Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[gracefarm]

Standing at a distance it is easy to see why this breed was given the name Iowa Blue.

 

[Wappoke]

After reading through most of the Iowa Blue threads I understand that the Birchen pattern has come about from more recent blood being added, so with that being the case I have decided to cull the 3 Birchen pullets I have & only keep the more Silver Iowa Blues for the breeding pens. I do have one question about the pullet that is much lighter, is there any benefits in useing her in a breeding pen or should I cull her also.

This pullet carries a gene called columbian. This gene produces the area of white color on ithe breast, etc. This gene in combination with other genes produces lacing, as in silver laced wyandottes.

 

[gracefarm]

This pullet carries a gene called  columbian.  This gene produces the area of white color on ithe breast, etc. This gene in combination with other genes produces lacing, as in silver laced wyandottes. 

Thank you for the information Wappoke, she was a nice looking pullet but being that I had decided not to use her in my Iowa Blue breeding pen I sent her to another home last week.

 

[gracefarm]

Here are a few pictures of my Iowa Blues that came from Sand Hill Preservation, I have a question what are all the color variations in their offspring chicks should expect out of these?

 

[Wappoke]

Here are a few pictures of my Iowa Blues that came from Sand Hill Preservation, I have a question what are all the color variations in their offspring chicks should expect out of these?

The two females in the middle picture express autosomal barring and appear to be homozygous for all the genes needed to produce the phenotype. They carry two birchen genes, two dark brown genes and two pattern genes.

The bad news is, i could be wrong, that they look like fayouml to me and not iowa blues. They have the wrong body type. As chicks, they would look like iowa blues. The iowa blue breeders can clarify my statement about the body type.

The three females appear to be extended black at the E locus and not birchen. They have very dark shanks, too dark to be homozygous birchen. They could be carrying the pattern gene and other genes but the extended black is masking the gene(s) expression. Many black chickens carry the pattern gene or even the columbian gene. The pullet in the middle is showing some color in her hackles that indicates she is carrying some genes for producing a secondary color pattern.If the three black pullets showed some brown in their down (face, head, neck and body), they carry the dark brown gene.

The male is most likely a birchen heterozygote or in other words split for birchen and most likely wheaten. He does carry the pattern gene and the dark brown gene. He is showing some autosomal barring but should not show the patches of white and his hackles should be white. I believe he may also be carrying the columbian gene.

I believe Sandhill sent you birds that are not representative of the iowa blue breed. I hope some of the breeders on this thread would post their opinion about the birds. The iowa blues I raised in the past expressed the birchen color pattern and had a body type different than the two autosomal barred females.

I am not being mean just trying to be honest with my opinion.

After the others post, I will give my advice concerning a breeding regimen.

 

[gracefarm]

The two females in the middle picture express  autosomal barring and appear to be homozygous for all the genes needed to produce the phenotype. They carry two birchen genes, two dark brown genes and two pattern genes.

The bad news is, i could be wrong, that they look like fayouml to me and not iowa blues. They have the wrong body type. As chicks, they would look like iowa blues. The iowa blue breeders can clarify my statement about the body type.

The three females appear to be extended black at the E locus and not birchen. They have very dark shanks, too dark to be homozygous birchen. They could be carrying the pattern gene and other genes but the extended black is masking the gene(s) expression. Many black chickens carry the pattern gene or even the columbian gene. The pullet in the middle is showing some color in her hackles that indicates she is carrying some genes for producing a secondary color pattern.If the three black pullets showed some brown in their down (face, head, neck and body), they carry the dark brown gene. 

The male is most likely a birchen heterozygote or in other words split for birchen and most likely wheaten. He does carry the pattern gene and  the dark brown gene. He is showing some autosomal barring but should not show the patches of white and his hackles should be white. I believe he may also be carrying the columbian gene.

I believe Sandhill sent you birds that are not representative of the iowa blue breed. I hope some of the breeders on this thread would post their opinion about the birds. The iowa blues I raised in the past expressed the birchen color pattern and had a body type different than the two autosomal barred females. 

I am not being mean just trying to be honest with my opinion.

After the others post, I will give my advice concerning a breeding regimen.

Thank you Wappoke for the information & I agree in what you are seeing in the two lighter pullets, I had been thinking the same thing. I was hoping the two would change in their type look as they filled but I have come to the conclusion that these two are Fayoumi pullets and with that being the case these two will not be used in the breeding pen. I do look forward to hearing any breeding advice that you can share with me.

 

[Wappoke]

Thank you Wappoke for the information & I agree in what you are seeing in the two lighter pullets, I had been thinking the same thing. I was hoping the two would change in their type look as they filled but I have come to the conclusion that these two are Fayoumi pullets and with that being the case these two will not be used in the breeding pen. I do look forward to hearing any breeding advice that you can share with me.

