Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[WVDan44]

Glad to hear Gandalf is doing OK! I had a break in to one of my grow out pens the other night. Stupid skunk went on a killing spree and I lost 22 two month old chicks before I shot it. Fortunately I heard the commotion at 11 PM when I was up late doing homework or I would have lost them all. I did loose 9 of 10 of my new Welsummers though.

Fortunately I still have 18 left of that batch and just moved 92 chicks out of the basement. Not really in any danger of running out.

I've been chasing off a black rat snake that I keep finding in the nest boxes eating my eggs. Tonight, the fool was intertwined amongst a trio of IaB hens and a roo - I guess enjoying their body heat, and he had egg dripping out of his mouth. I don't generally bother them, but this dude had to go. I've been missing eggs and thinking the hens were in a draught. We shall see if their egg production improves. Snakes generally travel and hunt in pairs so I be on the look out or its mate. Danged varmits!!!

 

[WVDan44]

On another subject, I've been toying with a name for my coops of IaBs and came up with one that has both a local connection, and perhaps a whimsical connection to Iowa. We live in a small town on a river that separates Maryland and West Virginia, and a similar town across the river in Maryland is casually known by its nickname River City. I've decided to call my flock River City Blues. I've registered the name, and now am working on a logo.

I will have a separate name for my Black Australorps. At one point, I actually thought about calling my small operation Black and Blue Poultry but I thought it might confuse some folks. Perhaps they might think I abused my chickens or something.

WVDan

 

[3riverschick]

Great ideas, catchy name.
Congrats!
Karen

 

[Candy442]

I've been chasing off a black rat snake that I keep finding in the nest boxes eating my eggs. Tonight, the fool was intertwined amongst a trio of IaB hens and a roo - I guess enjoying their body heat, and he had egg dripping out of his mouth. I don't generally bother them, but this dude had to go. I've been missing eggs and thinking the hens were in a draught. We shall see if their egg production improves. Snakes generally travel and hunt in pairs so I be on the look out or its mate. Danged varmits!!!

On another subject, I've been toying with a name for my coops of IaBs and came up with one that has both a local connection, and perhaps a whimsical connection to Iowa. We live in a small town on a river that separates Maryland and West Virginia, and a similar town across the river in Maryland is casually known by its nickname River City. I've decided to call my flock River City Blues. I've registered the name, and now am working on a logo.

I will have a separate name for my Black Australorps. At one point, I actually thought about calling my small operation Black and Blue Poultry but I thought it might confuse some folks. Perhaps they might think I abused my chickens or something.

WVDan

Dan,
Snakes? wow...I am not sure any can fit into my coop since the only opening is 1/4 wide hardware cloth. I supposed they could come into the pop door during the day, but I would see them in there.

I love snakes and great that they only want the eggs! I hope you could just take it out of there and rehome it to the property boundary, but it probably would return, right?

Like the business name Much better than "black and blue"

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Any band is acceptable, it is just a way for you to protect yourself. I use zip ties! By class, for the open show, that means you could enter 3 IB K, 3 IB P, 3 IB C and, 3 IB H. But since the IB's have not been approved yet we have no class per-say except they would be American class. Just bring your best lookers!
You can always call the 800 number and talk to someone if you have questions about entries too! If you choose to print out a registration form, they must be mailed on the 14th, no later.
The show superintendent is very easy to work with as well, but she does have rules to follow.

 

[ottbjumper06]

I just looked at the calender and saw that the 9th of August is when my brother will be on leave from the army and is going to be coming to stay with us. I'll hopefully still be able to come one of the days to help out but it looks like yet again I'm going to miss a chance to show my birds :-/.

 

[Candy442]

The date and time are Sat., Aug 9th at 5pm is when we can begin any presentation. We will have a special area for this event only, the same area they have the rooster crowing, and the bird wash demo. The show super., Al, (Alnice) is excited to have this happen! She said she has seen them and would like to have a pullet or two she can show or a trio, to help meet the showing demands for the APA requirements.
All exhibition registration info is available online at: www.iowastatefair.org/premiumbooks

Oh my gosh, I have Rollo, the Iowa Blue Smokey cockerel that would certainly win that crowing contest! He crows here in the morning about every 2 minutes for about an hour! Of course I am sure IF we even made the trip, he would develop performance anxiety!

Can we enter birds to be judged? or in the other contests? Or are they just on display only?

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Oh my gosh, I have Rollo, the Iowa Blue Smokey cockerel that would certainly win that crowing contest! He crows here in the morning about every 2 minutes for about an hour! Of course I am sure IF we even made the trip, he would develop performance anxiety!

Can we enter birds to be judged? or in the other contests? Or are they just on display only?

Yes, you can enter birds for judging. it is an apa and aba sanctioned show. The IB's are in the show for judging but we will move some or all to the "staged" area for a special presentation.

 

[Candy442]

We won't be able to enter any birds in the Iowa fair. With our recent issues with the dog attack, we had house problems that need repair. I am sure we will have to be here for repairs. I would like to be able to see photos of the event to have ideas for promotions of the breed and ideas where the banners come from, etc.

Gandalf is still hanging in there. His wounds are SLOWLY healing, but we have a long road ahead. He is limping on the bad leg, but stands without any problems. Poor guy is so lonely. He loves to get cleaned up because I wrap him in a towel and hold him close. I miss his "whistling" noise he used to make outside. I sure hope he wasn't so traumatized he isn't "himself" after all this.

We took day four (post attack) pictures last night to compare how the healing is going. We are using saline water to dab on the areas, twice cleaning and then allowing the air to dry the area. Then putting on a nice layer of Neosporin on all the exposed wounds. The biggest challenge are those tooth puncture wounds he has.

He also is getting an injection of antibiotics each night.

We will be candling our incubator eggs this friday. I sure hope all is going good in there!

June Bug and Cocoa, our Iowa baby boys are getting nice patterns on the breast

. Tiny Dancer has some HUGE wings! She is about half the size of her hatch mates, but has bigger wings than them!

It was cute to watch them yesterday, all four taking a dust bath with their "momma". Tiny was the only baby to use her own (tiny

) dust bath pit, the other three were trying to horn in on their momma's hard work LOL. If I had my phone out there with me, I could have taken a video! I need to be more prepared.

I hope everyone is doing good!

 

[Candy442]

Gandalf seems to not be getting better. He is drinking but not eating much. Wednesday will be a week since the attack.

I did not expect him to last the night after seeing his condition when I got home from work last night. He really needs to eat and I have all his favorite goodies in with him. Maybe I will try yogurt later. I wish there was something like "rooster boost" out there.

My friend Folly's Place came over and we gave him a warm bath to drench the wounds and slather him up with antibiotic ointment. She also did not feel he was going to make it.

Gandalf was still alive this morning when I left for work....tough guy, sure hope he isn't in a lot of pain...