just catching up on this thread after about a month away (although keeping track of the isbars group on Facebook!) -- and just wanted to chime and say thanks for the info on small clan breeding. I have a blue original line rooster from one person's flock, up in the sierra foothills, and two hens & one cockerel that originated from Indigo Hills in southern CA -- and so unless i get some more outside stock, all the resulting offspring will end up related in one way or another, so trying to figure out how to manage their genetics going forward.
the tricky part with the clan breeding as it is described on the Homesteading page, is that i only have hens from a single source, although i have boys from different sources. hmm.
I hatched a few "ice-cream-bars" (sierra isbar rooster x CCL hen) this spring, one of which is a black pullet with dark eyes and no crest, and I am thinking of breeding her back to the southern CA cockerel once they are both old enough -- hoping she might add some genetic diversity without adding lots of new problematic traits? she could perhaps represent a different "clan" in the clan breeding system, too. any thoughts from this group on keeping the one CL cross in the overall flock?
I also have one isbar/blue marans olive-egger, who looks VERY isbar, maybe just a little larger, but no feathered feet, has nice dark eyes, etc. -- but am more hesitant about breeding her back to my main isbar flock. she's beautiful, though -- one of my favorites!