Did the black females as chicks have brown in their down- could be some on the face, or face and head or covering face head etc. This would indicate they carry the dark brown gene. Your roosters does carry some of the genes needed for autosomal barring..

What I would do is cross the rooster with the hen that has the white in her neck and see what the chicks look like? The down color is important and can tell us some things about the genetics that make up the parents. Hatch about ten chicks. You can send me a PM if and when the chicks hatch. Good luck. You never know what is under the black.

 

[gracefarm]

Did the black females as chicks have brown in their down- could be some on the face, or face and head or covering face head etc. This would indicate they carry the dark brown gene. Your roosters does carry some of the genes needed for autosomal barring..

What I would do is cross the rooster with the hen that has the white in her neck and see what the chicks look like? The down color is important and can tell us some things about the genetics that make up the parents. Hatch about ten chicks. You can send me a PM if and when the chicks hatch. Good luck.  You never know what is under the black. 

Thank you for the information & I will get pictures taken once I get chicks. I do plan to put most of my attention into these two Iowa Blue hens.

 

[gracefarm]

Looking forward to hatching many chicks out of this Iowa Blue breeding pen.

 

[Candy442]

The two females in the middle picture express autosomal barring and appear to be homozygous for all the genes needed to produce the phenotype. They carry two birchen genes, two dark brown genes and two pattern genes.

The bad news is, i could be wrong, that they look like fayouml to me and not iowa blues. They have the wrong body type. As chicks, they would look like iowa blues. The iowa blue breeders can clarify my statement about the body type.

The three females appear to be extended black at the E locus and not birchen. They have very dark shanks, too dark to be homozygous birchen. They could be carrying the pattern gene and other genes but the extended black is masking the gene(s) expression. Many black chickens carry the pattern gene or even the columbian gene. The pullet in the middle is showing some color in her hackles that indicates she is carrying some genes for producing a secondary color pattern.If the three black pullets showed some brown in their down (face, head, neck and body), they carry the dark brown gene.

The male is most likely a birchen heterozygote or in other words split for birchen and most likely wheaten. He does carry the pattern gene and the dark brown gene. He is showing some autosomal barring but should not show the patches of white and his hackles should be white. I believe he may also be carrying the columbian gene.

I believe Sandhill sent you birds that are not representative of the iowa blue breed. I hope some of the breeders on this thread would post their opinion about the birds. The iowa blues I raised in the past expressed the birchen color pattern and had a body type different than the two autosomal barred females.

I am not being mean just trying to be honest with my opinion.

After the others post, I will give my advice concerning a breeding regimen.

I agree with your assessment of the middle two pullets looking like Fayoumi's. Sandhill added Fayoumi to the stock when it was in danger of becoming extinct due to aged birds and fertility being nil in original Iowa Blue stock. I have not hatched any that appear to be fayoumi because my stock was only from Dark Horse Acres before they added Sandhill birds.

We used two birchen hens with considerable brown and mossy color to them, they were not totally black but VERY dark brown birds for the most part. We did not have a choice of birds, these four were given to us after the person decided they didn't want to work with Iowa Blues. We had a silver Rooster to use over a "clean smokey" hen (meaning she did not have any salmon or rust in her breast feathers). Those birds gave me the foundation of what I personally am breeding for and that is the dark charcoal gray feathers (not black). The silvers resulting in the Iowa Blue are recessive which are very easy to reproduce and what the club wishes to establish as a standard, but I am not liking the basic black/white feathering personally. Charcoal is what our breeding farm (Fivewire) is trying to create consistently and we did so with the four birds you see in the first four pictures and subsequent generations of sons over mother and original rooster over original hens. We do get a lot of the too much white/columbian popping out at times, but we are finally seeing less and less smokies with red and more of the chicks with dark brown/chestnut fluff at birth. The chick photo is what some are saying is the exact color (chestnut) we need to get a correct Iowa color. The last is the same pullet grown up We think she is a beauty and what we are hoping beyond hope to continually reproduce.

What we started with in 2013- Silver Rooster, Two Birchen hens, One clean Smokey hen. These four originated from eggs out of Dark Horse Acres stock.



Sweetie, our clean smokey hen


Closeup of our original silver rooster


Some of our current flock-new main rooster JB is son of our original rooster-JB was dark brown at birth and he looked birchen (we have moved on some of these, mainly the all dark birds and more white birds)


Chick on the left is our "brownie" hen ...with what is thought to be "perfect" down color
The other chick is also "brown" and she also patterned on her breast well.


This is a picture of "Brownie" now. We are waiting for her first molt to see what is left

A

@Wappoke I am adding a couple of bowls of our spring hatch to show you the chick down we have been getting from our flock since we added some of the Jamaican line of Iowa Blues (they are much smaller birds than ours, but they were added to give us that silver blood that we thought we needed). I would love to hear your analysis of our chicks from our current flock and if we are on the right track to getting more dark gray/charcoal fluff Thanks!