Chicken Breed Focus - Iowa Blue

[gootziecat]

IowaBlueCurt: "Because this breed was created as a landrace for homesteading and early 1900's agricultural practices, most who have been attracted to the breed are looking for birds to meet their needs (eggs, meat, predator awareness, protective instincts, etc.) with color and even shape coming in second. That said, the current 'mood' of the IBCC club membership is to let the breed operate in its natural form making selected changes over time requiring all the variations to be put under the same selection pressure. This may take us longer to reach our APA goal (and maybe this goal will never be met), but it pairs up with the needs of our membership and the current needs of the breed."

This is great. I wish more newly imported breeds and/or landraces would get this same treatise. So often people get so involved they ruin the breed before they even get started, or try to change it when it goes against the background breeding, not to mention cause many to flee the righteous attitudes.

I stumbled across this thread and find the breed and thread most interesting. I see reference to the breed's different personality. Could some one expand on that to give a flavor of what the Iowa Blue is all about? Also, how do the roosters get along together? Since the gene pool is small, do they tend to be weak or not hardy?

Thank you for answers and shedding new light for those of us that are ignorant.

 

[Dirt Farmer]

On the second page of this thread, member named DirtFarmer is also in Northern CA I believe he has a hen and a rooster, if you are not that too far apart, you may be able to contact him for hatching eggs or maybe a chick or two?

I would be happy to once they start reproducing. Probably a couple months out.

 

[Candy442]

I stumbled across this thread and find the breed and thread most interesting. I see reference to the breed's different personality. Could some one expand on that to give a flavor of what the Iowa Blue is all about? Also, how do the roosters get along together? Since the gene pool is small, do they tend to be weak or not hardy?

Thank you for answers and shedding new light for those of us that are ignorant.

I started with four (a silver cockerel and three pullets) in 2013 and expanded the generations I have now using the rolling method of breeding. We have had about 60 pullets to 40 percent cockerels hatch via incubators. This year, we experienced our first Iowa hatch become broody (she is a smokey type).

We confine our new cockerels in a single pen and free range our breeds separate from each other. When our young Iowa cockerels are housed together, there is definitely a pecking order in the Iowa group, with one being dominant. However, we have not noticed our boys hurting each other when mixed into the flock. We prefer to mix a couple of boys in to "learn" from the dominant rooster how to behave.

These birds are very hardy! So far, we have not had any genetic abnormalities using the rolling breeding method, but had some interesting colors pop out These birds are intelligent, some tend to be independent, some are very friendly to people, others keep their boundaries. All of them are wonderful free ranging birds and protect each other from possible threats. Of course, we have an Iowa rooster that is our chicken "hero"...story told on page one of this thread Soon we are looking to incorporate new line of blood. Our originals are from Kari McKay Widdel's Dark Horse Acres

As far as the Iowa Blue Club, everyone in it is AMAZING!! They all are so committed to this breed because all understand how special these birds are. The club has a long way in making APA standards, but had accomplished much in the way of looking at whats best for the breed and not what is best for the people.

I am not the resident expert by any means, but Kari, Connie, and Curt certainly are the best ones to answer any of questions.

 

[karimw]

Hi folks, sorry to join this thread so late, it's just been crazy around Dark Horse Acres this spring.

I first got into chickens in March of 2010 with a mixed group of breeds and became instantly addicted. I joined a group of breeders interested in promoting the Iowa Blues. We ordered our chicks from two different hatcheries and obtained a collection of mostly black chicks which we divided among us. I found the color strange based on what I had learned about them in Storey's Guide to Chickens. I was also disappointed in size and performance. However, despite the fact they laid small, odd shaped, chalk colored eggs, their insanely active and curious personality kept me interested long enough to start breeding.
FIrst generation:
Boss

My communication with the hatcheries to identify some idea of what the breed was supposed to look like was met with silence and secrets. I finally decided Sandhill Preservation Center was the best place to get them, but was unable to obtain birds due to lack of availability. Still, I bred my 11 birds by rotating the males over the group of females. and began to discover some hidden color genes. There were a couple brown chicks mixed in with the black.

