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Thanks for the link. Great photos of neat looking birds!
Hmmmm... there's been at least one "Which Breed or Gender" post lately where what I now see was probably an Iowa Blue dismissed as a mutt.
I started hanging out in that thread to learn more about what breeds of chickens people have, but now it's sort of like watching America's Funniest Home Videos; people will post out-of-focus photos of day-old mixed chicks and ask that they be identified for breed and gender, for instance. Or start their answers with "I don't know anything about chickens..." and then label a group of pale red, white tail-feathered hens as "Road Island Reds."
I think I saw that post you speak of (or maybe there's another one?) and I posted my 2-cents worth about it. The pic I saw looked like an Iowa Blue hen and I said as much.
I'm no chicken expert either tho'. I have another rooster I'm not sure what he is!! He's a beauty too tho'... and I have some hens I'm not sure about either, but pretty sure they're "mutts". Have only had a flock since spring 2010 and they were almost all adult laying hens when I got them.
When I was first looking into chickens and their breeds, I Googled them to see what they looked like and all their stats. Since my original flock are older hens I found on Craigslist and I wasn't sure how much longer they'd be laying, wanted to get some new stock. I stumbled across my Iowa Blues when we stopped by the Graham feed store to buy chicks this past spring.
We bought 2 of everything the feed store had in stock that day. Had no idea what the IB's were (outside of chickens!
) and went looking for info when we got home. Very little info and even fewer pics of them out there!!
Next day, we went back and bought the rest of their Iowa Blues in stock - ended up with a total of 9 of them (8 hens, 1 rooster). So far, I've been very happy with them. They're a tad skittish, but that might be cause when they were younger they had pasty butt - only chicks of the lot I bought this spring to have it - and I had to clean them when it was still chilly out and then blow dry their butts
Not laying yet (unless they're laying out in the yard and I'm not seeing it), but we're building a new coop right now to accommodate my larger flock so that's ok. They're very good at free-ranging it all day and don't seem to be as hungry as my other gals for chicken feed.
The IB's were also the first of my chicks to appreciate the crickets I'd buy for them as snacks. Thought the crickets would be good training for when I let them outside to forage. The rest of the chicks just absolutely freaked out like crazy and ran away to the other side of the brooder, stepping all over one another to get away from them!! Wish I'd gotten that on video at the time.
It was so funny that we all had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard!
It took one of my teeniest Iowa Blues to show them what they were there for. After that? It was a free-for-all stepping all over each other to get to them!
Thanks for the link. Great photos of neat looking birds!
Hmmmm... there's been at least one "Which Breed or Gender" post lately where what I now see was probably an Iowa Blue dismissed as a mutt.
I started hanging out in that thread to learn more about what breeds of chickens people have, but now it's sort of like watching America's Funniest Home Videos; people will post out-of-focus photos of day-old mixed chicks and ask that they be identified for breed and gender, for instance. Or start their answers with "I don't know anything about chickens..." and then label a group of pale red, white tail-feathered hens as "Road Island Reds."
I think I saw that post you speak of (or maybe there's another one?) and I posted my 2-cents worth about it. The pic I saw looked like an Iowa Blue hen and I said as much.
I'm no chicken expert either tho'. I have another rooster I'm not sure what he is!! He's a beauty too tho'... and I have some hens I'm not sure about either, but pretty sure they're "mutts". Have only had a flock since spring 2010 and they were almost all adult laying hens when I got them.
When I was first looking into chickens and their breeds, I Googled them to see what they looked like and all their stats. Since my original flock are older hens I found on Craigslist and I wasn't sure how much longer they'd be laying, wanted to get some new stock. I stumbled across my Iowa Blues when we stopped by the Graham feed store to buy chicks this past spring.
We bought 2 of everything the feed store had in stock that day. Had no idea what the IB's were (outside of chickens!
The IB's were also the first of my chicks to appreciate the crickets I'd buy for them as snacks. Thought the crickets would be good training for when I let them outside to forage. The rest of the chicks just absolutely freaked out like crazy and ran away to the other side of the brooder, stepping all over one another to get away from them!! Wish I'd gotten that on video at the time.
