Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[karimw]

I think the body portion should be more defined (brick? Square?)
Also, in the original description they're said to be bluish black, right? Which of these color standards would represent that?

Probably the Birchen. Most of the "black" hens I've had tend to be more brownish black.

 

[karimw]

For my own knowledge, pulled these photos (obviously other breeds) of the male/female/chick appearances of silver penciled vs. birchen. Figured I'd share here, too, for color reference.

Look very much like our cocoa vs. black chicks.

Boy, Hurley, for someone who said they weren't going to be on much, you've sure done a lot of work!

How does the pencilling pattern show up in chicks? Is anyone familiar with this gene combo? I'm trying to draw a correlation between the amount of pattern variegation on the chicks and the degree of penciling they will have. That is to say if there is a lot of defined spots and stripes on the chick they are likely to be penciled.Is that a sound theory?

 

[Hurley]

The photos of penciled chicks I found and my own ones here had stripes down their backs. Don't know anything beyond that, just that they look like our chipmunk brown chicks.

On the body style, good thought, need to get some representative photos to look at, but I'd say my stock looks more square.

On the color, I don't know that one would differ from the other in "blueness" since they aren't blue. I think the point to be made in that regard is to avoid the brassiness and brown feathers and breed more towards that cold steely black/silver range.

And yeah, had to stay in with the boys last night, so I put the time to use. Gotta head out to study (impossible to do here with two boys running wild), but would love to start working through the standard here, piece by piece. Think we needs a few photos for discussion, first though. Anyone willing to post some nice lateral shots of full adults? (or at least near adults?)

 

[Hurley]

Oh, and I would put up a poll, but don't want people just randomly popping on to vote who have no stake in it (i.e. not following the thread), so how about a written poll here?

Choices (can pick multiples, if you wish):

1. Iowa Blue Fanciers Club (IBFC) - H, K
2. Iowa Blue Chicken Club (IBCC) - H, K, S
3. Iowa Blue Chicken Fanciers Association (IBCFA)
4. Iowa Blue Chicken Association (IBCA) - M, L
5. Iowa Blue Fanciers Association (IBFA)
6. Iowa Blues Club (IBC) - H
7. Iowa Blue Chicken Fanciers Club (IBCFC) - K
8. American Iowa Blue Chicken Club (AIBCA) - M
9. American Iowa Blue Chicken Association - M

Will tally up the votes, if there's a tie, will rerun a poll with just those two+. Sound good?

I can add the votes to this thread through editting, I think. Don't think there's a time limit on editting, but we'll find out. I'll put the first initial of your handle so you know your vote got counted.

I like 6, 1, and 2.


(If you really want another choice put on this list, let me know and I'll add it to the polling.)

 

[karimw]

I do like #6, it's very simple, but I think if someone were to google it it should say "chicken". I also like the word "fanciers" so I will vote put forth a vote for a combo of 1 and 2: Iowa Blue Chicken Fanciers Club -IBCFC. I'd be happy with either 1 or 2 though.

 

[Hurley]

OK, seriously, I am leaving to study now. Sorry, color me excited, LOL, but so looking forward to this breed taking off!

I threw together the beginnings of a website, just generically hosted on weebly so I can see it. If we decide on a name for the club, I can get us a domain site and host the page. We can have fun designing logos, banners, pages, info for the site, too.

Link to where it's parked right now:

http://153664432317805156.weebly.com/index.html

(sorry, just threw my avatar on there for now as a banner holder)

 

[mrheinz77]

My vote goes for #4. I have another 2 suggestions, if its not too late.
American Iowa Blue Chicken Club
American Iowa Blue Chicken Association (although I'm not a huge fan of the word chicken in there but some are so I put it in.

 

[mrheinz77]

Since I am a science teacher (BS in Biology), I like to see data. (Hey, what science person doesn't like data.

I went to Walmart and got a fishing scale for under $10. I hung a 5 gallon pail on it and calibrated it. I then caught each of my IB in my breeding pen, made a few notes mostly about the comb, and found their weight. My results show I have my work cut out for me. I challenge everybody to do the same.

Data:
(Note: unless otherwise stated, the following were purchased from Karimw the beginning of July from her replacement flock)

#26 Cock 6 point comb. Lacing on chest. 6.25 lbs

#2 Hen 4 point comb that comes to an abrupt end. 5 lbs

#3 3 point comb with a twist. 4.25 lbs

#5 3 point comb. 4.25 lbs

#7 6 point comb. 5 lbs (I think she is my favorite)

#9 Huge wavy comb that looks like it was frosted (very little for points but 4-5 nubs). 5 lbs

#10 3 point comb with a twist. 4 lbs

#20 5-6 point comb. Hatched mid July 2011 from eggs from Trish (FlashPointFarm). This was from a pair Trish got from Kari. 4 pounds

#21 5 point comb. She has the most silver of the hens/pullets instead of the brassiness on her hackles. She does have a squirrel tail. Hatched late June 2011 from ebay eggs. 4.25 pounds.

There was a hen or 2 also with squirrel tail but I didn't get their numbers.

When I have enough to choose from I will look at everybody and decide who goes in the layer flock and who goes in the breeding pen.

 

[schroeder vanhorner]

Hurley
I like #2 IBCC the best
schroeder

 

[loganisle]

About the body shape. . . I read somewhere that multipurpose chickens most often are rectangular shaped, taking after meat chickens. If this is a true multipurpose breed, should we not angle more toward that? Has anyone butchered any of their IBs? How was the meat to carcass ratio? Understand that I'm really just coming into chickens, but I do know that the Sussex I have are a rectangular shape and they were "THE" table bird in England for many years. Just a thought.

From Mrheinz's observations, I'd say there's a lot of work to be done on size in this breed. I speculate this may be part of some of the inbreeding and smallish gene pools popping up, but that is complete and total speculation!

I think I like #4. I think a shorter name is easier to remember and easier to look up online. I like the term "Association" better than "Club" due to the fact that a "club" brings to mind a bunch of little old ladies playing bridge every Wednesday, where as "association" sounds like something a fancier might take more seriously. Having been in dog clubs most of the last 20 years, I can tell you in those kind of organizations, clubs tend to be on the local level while association indicates the national level.

With the suggestion of "American" in front of the name - my ponderings brought me to believe that this is unneeded. To me it's like saying "American Rhode Island Reds Club". It goes without saying that Rhode Island (or in our case, Iowa) is in America. I can understand when it's something like "American Australian Shepherd Club" or something of that nature, but I *think* in lots of species/breeds that originate in America, it's pretty rare to add "American" to the front of the name, specifically when there's a state name involved.