This variation, called birchen, was a later introduction by recent hatcheries, but the personality traits they were reported to have was consistent with the birds I was raising. They are fearless, adventurous birds, with a strong sense of survival. The day I watched in horror as one of the hens below met an attacking hawk with claws instead of terror convinced me they needed a strong advocate and with help of the members of the Iowa Blue Club I began directing my line toward the traditional type historian, Curtis Burroughs, describes.



The brown chicks, now referred to as Silver, became the model that best represented the historical hen color, though there is a more complex interaction than we originally thought.

One of my first Silver hens

Silver cockerel - fought a fox to a standstill until I got out there. Saved his hens, but died of his wounds.


Rex with his flock.Birchen rooster - only decent male to survive the Summer of the Fox.


I was happy to see he at least carried genes for Silver silver.



And then we got this, also buried behind the birchen genes.

Since they seemed a paler version of the Silvers we called them Smokeys. I was excited about them, because they looked like the fabled "chicks that looked like pheasants".

Pheasant chick:


Smokey chick - wild type E locus.



Smokey cockerel


Smokey hen

**Note the autosomal red that mars the silver color. One of the many challenges for current breeders is cleaning this up

I love the challenge of improving color and type, and I feel it is appropriate to set a standard with the APA. I am a staunch supporter of representing Iowa Blues at the shows and champion the proposed Standard of the Iowa Blue Chicken Club. That being said, my birds are a working breed, and I'll chose performance over color every time. It may delay the APA challenge, but I feel it will put them back where they belong; in the farmyards and backyards.

 

[karimw]

I've kind of lost count of how many generations, but I've improved egg quality and hardiness by letting them grow up as free range as possible. I confine them for the necessary breeding pens, but I rotate them out back into the flock. I try as much as possible to follow the spiral breeding program of crossing cockerels back to older hens and using a cock of the previous generation over the pullets, but more often than not I am faced with using the male with the least faults over the best females. in 2013 I introduced some cockerels of the Sandhill line to improve size and type. So far, I am pleased with the progress the breed is making and am always thrilled to see new breeders fall in love with them.

Youngsters from 2014


Smokey parents. Note the CLEAN breast on this hen.


My sweety waiting for treats.


Young silver cockerel and old gold cock.


El Dorado - current Smokey sire


A little light to show, and plenty of faults, but he's pure for silver, no autosomal red, nice slate legs, small comb and wattles, shorter stockier build. I hope the hens fix the horrible tail angle, but keep the nice spread and feather width.


One interesting feather pattern.


December and January hatched pullets


February pullet


Still seeing some red, but these girls are nice and big with slate legs, and starting to lay at 5 1/2 months.

 

[Betsy57]

We currently finished up our paperwork and blood testing for an NPIP certified flock as well. Just waiting on our Flock # from the State, so next Winter/Spring we should have plenty of chicks to sell here in Southern Illinois.

I bought 3 chicks tonight that are about 2 weeks old. They're big for their age it seems. My first time having this breed. They sure are quiet!! I can't seem to find pictures of juvenile and adult Smokys. Anyone have any to post?

 

[MHoock]

The chicks you bought from us were hatched out on 10/21, so they are 2.5 weeks old. Thanks for the text this morning with the update, that they are doing well. I'm sure they will be living it up in your Chilton.
These were hatched out the same day as the 3 Smokey IB's you have. This is at 2 weeks exactly. This photo was taken because these birds were outcrosses of a Smokey IB rooster with a Buff Brahma. My daughter is doing a dominant/recessive science fair project. They are sitting on the lid of a 5 gallon bucket.

Father:
Smokey IB

Mother:
Silver IB

 

[MHoock]

Smoky IB pullet
Not the best pict, but you can see the coloration difference in her chest.



Silver IB Hen

 

[Betsy57]

The chicks you bought from us were hatched out on 10/21, so they are 2.5 weeks old. Thanks for the text this morning with the update, that they are doing well. I'm sure they will be living it up in your Chilton.
These were hatched out the same day as the 3 Smokey IB's you have. This is at 2 weeks exactly. This photo was taken because these birds were outcrosses of a Smokey IB rooster with a Buff Brahma. My daughter is doing a dominant/recessive science fair project. They are sitting on the lid of a 5 gallon bucket.

Father:
Smokey IB

Mother:
Silver IB

Sounds like an interesting and difficult project. Atta girl to your daughter!

 

[Betsy57]

Smokey Iowa Blues first day at their new home. Thanx MHoock!