Iowa Blues Chicken Club (IBCC) - Breed Standard Discussion / Club Discussion

[mrheinz77]

Hot2Pot has some of the nicer Speckled Sussex that I have seen that are from a hatchery. There are only 2 breeders that I know of with SQ Speckled Sussex. I want to order from one, but I don't need 25. Like the Iowa Blue, SS need work on size and color. Snowbird, who has helped us with the SS was a breeder of SQ SS but stopped working with them due to lack of popularity. The thread I mentioned should have a wealth of knowledge to help us with the IB standard. That is the only reason I have mentioned it here. I don't want to get us off topic.

 

[FlashPointFarm]

I just joined. Whomever started this, thank you! The website is beautiful. Is there any way to start a forum on that site. Or at least a "contact us" form to ask questions? I'd be interested in being involved if I could be of help.

 

[mrheinz77]

Trish,
Hurley is the responsible party for both.
I am not a fan of allowing squirrel tail to be accepted, but majority rules. I just think the tail angle should be higher than 70 degrees.

 

[loganisle]

I think this is a good idea too. If we could put a "bulletin board" or blog or something on that site, it might be the better place for these discussions.

As far as the tail, I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm fairly new to chickens. I've shown dogs and horses against a standard, which is why it's normal of me to expect one when I hit on the chickens.

Right now I've been inspecting body types and, most especially, those of other breeds that LOOK to me very similar in body type to the IBs. Trying to figure out this whole square/rectangle thing. The Sussex I have are supposed to be more of a rectangular brick shape. I saw Dorkings, which I think hold a strong resemblance to the IBs (especially the silver greys), and their body type seems very similar. They consider those to be square. I know that Sussex and other "multi-purpose" birds tend to be described as rectangular, and maybe this is something we need to work back into the breed since they seem to be more square. It would be nice to have some old photos to work from.

On a side note, I was looking at the black Dorking as a vehicle for bringing some new blood into the IBs and maybe improve on size while still maintaining the "look" and type. We don't need to discuss this now, but definitely food for thought.

 

[Margitas]

I have to check my to by tomorrow, but i thing is 80-90 if it not 70 i sell them.

 

[Hurley]

I popped a contact us form and a little forum up on the site. Don't know how much will be duplications/cross posting between the forums, but there is a small forum up there. The free version right now is pretty limited as far as what is displayed (first 15 topics, first 200 posts). If we find we are getting a lot of use out of the forum, it can be upgraded for a price. Same goes for the website. I paid for the domain to host the site and was happy to do so. If we want more power out of the site, would require an upgrade, yada yada. I figure at some point the club will institute annual dues or something to pay for club stuff like the site, but for now I'm happy to host it and we have to domain and site for a year.

I just figured a site gives the breed more credence and will help to unify the movement to promote the breed and set a standard.

 

[Hurley]

In regards to the tail, what do we think for an angle, 80 degrees? 90? Same for both sexes or different?

 

[Hurley]

And OK, that was a pain, but have the website set up to forward to [email protected], an account that can be transferred/shared/assigned up to 10 email addresses (including webmaster) to set up chairs if we wish, like Membership Chair, Breeders Chair, President, etc. in the future.

 

[loganisle]

Look at the info these folks are posting about our breed. It says "only one color variety" which is defined in another location as birchen.

http://www.crocuta.net/Chickens/Chicken_Breeds_Alphabetical.htm#iowa_blue

Teresa

 

[Hurley]

Yeah, I believe the birchen is the most often listed color pattern mentioned in conjunction with Iowa Blues. However, the legends of the striped and/or cocoa brown chicks and the reports of black and brown/striped chicks in clutches and in the legends would suggest the two varieties.