Silverudd's Blue

[KYTinpusher]

So, what is Silverudd's Blue and why do they look like Isbars?

This weekend in Sweden, the name of the Isbar Blue, as they are known in Sweden was officially changed to Silverudd's Blue. I hate to leave you hanging on the whole story, but I am very short on time right now. I will return shortly (hopefully) with the rest of the story.....

 

[KYTinpusher]

A brief history of Martin Silverudd and a few of his breeds

Martin Silverudd was a Swedish monk with a passion for breeding chickens. His desire was to create highly productive chickens that laid beautiful colored eggs. In 1956, Silverudd imported some Cream Legbar chickens from England. They were highly susceptible to disease, so he crossed them with the Swedish Leghorn (with 25% New Hampshire blood) and created the Silverudd's Safir (Sapphire). These laid a blue and/or green egg.

In the 1960's, Martin Silverudd used the Plymouth Rock, New Hampshire, Cream legbar (probably indirectly through the Silverudd's Sapphire) and finally RIR, Alexander line, to create the original Isbar (probably an acronym for Island Silver Barred), also referred to as the Silver Barred Rhode Island Red. The Isbar was a grönäggsvärpare, or green egg layer. This breed became all but extinct in Sweden, but is now being recreated by breeders in Sweden working off of Silverudd's notes. This is a picture of a pair from that project (photo courtesy of Andreas Harrysson and used by permission):


In the 1970's, Martin Silverudd created another green egg laying breed with plumage in the colors of blue, black and splash. It is reported to be 75% Rhode Island Red and 25% New Hampshire, with Cream Legbar added for the blue egg gene. Some texts I have read also suggest that the Swedish Leghorn may have been used. His working name for this breed was Svensk Grönäggsvärpare, or Swedish Greenegglayer. No official description of this breed was filed before Silverudd's death in 1986. Sometime after Martin's death, in the 1990's, this breed became known as Isbar Blå, or Isbar Blue, probably due to some confusion in Silverudds notes. It is this breed that was first imported into the United States in 2012 and became known here as the Isbar or Blue Isbar.



The name Isbar is actually a misnomer for this breed as they are not now nor have they ever been barred. Plus, it causes confusion with the original Isbar as the two breeds are not related. However, Silverudd's working name for this breed, Svensk Grönäggsvärpare, or Swedish Greenegglayer, is too generic as it also used to refer to crossbred green egg layers (similar to our term Easter Egger).

The Svenska Kulturhönsföreningen, or Swedish Culture Poultry Association, was formed in 2012. They maintain a studbook of the foundation flocks of the breeds developed by Martin Silverudd in Sweden and are responsible for the recreation of the original Isbar. This past weekend, at their annual meeting, the Board of Directors and the Breed Coordinators made the decision to officially change the name of the Isbar Blå (Isbar Blue or Blue Isbar) to Silverudds Blå (Silverudd's Blue) - Silverudd's to honor the man who did so much for Swedish breeds and Blue to describe the color.

As the word spreads, I believe many breeders in this country, myself included, will start referring to our stock as Silverudd's Blue.

 

[PNWskye]

My first Silverudd’s Blue eggs from Marceline! She’s in my layer pen right now.

 

[DodgeballChix]

My SB eggs. Loving the ones that are minty green with white speckles

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I just started getting some pullet eggs 3 days ago. There is a high likelihood that the new layer is the Silverudd's Blue pullet. She would have started laying the day before she turned 21 weeks. Here's a few pictures of the eggs. Amazing color saturation. I'm assuming they're like Marans where the darkest eggs come first then over the season they lighten up. I'll update again when I know for sure which hen is laying. It's happening early in the morning. If I go out early enough I think I can catch her in the nest box.

Pics of the new eggs with a few other colors for comparison. Also a pic of the lady herself. She the blue bird second from the left. She came from Foxfire Poultry hatching eggs.

 

[Araucana Nest]

Purple speckles

 

[cree57i]

I have 4 pullets that have red combs and I have been wondering why they weren't laying eggs.

They Are

Found these under a sheet of plastic that was in their pen last night.

