Iowa Blue Chickens - Understanding The Traditional Type

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here is a pic of a great looking pullet from Denny. I think she's around 2+/- months old in the pic. She has a clear silvery white head which is quite envious. You can see a softness in the grey ground color on this pullet and she looks like she's coming along quite nicely. When I see a pullet like this one and study her overall shape and form, I can see Connie's thoughts that the traditional and modern types do have a similar appearance. This pullet has a nice depth to her breast and body, her tail angle could come up a bit, but she's young. Overall, a great looking pullet that should make a sound addition to anyone's breeding pen.



You can see in the background some off type Iowa Blues that show the excessive melanizers that we're currently battling within the overall breed population. It gives us a clear comparison.......

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here is a good pic showcasing a yound hen that has a LOT of white on her body. It looks sort of like an exaggerated form of the Silver, reminiscent of a Campine or Fayoumi in many ways. While a hen like this is off in color, she does bring a lot to a breeding pen in that she can add an overall "whitening" to a darker Silver male. You will notice in the pic that her head has a black spot, again, some extra melanizers are at play here, even on a largely white bird. It goes to show how hard it can be to get rid of that black "crown"! I have held this hen in my arms, and she's a big one. The pic is deceptive, as she filled up my arms when I held her. I'll see if Denny can get some weights for us on her. Overall not a great colored bird, but definately usable in the breeding pen and I'd expect to see some great colored offspring out of her!

The Silver hen directly behind her is a great example of the breed. She's deep, wide, and has a strength of body that is pleasing to the eye and lends itself to a long and productive life. She too is a large hen, but not as large as the white hen. In the pic it looks like she has white ear lobes, if memory serves me I believe they are indeed red. I think there was a glare of some sort with the pic. Also, she could be a softer grey color as she is just a tad bit too dark, and maybe a little whiter in the hackle. But, that's being picky. Overall, she's a great example of a great breed, and no doubt will perpetuate her great traits to her posterity! I look forward to seeing many great individuals out of this young hen.

 

[Hurley]

Do you have any photos from the side and front? Interesting pattern. Looks like a silver laced bird, look at that wide black lacing on the left bird. Makes sense that the heads would be dark in these birds, almost the opposite of our black with heavy white lacing leading to the typical look. Interesting.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

I do not have pics of these from the front. Actually, I just culled 11 of these last night and didn't even take pics......didn't think about it at the time. I'll see if Denny and send me some of his....they are interesting looking birds that's for sure. I assume it's due to extra melanization and not an additional gene. What are your thoughts on that Connie?

 

[Hurley]

I think it has to do with interaction of the pattern genes (like Pg, Db, Co) and the presence or absence of Ml.

That heavily black laced bird reminds me of the PgMl/pgMl pattern below, double shot of ML, single dose of Pg.





I think that heavy black indicates the presence of Ml in those birds. Look below what Ml does to Pg. (And not on topic, but interesting to note how the colombian gene, which is a black restrictor, or functionally a red/silver extender affects the pattern, stretching out the red and narrowing the black. Ml and Co 's effects oppose each other in action.)




I think the Db (autosomal barring/dark brown gene) is likely working with Pg in our birds to fracture the pattern and make it irregular as we see it. It is a quasi-restrictor, less powerful than Columbian. With Pg, it turns penciling to transverse barring.

The actual patterns on our breed's feathers look almost liquified, like a lava lamp. It's really cool. Makes me think of pattern genes at war with one another, resulting if a pull and tug effect, shattering the pattern.

I really want to make up a feather display like you see in the standard for the hens and cocks (and for the juveniles, for that matter) to be able to really look at the pattern formation at the feather level. Add that to the list of things to do, LOL!


Yeah, I'd like to see what those birds look like over their bodies in different regions, it will probably help us to ferret out the genetic cocktail which helps us know what genes we are playing with in the mix currently.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Quote:
Major Ditto to that Connie! I feel as breeders (and as a club) we are really starting to get a feel for what genes are active here and how they are reproducing within the various good/off types that we're seeing. It's a good feeling, as it helps to solidify our understanding of the breed as a whole and helps us in our breeding pens.

*****Another note of interest, in the two pics that you posted of the feather color structure, it appears that Co-Pg-Ml gives a similar if not identical appearance as the Pg/pg Ml/Ml expression.*****

 

[karimw]

This fella turned 4 months old on the 22nd of this month. Yesterday (the 23rd), I weighed him and he weighed 4.5 lbs! He's coming along nicely. His brother of the same age weighed 4.24 lbs, unfortunately he is a birchen and so I will not be keeping him (this guy's brother) for future breeding. I may keep him a little longer to measure weights out of curiosity....don't know yet.

I would be interested in him, if nothing else for his size, tail angle, and slate legs. That would be better than my only other real choice right now which is a huge SPPR/IB cross

I'd probably just do a small hatch and let him run with the layer flock. I definitely like the depth of his chest.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

I'll send you a PM Kari!!

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

These are pics Denny sent of chicks resulting from a cross of a Kari McKay-Widdel cockerel over some Sandhill hens. These have some fascinating coloration and thought you'd all like to see them. While the brown mottling on the majority of the chicks is well within the brown mottled "range", it's interesting to see a hatch where the majority of the chicks hatched out with this coloration. These chicks should still develop into the Silver pattern typical of the traditional Iowa Blue. When I look at these chicks, I can definately see a "pheasanty" look to them........food for thought here.........
The second pic is a little blurry, but you still get the idea.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

This is a pic of a group of started birds. All of the off types have been removed and just the Silver type remains.