Iowa Blue Enthusiasts in NY State?

[thombaker]

Hi. I bought a dozen IB chicks in March, and am wondering if there are other enthusiasts in my area, central NY state. I'm in Ithaca.

I'm only going to keep a quartet (one rooster, three hens), and am hoping to find someone who is interested in the breed to take the other seven. (One chick died the day after bringing them home, so I have eleven IBs.)

Also, I have read that an IB cock crossed with hens of certain breeds will produce sex-linked offspring. Does a list exist of the breeds known to produce such chicks with IB roos?

Thanks.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Tom, I'm not from NY, but I can answer your question about IB crosses to produce sex-linked offspring. The last known (as well as the first) person to produce these crosses was W.C. Fenton who owned Fenton Hatchery in Strawberry Point, IA. He closed the hatchery in 1972 and it is unknown if anyone after this date has ever produced the sex-linked crossbreds. Fenton claimed that breeding an Iowa Blue cock over a New Hampshire (and I imagine a RIR would work just the same) or White Rock hens would produce sex-linked offspring. How the chick down appears at hatching is still out in the open as I've heard a couple of different color options for each cross. One note of caution though. Fenton rasied the Silver Penciled variety when producing his sex-linked crosses (as the Birchen variety didn't exist until decades later), and I do not know if the Birchen variety would produce similar results or not. I currently have some Silver Penciled Iowa Blues as well as some RIR pullets that will be laying this fall. Have been thinking of crossing one of my roosters to the RIR pullets and see for myself it the cross will truely produce sex-linked offspring. If I get this accomplished, I'll post pics on here for all to see. Hope this helps to answer some of your questions.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Tom, have you had a chance to experiment with producing sex-links using an Iowa Blue cockerel? I'd be curious to hear any results you may have experienced!