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Serious molting. Everyone looks pretty sad.
Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion
- Thread starter Hurley
- Start date
I can bring you a heater from home. 
They picked on hell of a time a year to do that! LOL At least today its supposed to be 50 here, and more seasonable temps. Was a -6 windchill, with no wind, here last night and the night before. I have a heater set on low in the garage and also have shutters on the windows so I can close them up tight but fresh air still circulates. It can be a tough time for young birds right now with the weather changes.
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- #2,054
Yeah, the big birds are all in a single group currently and are doing fine through this cold snap, but yeah, I'm sure it is a nice shock to the system. Heated water buckets are all plugged in. Juveniles are all snug in the grow out shed with some heat lamps at one end for heat if they need it. They seem to be weathering things well.
Looking forward to the warm up this weekend!
Looking forward to the warm up this weekend!
Pictures of Gandalf at 24 weeks
Icee on left in background, Sweetie on the right.
Now Sweetie at 25 weeks
and back to front, Sweetie, one of the birchen girls and the Delaware Icee showing her best side
any thoughts on these guys? They were let out to free range for the first time today
and very happy birds to able to finally run about.
Icee on left in background, Sweetie on the right.
Now Sweetie at 25 weeks
and back to front, Sweetie, one of the birchen girls and the Delaware Icee showing her best side
any thoughts on these guys? They were let out to free range for the first time today
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- Jan 21, 2013
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Candy,
Gandalf and Sweetie look very typical of what we are seeing in the Silvers from the McKay-Widdle line. This past year at the Mason City Show we had a fantastic opportunity to sit down with the judges and get some feedback. Unfortunately I wasn't at this meeting, but from what I heard it was a great time and very informative. A lot of the feedback we recieved from the judges will require us to be a little more specific in the Standard in some places and less specific in others. In short, one of our first action items this next year is to reorganize the Standard Committee and "fine tune" the Standard to better reflect the expectations of the APA. That said, at the moment it is a little more difficult to give an assessment of what we're seeing, both with your birds as well as our own. Once the Standard has been re-worked, it'll give us a much better ability to compare one's birds to the Standard. We appreciate everyone's patience over the next few months as the club works through these developments.
Ok, in light of that information, I'll do my best to give you my thoughts/opinions. Keep in mind, these are the things that stick out to me. I'd be curious to hear Connie's and Kari's opinions as well as they no doubt will see other things...........
We'll start with Gandalf -
What I like; 1) He's free of autosomal red! 2) I like how white his back is 3) I know he's only 4 months old, however, I do like the length and overall shape of his tail feathers. They are nice and wide (also, my guess from looking at the pictures is that he is not a wry tail. Time will tell on this though and it can be hard to discern from pictures) 4) His head and neck are a nice silvery white with minimal black in his hackles 5) In the pictures his breast seems to have a decent width to it and his legs seem to be placed at a good width apart as well. I have seen wider in both the breast and leg stance, however, I've also seen much narrower as well. 6) From the pictures, his back seems to have a decent width to it as well
Areas of Opportunity; 1) Tail angle at more of a 70-80 degrees and not quite so high, he looks to be running a bit on the squirrel tail. 2) My best guess is that his breast will be mostly white with a few random black featherings here and there. Ideally we'd like to see lacing, however I do not think (at the moment) that this is obtainable on eb based birds. However, some eb based Iowa Blue males do have nice spanglings like some of Connie and Kari's birds, so I would prefer to see that over a whiter breast myself. 3) Can't completely tell, but his eyes look on the lighter side, if they are, would prefer to see them darker in color. The darker the better.
Now on to Sweetie -
What I like; 1) Although her pattern is a little less organized than many of the hens her age, when seen from a distance in the pictures, she has the most overall "grey blue" color of just about any pullet I've seen. So, I do really like that about her. Keep in mind, the reason they got the name Iowa Blue is because the hens looked a grey blue color when seen from a distance. 2) Her tail angle (at least from the pictures) appears to me to be much better than the cockerel's. Closer to what we need them to be. 3) In the pictures she appears to have a nice dark eye. If so, this is what I like to see.
Areas of Opportunity; 1) Her head isn't as clean as we'd like to see. The heads should be a nice silvery white on the hen with little to, preferably, no black markings. On the hackles we'd like to see as little black as possible. 2) Her head could be just a bit more rounded.
