Silverudd's Blue

[KYTinpusher]

So, what is Silverudd's Blue and why do they look like Isbars?

This weekend in Sweden, the name of the Isbar Blue, as they are known in Sweden was officially changed to Silverudd's Blue. I hate to leave you hanging on the whole story, but I am very short on time right now. I will return shortly (hopefully) with the rest of the story.....

 

[ChicKat]

So, what is Silverudds Blue and why do they look like Isbars?

This weekend in Sweden, the name of the Isbar Blue, as they are known in Sweden was officially changed to Silverudds Blue. I hate to leave you hanging on the whole story, but I am very short on time right now. I will return shortly (hopefully) with the rest of the story.....

wow.

 

[KYTinpusher]

A brief history of Martin Silverudd and a few of his breeds

Martin Silverudd was a Swedish monk with a passion for breeding chickens. His desire was to create highly productive chickens that laid beautiful colored eggs. In 1956, Silverudd imported some Cream Legbar chickens from England. They were highly susceptible to disease, so he crossed them with the Swedish Leghorn (with 25% New Hampshire blood) and created the Silverudd's Safir (Sapphire). These laid a blue and/or green egg.

In the 1960's, Martin Silverudd used the Plymouth Rock, New Hampshire, Cream legbar (probably indirectly through the Silverudd's Sapphire) and finally RIR, Alexander line, to create the original Isbar (probably an acronym for Island Silver Barred), also referred to as the Silver Barred Rhode Island Red. The Isbar was a grönäggsvärpare, or green egg layer. This breed became all but extinct in Sweden, but is now being recreated by breeders in Sweden working off of Silverudd's notes. This is a picture of a pair from that project (photo courtesy of Andreas Harrysson and used by permission):


In the 1970's, Martin Silverudd created another green egg laying breed with plumage in the colors of blue, black and splash. It is reported to be 75% Rhode Island Red and 25% New Hampshire, with Cream Legbar added for the blue egg gene. Some texts I have read also suggest that the Swedish Leghorn may have been used. His working name for this breed was Svensk Grönäggsvärpare, or Swedish Greenegglayer. No official description of this breed was filed before Silverudd's death in 1986. Sometime after Martin's death, in the 1990's, this breed became known as Isbar Blå, or Isbar Blue, probably due to some confusion in Silverudds notes. It is this breed that was first imported into the United States in 2012 and became known here as the Isbar or Blue Isbar.



The name Isbar is actually a misnomer for this breed as they are not now nor have they ever been barred. Plus, it causes confusion with the original Isbar as the two breeds are not related. However, Silverudd's working name for this breed, Svensk Grönäggsvärpare, or Swedish Greenegglayer, is too generic as it also used to refer to crossbred green egg layers (similar to our term Easter Egger).

The Svenska Kulturhönsföreningen, or Swedish Culture Poultry Association, was formed in 2012. They maintain a studbook of the foundation flocks of the breeds developed by Martin Silverudd in Sweden and are responsible for the recreation of the original Isbar. This past weekend, at their annual meeting, the Board of Directors and the Breed Coordinators made the decision to officially change the name of the Isbar Blå (Isbar Blue or Blue Isbar) to Silverudds Blå (Silverudd's Blue) - Silverudd's to honor the man who did so much for Swedish breeds and Blue to describe the color.

As the word spreads, I believe many breeders in this country, myself included, will start referring to our stock as Silverudd's Blue.

 

[ChicKat]

Thanks for that information KyTinpusher. It is fascinating.

That does answer my question about if we will change the name to align with the Swedish and it makes a lot of sense to me.



Although this is beside the point -- it's still interesting to me.
I did and possibly still do(Not sure which chicken in the Isbar pen shed the feather, and some of that stock have been rehomed or taken by predators) have some bars on my Isbars -- and they are direct descendents from the 1st imports of GFF. Interestingly, the barring shows near the body so, it is less noticable unless some feather parting goes on.


Definitely a blue Isbar feather. -- oops - it came from a Silverudd's Blue.

Do we know if this was one of the breeds that Silverudd was working on making autosexing? Autosexing is such a convenience that I'm spoiled by knowing the gender of the Legbars that I have the minute that they hatch -- and knowing if I sell someone chicks and they are only allowed or only want pullets that even as day old they are definitely pullets.
Thanks for what you are doing on behalf of the breed.

