Isbar thread

[spunkychickenmomma]

This was Thunder. Wish all of my chickens were as gentle and friendly as he was.

 

[Flowerbh]

Nemo finally laid her first egg today! Beautiful moss green. I love it! She surprised me. I thought my Naked Necks would lay first! She is 27 1/2 weeks old. Can't get photos to work.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Yes!!! Congrats!

 

[Flowerbh]

Here is my new Isbar egg...the one in the middle of course!

 

[lawatt]

i've been trying to get some updated photos of my growing-out chicks today, here are a few of the isbars (roughly 10 weeks old):



blue the boy -- he's starting to get some gold/silver color in his neck



blue again



penelope



molly, who looks almost exactly like penelope but is a bit bigger



blue and frieda, who is actually an isbar/blue marans cross (i also have a second crossed one with black feathers)



blue again

 

[lawatt]

pardon me for so many photos, but i took a few more of the girls:



fern, the black isbar/marans cross



frieda, the splash isbar/marans cross



mabel, who i'm not sure whether is a pure isbar or a cross -- she doesn't have any feathers on her feet, but her head is darker than the two i'm sure are pure isbars...



mabel in the foreground, frieda & penelope in the background



penelope stretching, with mabel in the foreground



frieda again!



molly, named for Miss Molly here on BYC, from whom i got the eggs/chicks



molly stretching!

 

[Irishhenman]

Are isbars like legbars, rhodebars, wybars, barnebars, well bars and cambars in that they are a like an auto sexing version of more common breeds. If they are what breed were they based on

 

[lonnyandrinda]

No they are not autosexing. I have seen a few websites claiming they are, or that they are some of the time, but in my experience they are not sexable until about 3-4 weeks old when the comb differences start showing. The man who created the Isbar, Father Martin Silverudd, intended to make it an autosexing breed but died before he completed his breeding work and the Isbar was left unfinished.
Here is a link to a good general history of the breed: http://www.bucknrunranch.com/blue-isbar-2/.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Here is some more detailed information about Martin Silverudd's work: http://www.the-coop.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=50683

 

[longgrove]

Thanks for the pictures, Iawatt. It is nice to see how they look as they are growing. I have 3 small clutches under broodies of Isbar eggs now. Also had a blue hen who is Cochin/Wyandotte (looks like Wyandotte) hatched out 5 chicks with our splash Isbar roo. (Although one got nailed by a hawk). It is hard to determine the Isbar crosses with blue hens vs pure Isbar (as noted with your blue Marans/Isbar crosses). I do find they (the crosses) are more difficult to sex (as the comb type varies), they are not all straight comb. The pure Isbar chicks will not be mixed up with the cross chicks this season as they are about 3 months apart in age.