Isbar thread

[Flowerbh]

New photo of Nemo, my splash Isbar.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Very pretty!

 

[Kimmi500]

New photo of Nemo, my splash Isbar.

Little Nemo is growing up

 

[debs_flock]

okay guys I'm curious I've been really excited about my isbars but my hen is now 13 month old has never laid an egg. I know she's not an egg either and I have play several eggs in with her and she has not eaten them. you'll have any suggestions cause I'm seriously about to sell them, and I really don't want to but if she's not going to lay me an egg then there's no purpose in having her. makes me so sad.

Mine were a full year old before they started to lay. It should be soon for you.

Hi everyone. I am in PA and I am trying to find Isbar hatching eggs. Does anyone know where to find some other than ebay? I would much rather get them from a BYC member if I can. I can usually get more info on reviews and hatch rates this way.
Thanks!

I have hatching eggs right now.

 

[mstarr]

I ordered and just received a half dozen Isbar chicks from http://www.naturalark.com/isbar.html in Colorado. I live in Ohio and they were here in about 24 hrs from when they left home. They were so safely packaged with snacks included in their traveling box. Doc, from Waltz's Natural Ark has been so helpful and answered every question I had about the breed. It has been a wonderful purchasing experience.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

A little advice please? I am pulling my hair out with my Isbars. At first they were young and there were fertility issues- I did some feather trimming and solved that. I've been hatching every week for two months and do you know how many chicks have survived the first week? I'm down to 5 from last Sunday's hatch of 7. Everything that has hatched previously has passed, usually before 1 week but as late as 2 weeks.

I don't know what to do. None of my other breeds are having problems. The Isbar eggs are ALWAYS the last to hatch- today I took out 90% of the chicks from today's hatch and I have 6 Isbar pipped out of 8 eggs. They will hatch probably tomorrow. That's the ONLY thing different. Feed is the same, eggs are collected, stored, and incubated the same. Is this a genetic problem with my rooster? If it was a problem with one hen I would still be getting half the chicks to survive. The chicks do hatch late but once out seem fine- healthy, perky, I show them the food and the water. Then after about 3 or 4 days one at a time they stop eating and drinking and start gasping as they breath. That lasts for about 2 days and then they pass. I've brought them in the house, given them vitamins, force feed them warm mash, even tried using Gallymicin in water and mixed with feed for this last one that died in my hands today.

Any suggestions? They go in a box in the house with paper towels for the first two days, then to a wire brooder in the garage. None of them have made it to being put outdoors. Feed is fresh and in date, unmedicated. That's the only thing I can think to change but I'm not sure it would matter. Oh, and I do usually have a few that fail to hatch, out of ten eggs I might have 1 early death and 2 or 3 that are fully formed but do not pip.

My rooster comes from hatching eggs from TheSheriff Mary, the two girls come from hatching eggs from Richard Jordan in GA. I have two pullets up and coming from a later batch of eggs from Mary. I am getting really frustrated trying to get started with this breed.

 

[corvidae]

A little advice please? I am pulling my hair out with my Isbars. At first they were young and there were fertility issues- I did some feather trimming and solved that. I've been hatching every week for two months and do you know how many chicks have survived the first week? I'm down to 5 from last Sunday's hatch of 7. Everything that has hatched previously has passed, usually before 1 week but as late as 2 weeks. I don't know what to do. None of my other breeds are having problems. The Isbar eggs are ALWAYS the last to hatch- today I took out 90% of the chicks from today's hatch and I have 6 Isbar pipped out of 8 eggs. They will hatch probably tomorrow. That's the ONLY thing different. Feed is the same, eggs are collected, stored, and incubated the same. Is this a genetic problem with my rooster? If it was a problem with one hen I would still be getting half the chicks to survive. The chicks do hatch late but once out seem fine- healthy, perky, I show them the food and the water. Then after about 3 or 4 days one at a time they stop eating and drinking and start gasping as they breath. That lasts for about 2 days and then they pass. I've brought them in the house, given them vitamins, force feed them warm mash, even tried using Gallymicin in water and mixed with feed for this last one that died in my hands today. Any suggestions? They go in a box in the house with paper towels for the first two days, then to a wire brooder in the garage. None of them have made it to being put outdoors. Feed is fresh and in date, unmedicated. That's the only thing I can think to change but I'm not sure it would matter. Oh, and I do usually have a few that fail to hatch, out of ten eggs I might have 1 early death and 2 or 3 that are fully formed but do not pip. My rooster comes from hatching eggs from TheSheriff Mary, the two girls come from hatching eggs from Richard Jordan in GA. I have two pullets up and coming from a later batch of eggs from Mary. I am getting really frustrated trying to get started with this breed.

I'll tell you true, I have had the worst freaking luck with this breed--they seem most susceptible to disease out of all the breeds I have, they seem much harder to hatch and much more likely to die for no apparent reason. After 2 years of trying to start a decent size pretty flock of them, I am starting to conclude that they are a little on the genetically fragile side of things, possibly because there really aren't a whole lot of them in the world, relatively speaking. I have finally managed to get 19 of them to reach about 7 weeks old, looking very nice and perky, and ****** if something didn't get in their coop last night and wreaked bloody death on 9 of them. Maybe I'm just cursed when it comes to Isbars. If this group doesn't make it, I'm giving up on them and moving to something amazingly hardy. Preferably with fangs and claws!

 

[Kimmi500]

I completely second what you have said! I have been working on building my flock for over a year. Spent hundreds on hatching eggs and chicks. I currently have 2 roo's and 5 pullets. They do seem incredibly fragile. So sad because they are beautiful and so sweet!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Yeesh sorry, that's just as bad as what I'm dealing with! From a few suggestions I've been given on another thread: Feed scrambled eggs the first three or four days, switch to medicated feed, sterilize egg trays and hatching trays between batches (which I already did frequently but not between every batch), spray down the brooder with Oxine between batches, and keep them in the house for the first week to keep a closer eye on them. One lady said she, too, finds Isbars to be her most fragile chicks. She said on another breed that was also a new import, many many chick losses at autopsy were found to have high levels of cocci in their bodies even though other breeds hatched at the same time were surviving fine. It may be the same with Isbars, they could be just more susceptible to a strain of cocci in my area that my own chicks have a natural immunity to. I did find the symptoms to be very cocci-like, but dismissed that solution since my other chicks were all fine. But I am considering it again. I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet, just stumped and frustrated. We'll see in a few weeks if these changes make a difference. The 5 left from last Sunday's hatch all look OK for now, but I will bring them in and put them on the medicated feed, too, once I get some.

 

[Flowerbh]

I have not had any trouble with my one Isbar, Nemo. I got two eggs from Richard Jordon (Ga) and both were doing fine until lockdown when I was removing the turner, I dropped one egg and hatched the chick die in my hand! Was soooo sad. Anyway, I was extremely lucky that the other one that hatched was a female! She is now 19 weeks old and is doing very well. Her comb has just started getting bigger. Hope for eggs in the next month or two!