 

[KYTinpusher]

There are some developments in the Silverudd's Blue World. The Swedish Culture Poultry Association has come out with an official description of the breed:

"Silverudd’s Blue created in the 1980s by Martin Silverudd. To create the breed he used a small productive New Hampshire and a small productive Rhode Island Red. He must have used at least two races to. Descendants to the Cream Legbar he imported in the late 50s was part of the creation to get the gene for blue shell color. The gene gave along with the genes for brown shell NH and RIR brought, SB-egg its characteristic green color. There is nothing else listed on the origin, but Martin Silverudd left notes that showed that he had Australorp on his farm. It’s most likely that Australorp was the breed that gave Silverudd’s Blue the characteristic blue coloration of the plumage.
At the time of Martin Silverudd’s sudden death SB was called Svensk Grönäggsvärpare, which may be regarded as a working title. It has erroneously been called the Isbar, which is the name of a breed MS created before the SB.
The name Silverudd’s Blue is set as a tribute to the breed's creator and alludes to the gene for blue in the plumage and the gene for blue shell color. The breed was most certainly not finished when Martin Silverudd suddenly died 1986. After his death the breed was widely distributed and this has allowed a genetic variation in size, body shape, skin color, etc. to be relatively large.
Silverudds blue is the way an active and lively breed.
Silverudds blue will lay about 250 eggs / year The eggs are olive green to lighter green. Egg weight varies between 50 and 60 grams.
Weight about 2.5 kg for a rooster and a hen about 1.5 kg. Variation occurs.
The plumage is black, blue and splash where especially the males can have gold or silver in the neck and saddle feathers."

You will notice that it is very vague, but you have to remember that there is a studbook in Sweden to help protect the integrity of the breed. We don't have that luxury here. These are my latest thoughts on the subject:


