Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[IowaBlueCurt]

Good luck with the eggs Jake! Looking forward to hearing about your hatch.

Last night I drove to Calamus to pick up 11 Iowa Blue chicks from Glenn Drowns. They are nice and healthy chicks!! Quite pleased with them. I have one solid chocolate colored chick (yes Kari, I nearly leaped for joy! hahahaha) two pheasanty looking chicks, a brownish-bluey colored chick, a couple of smokey colored chicks, and a few darker black and white chicks. So, we'll see how things turn out with them. I'll try to get some pics this weekend and get them posted before too long. Had a great conversation with him.

 

[Jake Levi]

The mail lady just came after I posted, I now have a dozen of Karis in with the Icelandics and Delawares, an almost full incubator, I may add two more fresh ones this afternoon if the ones clucking arent trying to fool me. The first chicks arnt due until the 4th, I will be moving them from the incubator just about the 31rst. Its going to be a fun month coming up !

Happy Hatching all !

 

[karimw]

Well, my girls are slacking off. Only 3 eggs in the pen from 5 girls the last 3 days. The pullets are laying, but the eggs are about the size of a 50 cent piece! Curt, I'm trying to get collected for you, but I only have about 10 right now. I know you't holding your hatch for them so let me know what you want to do. I look forwardd to hearing more about you meeting with Glenn!

 

[Speckledfarmer]

I am sad to report that my order form to Sand Hill was returned as "sold out for the season". Wish me luck next year!

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

I had my SH order in for quite a while now, and I feel pretty fortunate to have gotten my order filled. He mentioned that he's going to spend the summer building up his flock numbers so as to make them easier to obtain next year. Hopefully that will work well for him and concequently you too Speckledfarmer!! Don't give up hope!

 

[debs_flock]

I am sad to report that my order form to Sand Hill was returned as "sold out for the season". Wish me luck next year!

I had my SH order in for quite a while now, and I feel pretty fortunate to have gotten my order filled. He mentioned that he's going to spend the summer building up his flock numbers so as to make them easier to obtain next year. Hopefully that will work well for him and concequently you too Speckledfarmer!! Don't give up hope!

I placed an order for IB from SH in May 2012. I received a box of deceased chicks, with one lone IB chick that I was able to revive. He is probably headed for Camp Kenmore. There are things I like about him, but he has zero lacing on his chest, I have two other roos (from Jim) and he has a real attitude when you go in to fill the feeder. He HATES the feed bucket and consequently has drawn blood on DH a couple of times.

They did send me another order of chicks in April of this year (I told them I did not want a refund either). They sent 7 IB chicks, a few other things I ordered and I now have a good sized group of Auburn Sumatra growing out that were the box fillers.

Not quite sure what I'm going to do with them. I guess I'll decide after they grow up and I can look at them.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

When I got my first Iowa Blues in 2002, I ordered 15 chicks (at that time he was offering 25 chicks per order) I recieved only 6 Iowa Blue chicks and by day 3 I had only two chicks that were still alive. And they didn't look very good.....they were weak. Anyway, they turned out to be a cockerel and a pullet. Both SP. So I was able to hatch some young out of them, and they hatched really well for me. I had a nice sized flock, about 20-25 and then I moved to VA and gave the flock to a friend of mine. In the three months I was in VA he manages to loose all but one hen!! So, I gave them a break for awhile.
A few years ago I got some chicks from Ideal and they didn't look like what I had raised in the past, so I moved them on. And then......I saw Kari's amazing SP hens! And so, I decided right then and there, that I HAD to get back into the Iowa Blue! I decided this time that if I were to get some stock from Glenn, that I'd pick them up in person to save the chicks a plane ride, and I'd be able to get some food and water into them days earlier than I could if they came via the mail. Boy, these chicks are a million times better (in size and vigor) than what I recieved last time! I'm pretty excited about them. My wife likes the chick color variability, so we may try to breed them to enhance the genetic diversity and see if we can bring out some of the colors that were mentioned in the old accounts. Some of the chicks were said to look like pheasants, brown mottled, solid brown, smokey gray, smokey gray-black, smokey blue, brown blue, and gray blue. Those seem like some fun colors. We've got a nice selection of those colors with this hatch from Glenn, so we'll see where this new Iowa Blue project takes us.

He also sent along 4 exhibition Buff Orpington chicks. Nice looking chicks......anyone located in the eastern part of Iowa interested in those?

 

[AxisOfBeagles]

Greetings - I'm a recent newbie to BYC, and only just found this little corner. A couple months back we inherited two Iowa Blue hens to add to a flock of mostly RIR's and Ameracaunas, along with some Marans. Although we'd never encountered blues before, we're now smitten - what great birds. Our chickens are almost exclusively free-range fed, in particular in the compost bins, and the blues are outstanding at feeding themselves in the filed and the compost. They turn the compost ferociously and wander the vineyard every morning eating bugs and doing their thing - exactly as they're supposed to. And while the eggs are a little on the small size, they seem to be good steady layers.

We will definitely be adding more blues to the flock as we're able. Look forward to learning more from y'all.

 

[debs_flock]

Greetings - I'm a recent newbie to BYC, and only just found this little corner.

Welcome to the thread and I too am in the Sierra foothills!

 

[karimw]

Sorry to say I gave up on Sandhill because they never could fill my orders, but in a way it worked out for me because I had to work with what I had. I'll have to see what you folks come up with from that stock. It would be wise of Glenn to keep more for himself for a season so he can refine his breeding stock.