Well, I hope that helps some. There are finer points that could be picked out, but that would be getting on the pickier side of things and those might as well wait until the Standard is finalized. Overall, they look quite nice and will be a great start to your flock. You've got more "ingredients" to work with than Connie or Kari had when they got started! So you've got a lot of potential here. The key is to hatch, hatch, hatch.....then cull, cull, cull! Do those two things and you'll make huge strides in a short span of time. Just ask Kari, she's hatched hundreds of chicks every year for the past 3 almost 4 years, and then culls down to the best 50 or less out of that group. She's made huge strides over the past years and has produced a fantastic line of Silvers that the breed desperately needed. She would be a great recource to touch base with when it comes to culling and hatching.
Gandalf and Sweetie look very typical of what we are seeing in the Silvers from the McKay-Widdle line. This past year at the Mason City Show we had a fantastic opportunity to sit down with the judges and get some feedback. Unfortunately I wasn't at this meeting, but from what I heard it was a great time and very informative. A lot of the feedback we recieved from the judges will require us to be a little more specific in the Standard in some places and less specific in others. In short, one of our first action items this next year is to reorganize the Standard Committee and "fine tune" the Standard to better reflect the expectations of the APA. That said, at the moment it is a little more difficult to give an assessment of what we're seeing, both with your birds as well as our own. Once the Standard has been re-worked, it'll give us a much better ability to compare one's birds to the Standard. We appreciate everyone's patience over the next few months as the club works through these developments.
Ok, in light of that information, I'll do my best to give you my thoughts/opinions. Keep in mind, these are the things that stick out to me. I'd be curious to hear Connie's and Kari's opinions as well as they no doubt will see other things...........
We'll start with Gandalf -
What I like; 1) He's free of autosomal red! 2) I like how white his back is 3) I know he's only 4 months old, however, I do like the length and overall shape of his tail feathers. They are nice and wide (also, my guess from looking at the pictures is that he is not a wry tail. Time will tell on this though and it can be hard to discern from pictures) 4) His head and neck are a nice silvery white with minimal black in his hackles 5) In the pictures his breast seems to have a decent width to it and his legs seem to be placed at a good width apart as well. I have seen wider in both the breast and leg stance, however, I've also seen much narrower as well. 6) From the pictures, his back seems to have a decent width to it as well
Areas of Opportunity; 1) Tail angle at more of a 70-80 degrees and not quite so high, he looks to be running a bit on the squirrel tail. 2) My best guess is that his breast will be mostly white with a few random black featherings here and there. Ideally we'd like to see lacing, however I do not think (at the moment) that this is obtainable on eb based birds. However, some eb based Iowa Blue males do have nice spanglings like some of Connie and Kari's birds, so I would prefer to see that over a whiter breast myself. 3) Can't completely tell, but his eyes look on the lighter side, if they are, would prefer to see them darker in color. The darker the better.
Now on to Sweetie -
What I like; 1) Although her pattern is a little less organized than many of the hens her age, when seen from a distance in the pictures, she has the most overall "grey blue" color of just about any pullet I've seen. So, I do really like that about her. Keep in mind, the reason they got the name Iowa Blue is because the hens looked a grey blue color when seen from a distance. 2) Her tail angle (at least from the pictures) appears to me to be much better than the cockerel's. Closer to what we need them to be. 3) In the pictures she appears to have a nice dark eye. If so, this is what I like to see.
Areas of Opportunity; 1) Her head isn't as clean as we'd like to see. The heads should be a nice silvery white on the hen with little to, preferably, no black markings. On the hackles we'd like to see as little black as possible. 2) Her head could be just a bit more rounded.
Well, I hope that helps some. There are finer points that could be picked out, but that would be getting on the pickier side of things and those might as well wait until the Standard is finalized. Overall, they look quite nice and will be a great start to your flock. You've got more "ingredients" to work with than Connie or Kari had when they got started! So you've got a lot of potential here. The key is to hatch, hatch, hatch.....then cull, cull, cull! Do those two things and you'll make huge strides in a short span of time. Just ask Kari, she's hatched hundreds of chicks every year for the past 3 almost 4 years, and then culls down to the best 50 or less out of that group. She's made huge strides over the past years and has produced a fantastic line of Silvers that the breed desperately needed. She would be a great recource to touch base with when it comes to culling and hatching.
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Thanks Curt, I hope Kari (they are her babies
) and Connie do give some opinions. We are coming to the show and hope to have some time to watch and learn.
Gandalf is slight of build but he is not small. In the first picture he is crowing. He has this gallop type walk where it looks like he has a full diaper on
. I will try to get better pictures. He has medium brown red eyes. How do you tell if there is no autosomal red? He has that green blue sheen in his tail feathers. In all of the photos his tail was laying a bit toward the left, but he has held it high and it is around an 70 degree angle for sure. How much do they change when they molt?
He has been really enjoying the scratch grains so I am sure he will pack on some size after the winter.
