Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[Yard full o' rocks]

Good morning and I apologize for "jumping in" here. I am a breeder of LF Columbian Plymouth Rocks and my 14 yr old son has developed an interest in the Iowa Blues as a breed he feels would do well at my FILs house. FIL has approx 20 acres, mostly wooded and like to have a free range group of chickens.

We are located in NW Ga so I am not certain about their ability to handle heat

Can someone give me a little guidance and perhaps point me in the direction of some source for hatching eggs?

Thanking you all in advance and again my apologies for the interruption of your thread

Scott

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

On my last hatch from Kari's eggs, I noticed that I was getting the exact opposite color hatch order them everyone else. The birchens hatched first, then the silver penciled, then the silver duckwing!!

 

[karimw]

Good morning and I apologize for "jumping in" here. I am a breeder of LF Columbian Plymouth Rocks and my 14 yr old son has developed an interest in the Iowa Blues as a breed he feels would do well at my FILs house. FIL has approx 20 acres, mostly wooded and like to have a free range group of chickens.

We are located in NW Ga so I am not certain about their ability to handle heat

Can someone give me a little guidance and perhaps point me in the direction of some source for hatching eggs?

Thanking you all in advance and again my apologies for the interruption of your thread

Scott

Hi Scott, I'm having a lull in laying right now, so can't offer any right this minute. PM me if you don't find anyone else and I can put you on the wait list. We don't have the same heat in Iowa for long periods as you do in Georgia, but I have never lost any to those conditions. I have lost a lot of Rocks to it, so perhaps that's a good indication they can compete Just make sure they have a safe place to go at night and they would probably really enjoy your timber!

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Scott- Welcome!

At the moment we have a few breeders with hatching eggs available off and on. You can check out our club website and locate some breeders who may have some available for you. Also, maybe anyone who has eggs available could PM Scott?

As far as the heat. There should be no problems there. These birds are hard to kill off from the weather. In my experience, they out-perform Rocks in the heat so if you've got Rocks down there, the Iowa Blues should do just fine.

Don't appologize for "interrupting".

This forum is for answering questions, solving mysteries, and sharing experiences!

 

[Hurley]

As far as heat, I can add this:

Last year we had an extremely hot and humid couple of days. I came home to literally 75% of my chickens dead despite having plenty of fresh water, room to spread out, lots of shade, etc. The Iowa Blues were the only breed that fared well and were out moving about like nothing was wrong. Every single Marans and Ameraucana died in that heat wave. They seem to be quite cold and heat tolerant.

 

[debs_flock]

Scott,

I'll send you a PM, my Iowa Blues currently live in a pen about 15 feet to the left of the pen the Columbian Rocks live in that I got from you!

All my IB are currently laying nearly every day and the Rocks are at just POL.

Deb

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Adding to Connie's comment, I've also found my Iowa Blues to run around maintaining their pecking order on the coldest of days when other breeds are huddled up with feathers fluffed, trying to stay warm. Survival is their specialty!

 

[mrheinz77]

Also, they are not afraid to be out in the rain, wind, etc. Mine continue to lay through the heat and cold.

I do have eggs available. I just switched cockerels in the pen a week ago because I was getting all Birchens. I'm hoping with the new cockerel, I get some Silver Pencilled. I did the switch a week ago and will be checking fertility in a week or two. I'm currently getting 5-8 eggs a day.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

I thought I'd give everyone a quick update on some things I've currently got in action at the moment.....

I connected to a wonderful woman who works in the geneology department of the Decorah Public Library. She's currently going through the Decorah Republican and the Decorah Journal (both newspapers that ran from the 1920's through the 1980's) to see if anything discussing the Iowa Blue can be found in there. She's also connecting with the Decorah Historical Society as well as the Decorah History Facebook Page to put some feelers out and see if we can dig up an additional information/stock. I'll keep you all posted on what turns up from this. I've got a feeling there are still some goodies left to find in the Decorah area, and I'm determined to find them! hahaha

I just sent out an email to Diane Jacky (the famous chicken breed artist) to see if she'd be willing to update her Iowa Blue detail and include a Silver Penciled Iowa Blue as well as the Birchen. I've also asked to see if she'd be willing to detail the IB type so that it matches closer our Standard. I'll keep you up to date on what she has to say regarding my request. The more we can get that SP IB out in the public eye the better chance we have of getting that variety branded into the public mind like the Birchen already is.


Also, the Baraboo Wisconsin Nature Conservacy use to have a flock of Iowa Blues (that according to my sources started from the 80's rescue), and I'm working on getting connected to whoever is in charge of maintianing/or maintained the flock at the location. We'll see where this leads us!

 

[ottbjumper06]

I am looking for some SP Iowa Blues to get my flock started. How much is this going to cost me? Lol. I don't know if it be better to start with hatching eggs, chicks, or adults. I have lived in Iowa most of my life and I would be thrilled to have a chicken breed that originated here! IowaBlueCurt has been so kind to give me names of some breeders and what to look for and ask, so I know just enough to get myself into trouble! I am out to maintain and hopefully improve the breed standard, so am looking for quality stock.