Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[mrheinz77]

Unless the old timers on this thread tell me differently, I hope to breed my pullets towards what that one Kari just posted looks like. I really like your cockerel as well as my cock. I hope to weigh them today or tomorrow. As for combs, I'm aiming for a medium comb with 6 points. That is what Hurley has in the proposed standard in the first post. My hens have crazy combs but my two pullets from other lines have really nice combs. Anybody else have opinions?

 

[karimw]

Quote:
I'll have to look when I get home tonight, but I thought they were much darker.

 

[karimw]

I have found a lot of threads on Iowa Blues and they are pretty consistent. The information is almost identical to what is on page 1 of this thread.

This is from raising-chickens.org

Iowa Blue Facts:
Size: Male: 7 Ibs. Female: 6 Ibs.

Comb, Wattles & Earlobes: They have medium to moderately large single combs with six well-defined points that stand upright. Their wattles and earlobes are medium to moderately large as well, and they are all bright red.

Color: The beak is horn and the eyes are dark brown. The shanks and toes are slate. In spite of the name, the bird does not hold to true blue coloring. The head is silvery white and the neck and upper breasts have white feathers with a slender black stripe down the middle transitioning to black feathers with white lacing. The lower breast, body, legs, wings and tailare bluish black to gray with penciling. Male: The back and saddle are similar to neck. Female:The back is bluish to gray with penciling.

So if we go with that discription, the brown birchen hens would be too brown. The brown Birchen roosters can be overloaded as well - I even have one with a duckwing pattern.

 

[Myabcs3]

Quote:
so to summarize, it is the most desirable to have the pattern in the brown birchen hen, but with a black base? Is it harder to fix the base or the penciling? Meaning, what do you fix first?

 

[mrheinz77]

Good question. I wonder what the offspring would look like crossing a pullet like that back to her sire?

 

[karimw]

Right now my number one goal is to get rid of the red and gold. Some of the brown cockerels are growing up with bright red/brown on thier wings and we don't want that. Some of the black cockerels have a gold instead of silver on their back and hackles. You can also see it in the pullets - more gold instead of silver lacing. Right now I'm putting up with a lot of other faults to get rid of that.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

I was just telling my husband that I wish the hens would be bred to look more like the one in Storeys illustrated Guide to Chickens.

 

[mrheinz77]

I weighed 3 of my Iowa Blues tonight. My cock is 6 pounds. Hen #2 was 5 pounds, and hen #9 was 4.75 pounds. This puts them at 1 pound under the proposed standard for each. I didn't have a chance to weigh the others yet. Has anybody else weighed theirs?

 

[ChooksChick]

I think the description as it reads matches more closely to a 'Silver Grey' than a true birchen- and neither of these should have ANY red, gold or brown/mahogany/etc. AT ALL. My take is that the penciling is something to worry about LAST, after you get the form and the main coloring where it ought to be.

You'll want to cull all of that red/gold/brown out or it will continue to pop up and cause problems in your breeding. It's VERY hard to get rid of if all breeders aren't working on it in a concentrated, coordinated effort.

Here is a good, concise pic of a true Birchen.

Here is a good concise pic of a Silver Grey. You can see how the second is more appropriate to the description, and it will be best, I think, if folks focus on following the old rule of keeping the hens for the conformation to shape, and keeping the males to conform to the color. THis should progress the project well if you all work together.

 

[karimw]

Quote:
I'll have to look when I get home tonight, but I thought they were much darker.

Nope, you were definately right about this. I really do prefer this color to the others so I'm happy to report I hatched 9 browns and 7 blacks