Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[karimw]

Greetings and Happy Valentines Day! I thought I'd share a few photos of a cockerel that is just about 5 months old. I'm impressed with the lacing on the breast, his overall carriage, and attitude. I would appreciate some critique on this guy if you please..
full lacing on the breast continues down to the legs

Attitude...schmatitude. He goes to charm school soon. Bit a big hole in my hand a few days ago.

Caught him right in the middle of ruffling his feathers

I think he'll finish at around 8 lbs or so.

Nice boy, Dan, I like his color, but I think he has a GREAT tail! Good angle, beautiful wide feathers, not over long or short. What do you have to cross him with?

 

[WVDan44]

Yes he has a pretty nice tail, I think. All I have to work with at this time is a couple of last year's birchen hens and an sp hen, one of which produced the cockerel; and then I have two nice sp pullets from his hatch. Now if one of you wants to ship me an IB/PR SP cross pullet and cockerel, I'd have something to work with.

 

[ottbjumper06]

Going into the bator today. I really hope one of the AMs hatch.

 

[karimw]

Yes he has a pretty nice tail, I think. All I have to work with at this time is a couple of last year's birchen hens and an sp hen, one of which produced the cockerel; and then I have two nice sp pullets from his hatch. Now if one of you wants to ship me an IB/PR SP cross pullet and cockerel, I'd have something to work with.

I have a pure breeding SP pen this year, I can ship you eggs Or chicks for that matter.

 

[Hurley]

Hatch two underway. Looks like 3 silvers so far...one of which looks like it's going to be a cocoa brown chick without the striping. We'll see how they look fully dried.

The first 3 batches in were mixed flock, so I'll just keep the IB x LF Lav Am chicks and the silver chicks from there. The most recent batch in was from all silver pullets, pulled all the birchens out.

Can't wait to break up into more selective breeding pens, but that will require melting of 50 tons of snow to be able to finish the breeding pens.

It's nice to have chickies, though. They're hatching pretty nicely, think I've got my incubation system tweaked better this spring so far.

 

[karimw]

Hatch two underway. Looks like 3 silvers so far...one of which looks like it's going to be a cocoa brown chick without the striping. We'll see how they look fully dried.

The first 3 batches in were mixed flock, so I'll just keep the IB x LF Lav Am chicks and the silver chicks from there. The most recent batch in was from all silver pullets, pulled all the birchens out.

Can't wait to break up into more selective breeding pens, but that will require melting of 50 tons of snow to be able to finish the breeding pens.

It's nice to have chickies, though. They're hatching pretty nicely, think I've got my incubation system tweaked better this spring so far.

That's great Connie! Sounds like a good start!

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Yes he has a pretty nice tail, I think. All I have to work with at this time is a couple of last year's birchen hens and an sp hen, one of which produced the cockerel; and then I have two nice sp pullets from his hatch. Now if one of you wants to ship me an IB/PR SP cross pullet and cockerel, I'd have something to work with.

Dan;
If you get set up with SP's, Carol Hansen, our friend in common, still needs eggs I promised her. I was hoping she could get them from you at some point so I haven't been terribly worried. Would that be feasible later this year? I sent her eggs once but they did not hatch for her.
Eric

 

[WVDan44]

I currently have only one sp hen and two 5-mth old pullets - no sp rooster. I learned that IB pullet eggs are small which makes hatching a challenge. Now that my hen is more than a year old, her egg is of medium size and I would feel more confident about it. I'm hoping to take a larger sp rooster to them if I can find one. I would be happy to supply a few eggs to anyone you recommend, but if she wants sp's we may have to wait a while longer.

 

[mrandmrschicken]

I currently have only one sp hen and two 5-mth old pullets - no sp rooster. I learned that IB pullet eggs are small which makes hatching a challenge. Now that my hen is more than a year old, her egg is of medium size and I would feel more confident about it. I'm hoping to take a larger sp rooster to them if I can find one. I would be happy to supply a few eggs to anyone you recommend, but if she wants sp's we may have to wait a while longer.

The wait is fine! Better eggs come from closer than farther away. Less of a shake up risk.

 

[Hurley]

Some chick pics from tonight:

2 day old - solid brown chick


2 day old - darkest of the solid brown chicks


2 day old - Lightest of the solid brown chicks



2 day old - Unbroken dorsal striping




1 week old Silver - hatched with typical broken dorsal striping