Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[IowaBlueCurt]

Yes, They will still darken up but I think this may be an indicator he is split for Birchen. I think Rex is ER/e+ or I would not have hatched the yellow chicks. My black hens are ER/ER, ER/eb. or ER/e+ and my silver hens are eb/eb or eb/e+. I really don't think I have too many with e+ or we would see more of them. In this latest hatch I have one chick with some pretty sharp stripes, but I'll probably see more in the next generation.

Kari- I think this is very insightfull and I would say I'm in complete agreement with you as this relates perfectly with what you've been seeing in your chicks.

 

[Hurley]

Yes, indeed, let them grow out. They go through a fairly ugly stage as juveniles, but when that color comes in, they blossom. They also get much less jumpy with age.

 

[WVDan44]

Dan, definately give them time to grow and fill out. You will appreciate them more and more as they continue growing. They will start to transform before your eyes, particuarly in color.

Thanks Bud, I intend to give it a go, and I appreciate your support and guidance. I really like the breed.

 

[karimw]

Quote:
That is what I hated about them with my first group of hatchery chicks, but I have to say I have not seen it in my New YEars Day hatch (F5) I never saw a point where they looked that rough. Connie I'd be curius to see if you notice a difference in the way they grow out with the chicks you hatched from my eggs.

 

[Hurley]

My current crop do look better than the first ones I had, but my line of Birchens is still way more dark than I would like.

Will let you know on this batch from you, but I'd bet you are right and they will have much less of an ugly stage as you've nicely selected to color.

By the way, that weird SP chick with the melanizers has extension of black on the feathers coming in, it's kind of interesting. I'll have to get some pics. Definitely different than the other SPs in appearance. Doubt I'll want to select towards it, but still interesting to see how it matures. Cool looking chick.

 

[spartacus_63]

Hey All,

I got disconnected from this thread at some point last fall but have now caught up (read the entire thread

) WOW! lots of work going on here!

My history with Iowa Blues; I saw something in a poultry magazine regarding Iowa Blues and since my goal was for hardy, broody homestead friendly birds, I was intrigued. I ordered and received a clutch from Sand Hill. That clutch was a mix of the black 7 pheasant like chicks, mostly the later. The chicks did very well and matured quickly. Unfortunately, I lost all but one cockerel to predation or unexplained death. Two were killed by my own dog.

By this point I was hooked on the breed. I wanted to get more IBs but Sand Hill was sold out. I stumbled upon a post from Trisha when she was getting out of the IB project. From there I found Mr Heinz and Kari. I got eggs from Mr. Heinz & a couple of birds from Kari. As soon as I got the pullets home from Trisha, they started laying. I put them in with my SH cock and started collecting the eggs. I had a decent hatch from the eggs and the cockerel I got from Kari turned out beautifully. Again I was struck with bad luck

. I lost all the chicks from my birds, except two, both cockerels and all I got from Mr Heinz but one, also a cockerel and the beautiful bird from Kari met an unknown death while out foraging. I still had two pullets from Trisha and my original cock from SH. During the heat of last summer, some two legged vandal closed the door on my Blue coop. I was away for the weekend and when I found them they had died from the heat build up.

So I was down to three Iowa Blues, all males. What luck!
I had ordered more chicks from SH, but they had incubation issues and held my order over to this year. I got six IB chicks from them this week. Quite the mix in that group. So unless I find some pullets to breed my boys to, I will not be of much help this year.
You all have done some great things with this forum and more importantly with the breed. My hat is off to all of you

and I look forward to being more participative in the project. I will add that I am not experienced with chicken breeding at this level, but I take direction well.

 

[spartacus_63]

Here are some shots of my boys.
The first four pictures are two boys, SH Roo over Privet Pullets







This is the sole survivor from the Heinz eggs.

 

[karimw]

Glad to see you are back! I'm sorry to see your bad luck continues! Guard those sandhill chicks, I know a lot of folks looking for those

Let me know if I can help. I know I'll have birds available this summer, and I'm hatching a lot of chicks now.

 

[Hurley]

Especially guard that silver penciled one (with the duck wing white).

Would love more photos of him.

 

[spartacus_63]

Here are my latest SH chicks:









I was surprised to see so much yellow in these chicks.






I am certainly interested in feedback on all of these pictures.