Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[trailrider330]

I picked up my very first Iowa Blue chicks from Candy and Brett the last weekend of April. The chicks are now almost 7 weeks old. I have 15 in all. There are 7 Silvers (2 males, 5 females), 5 charcoals (4 males, 1 female) and 3 patterned Birchens (1 male, 2 females).

Thought I would include a picture of my favorite Silver cockerel:


My favorite Silver pullet:


My favorite Charcoal Cockerel:


And my favorite (and only) Charcoal pullet:

 

[Candy442]

I picked up my very first Iowa Blue chicks from Candy and Brett the last weekend of April. The chicks are now almost 7 weeks old. I have 15 in all. There are 7 Silvers (2 males, 5 females), 5 charcoals (4 males, 1 female) and 3 patterned Birchens (1 male, 2 females).

Thought I would include a picture of my favorite Silver cockerel:


My favorite Silver pullet:


My favorite Charcoal Cockerel:


And my favorite (and only) Charcoal pullet:

I love all these choices! great feathering so far on these Iowas and I like the charcoal pullet's nice whiter feathers around her head!

 

[redcreek]

Privett hatchery N.M.

 

[Candy442]

Privett hatchery N.M.

ah, I went to their website and see that they have the Iowa Blue listed under "very rare breeds". Sometimes hatcheries get their hatching eggs from private stock. I wonder if Privett got their own stock from Ideal? Either way, they have the incorrect variety as their "iowa blue" hatching. I wonder if I try to write them about it?

 

[IACraig]

Not sure how a hatchery does it, but I would think they would want hundreds of eggs to start a breeding group to sell chicks. If it came privately I think people on this thread would know who it was. I think they got their stock from Ideal. At least Privet's birds are closer to IA Blue than Ideal's Birchens. Hopefully this is Privett attempting to get Ideal's birds closer to what an IA Blue should be. A hatchery producing these birds correctly is really what the breed needs.

I wonder what these birds looked like as chicks.

 

[draye]

Not sure how a hatchery does it, but I would think they would want hundreds of eggs to start a breeding group to sell chicks. If it came privately I think people on this thread would know who it was. I think they got their stock from Ideal. At least Privet's birds are closer to IA Blue than Ideal's Birchens. Hopefully this is Privett attempting to get Ideal's birds closer to what an IA Blue should be. A hatchery producing these birds correctly is really what the breed needs.

I wonder what these birds looked like as chicks.

Privett and Ideal work hand in hand together. There are times that Privett will ship out for Ideal and vise versa.

 

[Candy442]

Not sure how a hatchery does it, but I would think they would want hundreds of eggs to start a breeding group to sell chicks. If it came privately I think people on this thread would know who it was. I think they got their stock from Ideal. At least Privet's birds are closer to IA Blue than Ideal's Birchens. Hopefully this is Privett attempting to get Ideal's birds closer to what an IA Blue should be. A hatchery producing these birds correctly is really what the breed needs.

I wonder what these birds looked like as chicks.

Probably black. The birds are showing signs of pencilling, but very over melanized at this point. Better than the Birchen's Ideal was sending out, but still not like the Iowa's we get from the saved stock.

 

[Candy442]

Here is a photo of one of our recent smokey Iowas...pullet. What does everyone think?

 

[IACraig]

She's got dark legs and a clean brest. Like to see her breast darken with age. I struggle with getting smokie hens looking right, and the roosters always look tall and leggy but the hens dont.

 

[karimw]

Here is a photo of one of our recent smokey Iowas...pullet. What does everyone think?

Mine look a lot like this, though about 75% still pop red on the breast eventually. I'm not sure if this one is clean, because I can see the rust along the edge in this picture. It could be hinting of the Db gene. I'm still not sure where the brown tone comes from on these. The Silver gene disperses Db and Ar+ throughout the body on the hens, essentially hiding it.