Iowa Blue?

[Ilovechickens2525]

Does this look like an Iowa Blue to anyone who knows that breed? I just put her in the picture bird app and that’s what it said she was for several pics. I know nothing about the breed myself.

The farm I got her from didn’t know what she was. They suggested possibly Wyandotte, an ayam cemani cross possibly. They had a lot of silverudds and marans on the farm. She lays olive coloured eggs and is veeery docile and sweet.

 

[Callender Girl]

I've had a few Iowa Blues over the years, and while she resembles them, in my not-expert opinion, she's probably not one.

None of mine laid olive-colored eggs and honestly, they've been fairly skittish and uninterested in human interaction.

Iowa Blues, as far as I know, nearly disappeared as a breed but the man who was in charge of Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, managed to save the Blues.

Whatever your girl is, she's fine looking! Congrats on acquiring her!

 

[JedJackson]

Probably a Silverudd or Silverudd mixed with Marans. She's not an Iowa Blue, which should have more of a silver penciled coloring like dark Brahmas but with a messier pattern. These would never lay olive eggs, either.

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

Thank you both! I think the silverudd mix makes sense based on the egg colour. But, she's also quite large, much larger than my silverudds. She is similar size of my Marans, but not as round. Where would her lacey patterning come from and her dark skin?

I got this app just because I am so curious about what she is, I do suspect she's a mix of some kind. The app was wrong about all my chickens other than my marans though lol. My silverudds are not completely purebred, I suspect. So that could be why!

 

[JedJackson]

Thank you both! I think the silverudd mix makes sense based on the egg colour. But, she's also quite large, much larger than my silverudds. She is similar size of my Marans, but not as round. Where would her lacey patterning come from and her dark skin?

I got this app just because I am so curious about what she is, I do suspect she's a mix of some kind. The app was wrong about all my chickens other than my marans though lol. My silverudds are not completely purebred, I suspect. So that could be why!

The lacy feathering is pretty common in Silverudd's. It's a characteristic of birchen coloring. Dark skin can also be a characteristic of birchen coloring. You see it often in birchen or brown red old English game bantams. She reddened up later on, plus she seems too large for an Ayam Cemani cross. That's how I see it, anyway. Impossible to know for absolute certain.

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

That could be, I have a black silverudd with dark skin too and I wasn't sure if she was mixed or not; but didn't know it could be a silverudd trait.

Being mixed with marans would account for her larger size.