Isabel Welsummer

[faykokoWV]

I'd love to see some more pictures of the parents! Especially a rooster. Pretty color

 

[skitzkle]

Wow they are beautiful. who sells them?

 

[chicken tows]

Wow they are beautiful. who sells them?

I believe James @ Skyline Poultry would be your only source to purchase these little gems in the United States.

 

[chicken tows]

Egg color is almost at optimal. Picture is showing the comparison to my Cottage Hill Line of French Black Copper Marans. I can't wait till they fill out for you Carolyn. You'll really be impressed with the blossoming of colors they'll display.

James, they are feathering out BEAUTIFULLY. I am really thrilled.

 

[FlashPointFarm]

Beautiful!

 

[EweSheep]

Beautiful birds!

I know they have them in Netherlands and I am not sure how they crossed them but I love to have more photographs of the parent stock!

In due time, I hope Skyline will get the egg color chart and give us a number of the actual shade of the eggs these birds produced.

Remember folks, this is a fairly new breed of its own. Good eye candy for your flock if you want something different.

 

[skylinepoultry]

Sorry for the delay everyone. I'm extremely busy and it's hard to get time on here anymore. First off Id like to thank everyone who encouraged and liked this project.
This is probably the most interesting project to date for me and is my all time favorite thus far. To watch this color change so many times to get to the final stage is miraculous and beautiful. You never expect it to finalize into this gorgeous color. I've worked on two Isabel projects and both have turned out amazing. I lost one project and many birds to wild dogs, family emergency and an accidental over sight by a caretaker. 2013 wasn't a good year to say the least.
I guess I should explain a little bit of why and how the Isabel craze began for me. A good friend at the time showed me some photos of Isabel's over in the UK and I thought they were beautiful. This would be Buddy Henry of Backwoods Poultry farm. Needless to say I was obsessed. Buddy Henry and Ron Presley started their own Isabel Leghorn Project and I decided to work with Welsummers. Besides the fact that I love Welsummers I had a couple reasons why I chose them. First off they're the perfect color pattern to show off an Isabel and the second would be that there's not that many color choices to choose from in Welsummers. With the cat out of the bag that's soon to change as Welsummers will have 8 new colors to choose from. I discovered there's so many ways you can turn this pattern into stunning new colors. Colors that even I wouldn't of fathomed until I started tinkering with the what if's. And it's pretty darn cool if I do say so myself.
At the time my two favorite colored birds were Welsummers and Wheaten Marans. Something about these colors to me are so soothing and relaxing. And now I have variety in the spectrum to choose from. To me it was not about what could I get new at the time but what could I do with what I got. To invent and improve on what's already here in my backyard. And that's been my philosophy ever since. Granted it is cool to see new breeds Arrive in the states but we have so much here to work with that it's endless and I'm like a kid in a candy store when I go to converting colors.
In my experience working with the Isabel it's not a hard project at all. My wait time off the first Isabel's was like 1 Isabel per 25 chicks. And that was with both projects give or take some chicks. Body type of course is the hardest along with every other little detail that goes with the breed. Including shanks and egg color etc. At the time Ron Presley supplied me with the Lavender bird I used to cross. I crossed the Isabel's over Into my Welsummers three times before I felt comfortable even telling anyone about it. I crossed them into two different Welsummer lines. This last Welsummer line came from a gentleman in his 70's who had the line since he was a kid. He doesn't know what line they are but I thought they were beautiful so I begged him for some and he finally gave in, lol. Thank you Kennith! From my experience alone the filling out process for the males was slow but so worth the wait. That's why I've not posted pics of my male Isabel Welsummers because I'd like them looking at their best before the butchering begins from all the critics. And I take all opinions in hand without fuss or hate. Everyone has their own opinion and you have to respect that. Another reason I chose to release them early was this one main factor. Welsummers have such a loyal following and I figured with the lines that are out there why couldn't everyone else do their own line of Isabel Welsummer as well. I've done did the hard part and I'll have my own line so why not. Let's have fun and enjoy these birds along with everything else. Chicken husbandry is ONE of the most awesome things in the world to me.
I'd like to give thanks to Buddy Henry And Ron Presley for all their knowledge and inspiration. You just gotta give credit where credit is due. These guys know their color genetics.
Before I leave I would like to show some pictures of my final Isabel Wheaten Maran Males before the whole project was lost. It's the only pictures I have and I have to say the Cottage Hill Wheaten Marans displayed Isabel with style. Enjoy the pics everyone

 

[skylinepoultry]

 

[skylinepoultry]

 

[skylinepoultry]