BLUE ISBARS - Pictures and discussion

[KYTinpusher]

We have chicks piping this morning! I'm excited to see how many hatch (shipped eggs) and if I like the breed.

1 of my new chicks

Little splash just getting some splashy feathers. Feels great to finally be hatching some Isbars of my own, after the long bunch of trouble getting any at all! We have some blues and blacks too.

Congratulations everyone on the chicks! I hope to join you soon. I have 19 eggs in the bator at various stages of development. Lockdown for the first group is this weekend.

 

[gootziecat]

Good luck, KYTinpusher.

I lost a couple due to difficulty breaking the membrane on the inside of the shell. They simply got dry, which made no sense as it has been humid here plus being hatched under a hen. Also two had leg issues. I don't know if that stems from genetics in the breed or other factors. Each of the two chicks were under a different hen in a different building, so I don't think it was an issue on my end. The good news is at least one of the chick's leg issue is rectifying itself.
A total count of 8! One of the best hatches ever for shipped eggs.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Good luck, KYTinpusher.

I lost a couple due to difficulty breaking the membrane on the inside of the shell. They simply got dry, which made no sense as it has been humid here plus being hatched under a hen. Also two had leg issues. I don't know if that stems from genetics in the breed or other factors. Each of the two chicks were under a different hen in a different building, so I don't think it was an issue on my end. The good news is at least one of the chick's leg issue is rectifying itself.
A total count of 8! One of the best hatches ever for shipped eggs.

Thanks! I am hoping since these were not shipped that most of them hatch.

I have 8 or 9 more waiting to go in.

 

[gootziecat]

Your eggs will probably do fine.
I wasn't very happy with the egg color of my eggs. Very few of them were green, most were more of a bronze, ie, too much brown in the mix. The size could have been larger also but the girls in the pictures on eBay looked like pullets. Is it hard to keep the green color? I would think that would be a desirable trait to select. These were supposed to be from Greenfire lines so I believe them to be pure Isbars. Regardless, 6 chicks are blue, one black and one splash. I'm excited about the black and splash.
I need to go back through this thread and read up on the breed.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

Your eggs will probably do fine.
I wasn't very happy with the egg color of my eggs. Very few of them were green, most were more of a bronze, ie, too much brown in the mix. The size could have been larger also but the girls in the pictures on eBay looked like pullets. Is it hard to keep the green color? I would think that would be a desirable trait to select. These were supposed to be from Greenfire lines so I believe them to be pure Isbars. Regardless, 6 chicks are blue, one black and one splash. I'm excited about the black and splash.
I need to go back through this thread and read up on the breed.

I wouldn't necessarily say that GFF has pure lines. They sure messed up the Rhodebar genetics crossing in production reds. We are very careful only to hatch chicks from green eggs and it seems to keep the egg color good. I have seen Isbar eggs on auction sites that weren't green at all. I'm with you...Isbars are NOT olive eggers and the eggs should be green. I personally like the minty green color, and I have a blue Isbar that lays a kind of sagey green with very faint speckles.

 

[gootziecat]

I think the minty egg color, or similar, ie with speckles, would be one of the hallmarks of the breed. However, it also seems to me since this breed was not entirely finished before Silverrudd passed, the breed has not been "set" as some, but more of a work in progress. What I have read, the breed comprises of RIR, New Hampshires and Legbars. Based on that, there are bound to be discrepencies in egg color for a while, and even breed color, such as red and/or gold showing up in rooster hackles, shoulders and possibly saddle. This breed is in it's infancy in this country and we need to all pull together to keep as much genetic pool as we can. This is especially true with the rough start the breed had with hatchability and livability. We can select but we need to be tolerant as we do so.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

I think the minty egg color, or similar, ie with speckles, would be one of the hallmarks of the breed. However, it also seems to me since this breed was not entirely finished before Silverrudd passed, the breed has not been "set" as some, but more of a work in progress. What I have read, the breed comprises of RIR, New Hampshires and Legbars. Based on that, there are bound to be discrepencies in egg color for a while, and even breed color, such as red and/or gold showing up in rooster hackles, shoulders and possibly saddle. This breed is in it's infancy in this country and we need to all pull together to keep as much genetic pool as we can. This is especially true with the rough start the breed had with hatchability and livability. We can select but we need to be tolerant as we do so.

My understanding is that it was only the autosexing that was unfinished. Some people are reintroducing the legbars for this but that adds a whole other level of genetic material that I'm not sure is the best road, but I don't know that much.

 

[bamadude]

Do isbars have feathered feet?

 

[KYTinpusher]

Do isbars have feathered feet?

No.

 

[chambe94]

Is this blue or splash? (5-6 week old pullet)