Last night my brain was in overdrive most of the night. The few times that I was able to disengage it and fall asleep didn't last long. Inevitably the snoring from DH, or the crowing outside my window, or the Great Pyrenees barking to guard her territory, or the pouring rain would wake me and the brain would quickly go back into overdrive and pick up right where it left off. I have a love/hate relationship with these kind of nights. I hate them because they leave me exhausted and pretty worthless the next day, but love them because lying there in the dark and relative quiet without constant interruptions of the day's routine lets me think clearer and deeper. It often brings revelations that I never really thought about before, at least not consciously. Last night's subject, as you can probably guess, was Silverudd's Blues. I am about to make a bit of a u-turn here (or perhaps just really solidify where I have been headed in my mind all along), but please bear with me. I realize now that I have been so focused on preserving what Martin Silverudd created, that I haven't given enough thought to what he was trying to create. My intention has always been to honor the work that Martin Silverudd so eloquently accomplished in his breeding endeavors. I welcome any and all comments when you have read the entire post.
So, let me throw something out here for discussion. I was trying to get into the mind of Martin Silverudd and his objection to breeding to an SOP and what that means to our goals for the breed. We should all know by now that M.S. (Martin Silverudd) was against breeding to an SOP. If you didn't before, you do now. I have always believed that his reason for objecting was because he created his breeds for production. His stated goal for his life's work was basically to create eye candy that produced copious amounts of beautiful eggs for the small family farmer. (I think we can all agree that he accomplished his goal and did a great job.) However, a standard SOP often ignores the function of a production breed and sacrifices production for the sake of a cookie cutter phenotype (outward appearance.) I realized last night that this may not be his only objection to an SOP.
While M.S. objected to breeding to an SOP, I am quite sure that he was accutely aware that the definition of a breed is an animal that breeds true to a recognized phenotype and function. Wikipedia defines a breed as " ...a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species... When bred together, individuals of the same breed pass on these predictable traits to their offspring, and this ability – known as "breeding true" – is a requirement for a breed." To be a recognized breed, a knowledgeable observer must be able to identify any individual of that breed by a set of predictable traits.
While a Silverudd's Blue cock and a Birchen Marans cock may appear similar at first glance, a study of the eye color, earlobe color, leg color, size, etc. would set them apart as different breeds. The entirety of the specimen is what distinguishes breeds apart. It is the wide latitude in acceptable traits in the Silverudd's Blue that causes confusion as some combinations that are seen could easily be mistaken for poor representations of other breeds.
M.S. did not have a written description of the S.B. that has been found yet, though I am sure he had one in mind. His goal was to produce a "breed", not a barnyard mutt that laid green eggs. He had to have had a definite vision in mind that he was breeding toward. How close he was to that vision, only he knew and it is likely he took that information to his grave. It is well known that he did not finish the breed before his death. So perhaps to honor M.S., we should finish what he started. In order to do that we have to discern what his final goal was. To accomplish that at this point, without any known document from the man himself, we are going to have to do some detective work and make some deductions.
So, the only thing we have to go by to make a breed description is to look at the most common characteristics found in the foundation flocks, paying particular attention to the flocks most closely traceable back to M.S. himself. I have said it many times that the description of the S.B. is contained in the foundation flocks. We just need to study them and apply some deductive reasoning.
I will give you what I believe M.S.'s final goal was, with the possible exception of making it an auto-sexing breed like his others. I base it on many, many hours of reading posts from many of the breeders in Sweden, looking at many pictures of the birds in Sweden, my research into the genetics behind the S.B., and my own experience with breeding S.B. This is my educated guess, not an official description. It is subject to change as more information becomes available. I fully accept that I may be wrong. I don't want to be a dictator here either, but I do want sound reasoning to back up differences of opinion. I do not want just that you like it better. This is not about what we want, but what M.S. intended.
So here goes!
BBS coloring with silver hackles/saddles on the males and solid color on the females - this is where I believe M.S. may have also had a problem with an SOP. This type of color does not fit the standard definition of BBS. From my research into the genetics, I do not believe that the S.B. show silver and gold because of the birchen gene. I believe they are E, as opposed to ER, genetically. It is due to a lack of melanizers that there is "leakage" in the cocks. This type of leakage is much more prevalent in cocks than in hens. To someone trying to fit within an SOP, leakage is bad. But I think that M.S. probably loved the look he achieved and the geneticist in him was fascinated by the effects of melanizers (or lack thereof) on the phenotype. There are many colors and combinations that do not fit within a standard SOP. For a man that enjoyed genetics and variety (as evidenced by his creating breeds that laid many different, beautiful color eggs), throwing any of them out because they didn't fit an SOP would be a tragedy! I have struggled with the question of silver or gold. While silver and gold are both seen in the foundation flocks, I believe silver is the more common. Also, being a dominant gene, the silver would be much easier to remove from the breeding pool if it was not desired.
Dark eyes, though I do not know if they would be described as black or dark brown.
Willow legs
Smaller, leaner build - a layer build as opposed to a dual purpose build.
Large, red single, early developing comb on the cocks, small to medium red, single comb on the hens - the goal here is to be able to quickly identify gender in chicks.
Non-broodiness - broody hens don't lay eggs.
Friendly, non-aggressive birds - safer for families.
Good foragers - alert, protective cocks with good instincts - more foraging=lower feed cost
Lays green eggs, homozygous for the blue egg gene
Excellent layers of large eggs
I am not sure about earlobe color, beak color, and probably several more traits that are not coming to mind atm. I need to do more research here.
Now, I am not suggesting we start culling hard to meet this description. That would be contrary to the goal of breeding for productivity, IMO. However, this is where my thinking for a "Preferred" and "Suggested" set of qualities comes from - a goal to reach for in making the S.B. a recognizable BREED. The preferred would represent the ideal, while acceptable encompasses the whole generally accepted population. As anyone who has been breeding for a while knows, very few "ideal" birds are ever achieved. Out of 100 chicks, maybe only one or two in an SOP breeding program are considered to be show or breeder quality. A breeding program that emphasizes production has to have much more leeway along the way to ideal, while still keeping an eye on that ideal and creeping closer when able. It will be a very long road, but I feel one worth taking.

 

[chickenpolo]

Cute! I have my first SB this summer (2 blue pullets 1 blue roo). I am excited to hatch out my own cross with BCM and possibly Legbars this spring! The blues are so beautiful, but I love the heartiness I’ve found with crosses. Here’s my boy Rae and pullet Moon.

Does anyone have pics of their SB eggs? Excited to see what mine are like!

I just hatched 6 SB a few weeks ago, so I have a long time to wait to get my own eggs lol but here is a pic of the eggs mine hatched from- they are in the middle carton( they were prettier in person)they are second import birds. The other 2 cartons have BLACK COPPER MARANS, (with a couple cream legbar and welsommer eggs mixed in)and Bielefelder eggs

 

[wolfwalker]

And the hatch of SB's from 2 days ago. 1 was camera shy. 9 hatched out of the ten that made it to lockdown out of 12 eggs.