 

[ChicKat]

More questions = more posts.... :O)

Regarding the pictures above, and the chickens currently in the USA - is it important that the breed's earlobes are one or another color. i.e. - above they look like white earlobes, and my flock has red earlobes -- which is my preference for the breed.




Is earlobe color of any importance? in the APA for an SOP it would have to be one-or-the-other. I guess that I'm really okay with either choice if it is what is required for a true Silverudd Blue.

Second question (ignore if it cannot be discussed here)

Regarding a stud-book. I think that is such a good idea. hat's off to the Swedes for having one for their poultry. Any broad outline of how it would work? An association would have to keep it -- (thinking of when we raised Registered Beefmaster Cattle) -- it's a pretty big deal -- I'm sure the same with horses - and other animals that have a stud book.
can I quote this?
Maintaining a studbook would relieve us of the necessity to develop an SOP to protect the breed. Developing a strict SOP would, in my opinion, cause the production aspect that is such a prominent part of its breeding to suffer.


I agree fully with the opinion that that SOP is an appearance only aspect of the chicken - and some important qualities are lost when this is overly emphasized. Cream Legbars are an autosexing breed -- but now rumors have circulated that they have 'lost the autosexing' -- as people zoomed away from the basics of the breed and zoomed toward one certain 'look'. If the rumor is true or not, I couldn't verify---because the ones I have are clearly and undoubtedly autosexing. -- but you know how rumors fly in the poultry world -- right?

Would/could a studbook incoude any of the 'first imports' or would it be those that come from the new project only? And if this is a premature question -- just table it til later. ;O)

 

[KYTinpusher]

Thanks for that information KyTinpusher. It is fascinating.

That does answer my question about if we will change the name to align with the Swedish and it makes a lot of sense to me.



Although this is beside the point -- it's still interesting to me.
I did and possibly still do(Not sure which chicken in the Isbar pen shed the feather, and some of that stock have been rehomed or taken by predators) have some bars on my Isbars -- and they are direct descendents from the 1st imports of GFF. Interestingly, the barring shows near the body so, it is less noticable unless some feather parting goes on.

I am not an expert on the subject, but I am wondering if the feather is not showing true barring, but more of a wild-type pattern resembling barring. I believe in Sweden that the wild type hens do occasionally show up.


Definitely a blue Isbar feather. -- oops - it came from a Silverudd's Blue.

Do we know if this was one of the breeds that Silverudd was working on making autosexing? Autosexing is such a convenience that I'm spoiled by knowing the gender of the Legbars that I have the minute that they hatch -- and knowing if I sell someone chicks and they are only allowed or only want pullets that even as day old they are definitely pullets.

Martin Silverudd did strive to make auto-sexing breeds. However, if he meant for the Silverudd's Blue to be auto-sexing, he did not finish that part before his death.

Thanks for what you are doing on behalf of the breed.

More questions = more posts.... :O)

Regarding the pictures above, and the chickens currently in the USA - is it important that the breed's earlobes are one or another color. i.e. - above they look like white earlobes, and my flock has red earlobes -- which is my preference for the breed.




Is earlobe color of any importance? in the APA for an SOP it would have to be one-or-the-other. I guess that I'm really okay with either choice if it is what is required for a true Silverudd Blue.

I have seen nice examples of the breed exhibiting both colors, though not a stark white, but usually a mix of both colors to varying degrees. An exact color to be bred for is only important for an official SOP. Martin Silverudd intended his breeds to be production breeds, not show breeds. He not only did not breed to an SOP, but it is my understanding that he did not want his breeds bred to an SOP because that could harm the production qualities.

Second question (ignore if it cannot be discussed here)

Regarding a stud-book. I think that is such a good idea. hat's off to the Swedes for having one for their poultry. Any broad outline of how it would work? An association would have to keep it -- (thinking of when we raised Registered Beefmaster Cattle) -- it's a pretty big deal -- I'm sure the same with horses - and other animals that have a stud book.
can I quote this?
Maintaining a studbook would relieve us of the necessity to develop an SOP to protect the breed. Developing a strict SOP would, in my opinion, cause the production aspect that is such a prominent part of its breeding to suffer.

