Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[Lifesong Farm]

Wish me luck. My eggs went into lockdown this morning.

 

[schroeder vanhorner]

I was wondering if you or someone could post the photos in the 'STOREY BOOK???? ' of the Iowa Bluethat would be most helpful
thanks schroeder
Quote:
Hi, Henk!

Thanks so much for popping in! This rare breed is described as:

Iowa Blue

Country of Origin: United States
Conservation Status: Study
Type of Breed: Dual-purpose, good amount of meat
Eggs: Good number of lightly tinted brown eggs
Cocks: 7 to 7.5 pounds (Cockerels 6.5 pounds)
Hens: 6 pounds (Pullet 5 pounds)
Characteristics: Good foragers; do well in free range conditions with males being excellent flock guardians and are noted to be talented hawk fighters. Hens will go broody and have great maternal instincts. Though very aware of surroundings in a free-range situation, are fairly docile and not particularly flighty. Males are vigorous breeders and mature quite early.

Comb: Medium to moderately large single comb with six well-defined points that stand upright.
Wattles: Medium to moderately large wattles and earlobes, all being bright red.
Eyes: Dark Brown
Beak: Horn
Shanks and Toes: Slate
Color: Birchen. Head is white to silvery white. Neck and upper breast are white penciled with slender black central stripe transitioning to solid black feathers with white lacing. Lower breast, body, legs, wings, and tail are bluish black to gray with penciling. Lower breast should not be over-laced. Males show white to silvery white back and saddle area. Females have a back that is bluish to gray with penciling.



The breed can be used to create sex-links when mated with other breeds, especially White Plymouth Rocks (producing gray cockerels and black pullets) or New Hampshires (producing reddish gray cockerels and blackish gray pullets).

Some advice regarding breeding birchen breeds from a cochin breeder:

With birchens you will for the most part have to double mate them, meaning that you will have a breeding pen that will produce good males and another pen that will produce good females. Breed males with very little or no breast lacing to good laced or overly lace females to produce good males. Likewise, breed weak laced females to overly laced males with good yellow legs and light undercolor to achieve nicely colored females. In both cases the females out of the first breeding or the males out of the second breeding won't be fit for show due to color but they may be used in the breeding pens to achieve the same results.

NOW- that being said, we're wondering if there's a path that ought to be taken with these birds to get them back to this description on color. Breeders are finding the brown down in chicks is indicative of those birds that have different coloring as adults, and I'm wondering if you have any input on fluff color?

 

[karimw]

Wish me luck. My eggs went into lockdown this morning.

How are they doing?

 

[karimw]

I was wondering if you or someone could post the photos in the 'STOREY BOOK???? ' of the Iowa Bluethat would be most helpful
thanks schroeder

I'm not sure we can do that legally unless they are available on the internet somewhere. I couldn't find them anywhere

The books are getting cheaper though. I think they are $15 on amazon. Know what? We should do an Iowa Blue hatch

I'll offer a copy of the book to the person with the best hatch rate.

 

[mrheinz77]

How are they doing?

She had 4 hatch. The 5th hatched at the wrong end of the egg and the 6th had a misplaced air cell.

 

[karimw]

I'd like to circle back on the breed development subject. The advice given recently has been focused on the idea of breeding them to the true Birchen ideal. That's OK, but I'm not convinced that's what we are dealing with in the Iowa Blues. Let me start by thanking everyone for chiming in on this subject, because I think we are floundering a bit here. I am not an expert in chicken genetics, but I have been working on my education. I base most of what I know from Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds by Carol Ekarius c2007 and Genetics of Chicken Colours; The Basics by Sigrid van Dort, David Hancox & Friends. So before I go on, are there any other sources I should consult on the Iowa Blue breed? Is there agreement that the description of the Iowa Blue in Storey's book is the one we want to go by? I hope I have given enough credit to the writer to paraphrase here.

Size: Cock 7 lb, Hen 6lb.
Comb, Wattles & Earlobes:
Medium to moderately large single comb with six well defined points that stand upright. Medium to moderately large wattles and earlobes. All are bright red.
Color:
Beak is horn
Eyes are dark brown
Shanks and toes are slate
Head is white to silvery white
Neck and upper breast have white feathers with a slender black stripe down the middle transitioning to black feathers with white lacing.
Lower breast, body, legs, wings and tail are bluish black to grey with penciling.
Male: Back and saddle are similar to neck
Female: Back is bluish to gray with penciling.

Now it doesn't SAY Birchen anywhere, but is it a description of Birchen?

 

[draye]

I'd like to circle back on the breed development subject. The advice given recently has been focused on the idea of breeding them to the true Birchen ideal. That's OK, but I'm not convinced that's what we are dealing with in the Iowa Blues. Let me start by thanking everyone for chiming in on this subject, because I think we are floundering a bit here. I am not an expert in chicken genetics, but I have been working on my education. I base most of what I know from Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds by Carol Ekarius c2007 and Genetics of Chicken Colours; The Basics by Sigrid van Dort, David Hancox & Friends. So before I go on, are there any other sources I should consult on the Iowa Blue breed? Is there agreement that the description of the Iowa Blue in Storey's book is the one we want to go by? I hope I have given enough credit to the writer to paraphrase here.

Size: Cock 7 lb, Hen 6lb.
Comb, Wattles & Earlobes:
Medium to moderately large single comb with six well defined points that stand upright. Medium to moderately large wattles and earlobes. All are bright red.
Color:
Beak is horn
Eyes are dark brown
Shanks and toes are slate
Head is white to silvery white
Neck and upper breast have white feathers with a slender black stripe down the middle transitioning to black feathers with white lacing.
Lower breast, body, legs, wings and tail are bluish black to grey with penciling.
Male: Back and saddle are similar to neck
Female: Back is bluish to gray with penciling.

Now it doesn't SAY Birchen anywhere, but is it a description of Birchen?

I think that is what ChooksChick wrote in her post.

I think.

 

[karimw]

It's close, but several statements on the thread start with "Birchen" as the key color so genetically this is ER on the E allele. In the Dort/Hancox book on Colour Genetics I read you can get that same color with Brown (eb). That was posted on this thread earlier. If I understand correctly, you can tell ER by the presence of Crow Wing, while the eb shows itself as duck wing. Is this right? If so, we have both going on in this breed.
This crow wing - the secondary wing feathers are black:


This is duck wing - his feathers are other than black:



The Storey hen looks very much like this. Is this from eb or ER? If you cull all the black chicks will you still get this?

 

[Myabcs3]

I think the genetic experts need to come back...

 

[eggdd]

when can you start sexing iowa blues?