Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[Jake Levi]

I am having fun raising out these youngsters, the Birchen cockerel is starting to eat from my hand, wary but coming in with the others now, the SP dark partridge is very wary and flighty. Doesnt bode well for his longevity. We will see. He is also much lighter built then the Birchen. The two dilute partridges are darkening up, and calming down, I spend time at every feeding standing in the door of the raised pen and hand feeding, its working on most of them , and interesting to watch the colors developing.

Right now I am thinking of just raising these out over the winter, and then in the spring add another rooster. We'll see.

 

[Freia]

I'm an Iowa Blue newbie. I got my first chick in April. she's about 24 weeks now and has been laying for about 2 weeks. Her eggs come in at a steady, miniscule 29 grams and are staying that way. Is this normal? Will they eventually get bigger? Right now they're great bite-sized snacks, but they're kind of pathetic.

Not being familiar with IBs, we thought that she may have been in the wrong tray at the feed store and I accidentally got an assorted bantam. She's quite small. But I've been looking at your pics of the IBs here, and she does appear to be the right chicken. Beautiful black with silver/birchen feathers around her nck, dark eyes and and proud upright tail. She's a plucky, though little bird with a lot of personality. We adore her. But those eggs...

and how big is a hen supposed to be? I don't think this little lady is more than 3-4 pounds. I may weight her and get some pictures today just out of curiosity. I'm trying to learn mroe about them, as I think I may want to get more IB chicks next year (unless the eggs are really supposed to be that size - gah!)

 

[karimw]

It's really hard to tell what they are going to look like grown up. I've seen a lot of them and I still have trouble predicting!

Some new pictures of my young males:
It's really tough to gauge size since their ages are all over the place. Ottojumper, I'm not sure you are still interested in my line since they didn't originate from Sandhill, but let me know if you see any cockerels you like. They all have a flaw of some kind, light eyes or legs, red/brown on the wings, high tail set, split for gold or to much white. No surprise really, this is a project breed after all. Just let me know what you really DON'T want, and I'll try to narrow it down for you. I'll be culling pretty much on size this time around.

 

[karimw]

I need a better picture of this guy, but I think I like him. He has a longer broader back and shorter and better set tail than the rest Down side is he's Birchen.


He's the one in the upper left corner in this picture. Silver Gray in the lower right has good size to him.

 

[ottbjumper06]

I like the looks of the first one. What I'm mainly looking for is something with size and good temperment. Thanks!
Emily

 

[ottbjumper06]

I cant load all of the photos right now on my phone but I hope that gives you an idea. All I know that I for sure don't want is a Birchen, but otherwise I like to keep my options open. I also like #6.

 

[karimw]

I cant load all of the photos right now on my phone but I hope that gives you an idea. All I know that I for sure don't want is a Birchen, but otherwise I like to keep my options open. I also like #6.

I like them too, but I hope we can resolve all that light color on the breast into lacing in the future

Those two are actually the oldest ones and are in my breeding pen now. Some of the younger ones have better lacing, but it's hard to tell what will happen in a month or two.

What day are you planning to come to Mason City?

 

[ottbjumper06]

I can be in Mason City any day, I only live 15 minutes away

 

[karimw]

I can be in Mason City any day, I only live 15 minutes away

OK, I thought you had plans that weekend.

 

[ottbjumper06]

Kari, Mom likes #9 as well.