We are in the process of forming an association to keep the stud book. Unless we need to add other stock for diversity, I believe only the newly imported stock from the studbook farms in Sweden would be included in the studbook here as they are the only ones that we could actually trace back to the origin. If we find that we need added diversity, the association would have to very carefully consider which birds could be added.

My thoughts on the association is that there will be different classes of Silverudd's Blue which will encompass most of the stock already in this country. One of those classes would be an SOP class. There will probably be an SOP developed that could be used for shows just to keep this breed in front of the poultry public at large. None of this is set in stone as it is only my musings and it will be all the members of the association that make the decisions on these matters.


I agree fully with the opinion that that SOP is an appearance only aspect of the chicken - and some important qualities are lost when this is overly emphasized. Cream Legbars are an autosexing breed -- but now rumors have circulated that they have 'lost the autosexing' -- as people zoomed away from the basics of the breed and zoomed toward one certain 'look'. If the rumor is true or not, I couldn't verify---because the ones I have are clearly and undoubtedly autosexing. -- but you know how rumors fly in the poultry world -- right?

Would/could a studbook incoude any of the 'first imports' or would it be those that come from the new project only? And if this is a premature question -- just table it til later. ;O)

Oh, and some information on the name to try to head off some confusion. Blue is part of the breed name and does not refer to the color of an individual bird, so the black and splash colors are also considered part of this breed. Instead, the "Blue" is a reference to the blue plumage coloring found in the breed and the color of the eggs, sort of like the "green" in putting green refers to a part of the course and not necessarily the color of it.

From the Director of the Isbar breeding program for the Svenska Kulturhönsföreningen (and now the Silverudd's Blue program, I believe but need to double check that) in Sweden: "We don't breed for any of the color, we choose the best production hens. We have chosen the Blue part as this is the name of the dilution gene that gives the BBS coloring (at least blue and splash) as well as the breed is homozygous for blue egg color (O-gene), this gene together with the individuals amount of brown egg color decides the final egg color."

 

[ChicKat]

Oh, and some information on the name to try to head off some confusion. Blue is part of the breed name and does not refer to the color of an individual bird, so the black and splash colors are also considered part of this breed. Instead, the "Blue" is a reference to the blue plumage coloring found in the breed and the color of the eggs, sort of like the "green" in putting green refers to a part of the course and not necessarily the color of it.

From the Director of the Isbar breeding program for the Svenska Kulturhönsföreningen (and now the Silverudds Blue program, I believe but need to double check that) in Sweden: "We don't breed for any of the color, we choose the best production hens. We have chosen the Blue part as this is the name of the dilution gene that gives the BBS coloring (at least blue and splash) as well as the breed is homozygous for blue egg color (O-gene), this gene together with the individuals amount of brown egg color decides the final egg color."

Thanks so much!

Was going to delete my questions because I thought maybe they were "too granular.".. and a bit of a tangent. However you have answered them beautifully. I really appreciate that. !

What a fascinating journey the Silverudds Blue is going to have -- and I so appreciate both the effort that you put in to provide information -- and the trace back to Silverudd and the whys of his adversion to an SOP.

 

[ericinga]

Does anyone have mature hens that lay? I am just curious how big the eggs are once the hens are mature. The ones I received from an order of hatching eggs were huge. Almost too big to fit in a carton or rack in the incubator. Since my hen isn't mature yet I haven't seen other mature hen eggs to understand if they should be that big. They did not hatch well. One chick hatched and died and it was huge and the other was also huge and seemed fine at first but has a weird leg that doesn't seem to be connected. It turns out and I have seen the chick turn to walk and that leg didn't turn with it. Never seen anything like it. I had eggs from GFF in that same hatch and they were half the size and most of them hatched so I know the other breeders eggs hatching the way they did wasn't due to my incubator.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

When mature, our hens do lay a large egg but not extra large as you describe.

 

[OHfarmerswife]

Don't have time to read yet as we are working on our new breeding pens getting ready for the Silverudd Blues. Trying to take advantage of the great weather in Ohio this weekend!!!
I'll be back to read all tonight.