lineage.