Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[Hurley]

I'm curious to see how this weird SP chick I had with what appears to be melanizer influence develops. If it's a cockerel (I really should go take some notes in the juvie pen on what I have currently), would not surprise me in the least for it to develop crow wing, given the extension of black present.

I think we've got a cluster of underlying E locus in the birds, especially well hidden by the birchens, given the E locus hierarchy.

http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/mutations1.html

Quite the mess we've inherited. Luckily we love puzzles.


On the tails, I would say I have two thoughts to add. One - we've definitely got different feather growth rate genes mixed in these birds. I've had slow feathering chicks mixed in with more rapid feathering chicks, which could account for differences in tail growth rates. Two - I've had different tails develop, some more reminiscent of the short to medium blunted tail appearance in the roosters, others with full long sickles and tails. Not sure if the chicks would give us a hint into what type of tail they would develop. On feather sexing, when I've tried it on these guys, I've been somewhere around 75% successful, which isn't all that reliable.


Another topic, are you guys seeing the variation in chick size that I've seen? I'll get these random runts, where the majority are normal and robust, and a few here and there almost seem to be bantam sized and never get as big.

 

[OHfarmerswife]

Hello all Ohio here
Just got 4 Iowa Blue chicks.
I know very little about this breed and hoping to learn.

Thanks

 

[Hurley]

Welcome to the thread!

A great breed, so much fun. We'd love to see photos of your chicks!

 

[karimw]

I do see a variety of sizes, but this generation seems to be producing some good sized birds. I do have a couple of pretty tiny hens, but the NYD juvies are as big or bigger than they are. My rooster Rex isn't very heavy but he is tall and has a large frame. I hope that will get us closer to the standard. I really haven't paid much attention to the feathering rates in the pure IaBs but my SPPR/IaBs are noticably slower feathering. The cockerels have no tails to speak of.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Connie- I think your thoughts on the tail growth rate is very insightful. You're probably on to something with the initial tail growth being a precurser to the final tail type. I'll keep an eye on my lastest group and see what observations can be made from them.

As far as the little random runts......I haven't seen any, but then again I don't have a very large flock and all my stock is from Kari at the present. Her 5+ generations of breeding seem to be eliminating the runts......at least from my perspective. I know that my Sandhill birds wheren't as large as I had hoped for and my first hen from them was not much bigger than my 3 month old cockerels from Kari. Do your smaller birds contain SH breeding? Just curious. Kari has had a lot more opportunity to hatch extremely large numbers of chicks and cull like crazy...........

 

[OHfarmerswife]

Welcome to the thread!

A great breed, so much fun.  We'd love to see photos of your chicks!

This is from last week. Will take some new ones.
Thanks for the welcome!

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

They look good and healthy. Where did you obtain the stock from? If from a feed store, do you know which hatchery they originated from?

 

[OHfarmerswife]

They look good and healthy. Where did you obtain the stock from? If from a feed store, do you know which hatchery they originated from?

I got them from a small town seminary. They have been on business for 25 years.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Do you have the name of the Seminary and do you know if they have their own breeding stock that they sell chicks from or do they drop ship their stock?

 

[OHfarmerswife]

Do you have the name of the Seminary and do you know if they have their own breeding stock that they sell chicks from or do they drop ship their stock?

They have their own breeding stock