Sweetie is awesome. She has dark eyes and just recently started to darken up on the back of her neck some (not sure why other than maybe Gandalf is grabbing her neck, he has been pretty aggressive lately trying to "impress"), but the rest of her is a nice lacy pattern for the most part. She is brick shaped and her tail is usually around 45 degrees, but she can really spread it more upright at times. You weren't kidding how expressive they are with their tails. But I do love the smokey blue black color she shows and does look "blue" from a distance. I sure hope she is the broody type because she has the sweetest personality. Just wonderful to have around and I think she will produce some real contenders with the right cockerel.
Both the birchens girls are a dark black with minimal light golden lace collars being the only color on them. One is larger, but they are very similar in appearance with full brickish bodies, nice round heads and darker eyes but not as dark as Sweeties.
I really appreciate your feedback!
I could swear that Kari posted a "twin" SP cockerel photo of Gandalf in her August offerings to Ottbjumper. If I get the photo I will post the number here on an edit and then Kari can let me know more based on that. Ok I just will attach the photo from Kari...Gandalf looks alot like this guy!
Brett and I are real happy and excited about the silver/grey colors. Believe me, neither of us will be offended at all and are willing to have input from all of you, you are all so knowledgeable and valuable.
Gandalf is slight of build but he is not small. In the first picture he is crowing. He has this gallop type walk where it looks like he has a full diaper on
He has been really enjoying the scratch grains so I am sure he will pack on some size after the winter.
Sweetie is awesome. She has dark eyes and just recently started to darken up on the back of her neck some (not sure why other than maybe Gandalf is grabbing her neck, he has been pretty aggressive lately trying to "impress"), but the rest of her is a nice lacy pattern for the most part. She is brick shaped and her tail is usually around 45 degrees, but she can really spread it more upright at times. You weren't kidding how expressive they are with their tails. But I do love the smokey blue black color she shows and does look "blue" from a distance. I sure hope she is the broody type because she has the sweetest personality. Just wonderful to have around and I think she will produce some real contenders with the right cockerel.
Both the birchens girls are a dark black with minimal light golden lace collars being the only color on them. One is larger, but they are very similar in appearance with full brickish bodies, nice round heads and darker eyes but not as dark as Sweeties.
I really appreciate your feedback!
I could swear that Kari posted a "twin" SP cockerel photo of Gandalf in her August offerings to Ottbjumper. If I get the photo I will post the number here on an edit and then Kari can let me know more based on that. Ok I just will attach the photo from Kari...Gandalf looks alot like this guy!
Brett and I are real happy and excited about the silver/grey colors. Believe me, neither of us will be offended at all and are willing to have input from all of you, you are all so knowledgeable and valuable.
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More photos, good sunny 38 degree day here in Mid Michigan....I think you know them now by name, sorry if this is too photo heavy? I have some better ones of the birchens and a good front shot of Gandalf so you can see his leg spread, breast better.
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I feel like I need to ask if we have any IB people who are in the Illinois/Michigan area that may have been impacted by the tornado activity over the weekend. This has been on my mind all day.
It has been mighty quiet on this thread for several days now; I guess we all get busy, not that I am a prolific contributor to the thread by any means, but in light of the upcoming elections, talk of the standard committee revisiting the standard, and so much to be positive about in the club, I hope to see some lively and stimulating posts in the near future.
If nothing more, I am really looking forward to my "teenager" IBs growing into young adults. My Jeannie has really taken to the chicks and has them tamed down amazingly well. They run to her when they hear her voice and sit on her hands, cuddle in her arms, and "talk" to her (so she says LOL). I raised the first group without her involvement and they are as wild as March hares!
Cheers,
Dan
It has been mighty quiet on this thread for several days now; I guess we all get busy, not that I am a prolific contributor to the thread by any means, but in light of the upcoming elections, talk of the standard committee revisiting the standard, and so much to be positive about in the club, I hope to see some lively and stimulating posts in the near future.
If nothing more, I am really looking forward to my "teenager" IBs growing into young adults. My Jeannie has really taken to the chicks and has them tamed down amazingly well. They run to her when they hear her voice and sit on her hands, cuddle in her arms, and "talk" to her (so she says LOL). I raised the first group without her involvement and they are as wild as March hares!
Cheers,
Dan
- Thread starter
- #2,060
On my end of things (southern Wisconsin), we had some wild wind and thunderstorms, but didn't get the tornadic activity of more southern Illinois area. It was enough, however to do some damage to my smaller (currently unoccupied) summer coops, knocking one coop/run over and stripping the roofing off another run.
My chickens, however, thought nothing of the weather and scoured the back yard in the brief periods between storms, power grazing.
My chickens, however, thought nothing of the weather and scoured the back yard in the brief periods between storms, power grazing.
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