Blue Isbars, Crowing and Growing!

My trio of blue Isbars are out of quarantine now and in with the layer flock. They are having a bit of a slow integration and stay to themselves most of the time. I am not sure they are even roosting yet, rather sleeping in a pile in a corner of the coop. I’ll have to go out and look tonight. Two days ago as I was walking across the deck in the early morning hours, I heard a strange sound coming from the coop. A stop, look, and listen confirmed that it was the pitiful sound of a young rooster’s first crow. Young Bjorn’s first crow to be exact! I was beyond thrilled that he was crowing because that meant mating and fertile Isbar eggs couldn’t be too far off. An hour later when I heard a ruckus, I looked out the window to see Bjorn mating Blind Lucy! Judge Judy, Martha and Skye had all come to her rescue and were in the process of giving him a royal beat down.

I have carried my video camera with me the last two mornings in hopes to catching the crow on audio, but alas, he has fallen silent again. Today I observed him trying to mate Raven, my black Ameraucana. When that failed, he tried again with Blind Lucy. None of that is going to get me any fertile blue Isbar eggs. Patience.

There has been a lot of interest in the Isbars so I took some video of them this morning so you can see how they are growing out. Please ignore Bjorn’s scraggly tail feathers, the roost in the quarantine coop was too close to the wall and his tail got a bit worn. It will be beautiful in no time. Here’s a sort video of Bjorn, Anna, and Frida on the outdoor roost trying to figure out what was making the airplane noise.