Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[IowaBlueCurt]

Clare D - those are definately Fayoumi. I have 4 pullets and they look exactly like 3 of mine. I posted some pics of my Fayoumi's a few pages back. Don't worry about taking the pics off, as some of the Iowa Blues do have some Fayoumi in their background.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here is my weekend hatch!
My birchens.........


my silver peniciled.........




and some SP rock crosses...........

I ended up with 18 birchens, 7 silver penciled, and 6 SP rock crosses. A very exciting hatch indeed!!!

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here is a picture I found over the weekend. The darker chick behind the white chick is one of my old Iowa Blues. It is a chick from the Sandhill Line that I use to own. It's not a great pic, but it gives an idea of what I use to see in my old line. Thought I'd pass it along for everyone to take a look at and compare to the brown mottled chicks that we're hatching today.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

I noticed with my last hatch of Iowa Blues (which I just posted above) that they exhibited a trait my old line use to exhibit, and that I had forgotten about. When I open the lid to my brooder box, the chicks "pop" like popcorn! This popping is best described as a hopping. Some hop strait up and others hop at various distances. My brodder boxes are larger than most and maybe this allows space for the chicks to behave in a more natural way. My old Sandhill chicks did this, and now my last hatch is doing the same thing. I absolutely LOVE IT when they do this! I was so excited when I saw them behaving in this way, and it brought back a flood of memories that I'd forgotten about my old Iowa Blues. I've never witnessed this trait in any other breed I've raised (and I've raised over 70 different breeds in these same brodder boxes). I was curious to see if anyone else experienced this same trait in their chicks. Usually they stop doing it after a week or so.

Let me know if you're seeing the same thing?

 

[karimw]

LOL, I've never noticed that mine stopped doing it! If I leave the lid off my tank ,they POP right out! It's usually how I excercise them. Pull the lid off and they hop up and down from the edge of the fish tank. I tried to do that with rock crosses, but no one ever made it out.

 

[karimw]

Quote:
That's a cute pick! Looks pretty similar from what I can see.

 

[karimw]

Quote:
I have one teeny tiny hen in there, far left SP in the picture. She was broody most of the winter, most of her eggs weren't fertile yet when I candled last night, but they are now. Still, it's a very white egg rather off type. I haven't been incuding them in my shipments so far. She's so sweet though and she wouldn't do well in general population so I let her stay with her man.

 

[Hurley]

Yeah, my IBs are popcorn chicks as well. Much more springy than any other breed I've had.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

I'm glad to hear others are experiencing this as well. It is quite unique to the little buggers, and I forgot how much I enjoyed it.

Connie- Thanks for your diligent up-keep of our breed page. I was talking to my wife about it lastnight, and she mentioned that the secretary's job is one of the most important and many times the most un-thanked position in the club. So, I want to give you a huge THANK YOU!!!

To everyone else, if you haven't checked out the website in the last couple of days, we've got some neat things going on. First, the Standard Committee had a great meeting on Saturday and nearly completed the Standard for the Silver Penciled Hen. We made some great strides on her.
Also, Connie has posted a Membership List. Now we can see how our membership is coming along as well as locations of people interested in this breed. This is a great resource to find and locate others in your location who are interested in preserving our breed!

 

[WVDan44]

I noticed with my last hatch of Iowa Blues (which I just posted above) that they exhibited a trait my old line use to exhibit, and that I had forgotten about. When I open the lid to my brooder box, the chicks "pop" like popcorn! This popping is best described as a hopping. Some hop strait up and others hop at various distances. My brodder boxes are larger than most and maybe this allows space for the chicks to behave in a more natural way. My old Sandhill chicks did this, and now my last hatch is doing the same thing. I absolutely LOVE IT when they do this! I was so excited when I saw them behaving in this way, and it brought back a flood of memories that I'd forgotten about my old Iowa Blues. I've never witnessed this trait in any other breed I've raised (and I've raised over 70 different breeds in these same brodder boxes). I was curious to see if anyone else experienced this same trait in their chicks. Usually they stop doing it after a week or so.

Let me know if you're seeing the same thing?

That's what I was calling flighty and frighty! Those rascals have such survival instincts that you don't see in other chicks necessarily. Mine are just over 4 weeks old and still jumpy and jerky even though they will then walk up and eat out of my hand! My other favorite trait is when they scatter and "freeze" in a hiding position as if they think they are invisible. Funny and entertaining for sure...but out in the field, these "wild" instincts could save them from disaster I suppose and I'm happy to see they haven't lost these traits.

Dan