Silverrudd’s Blue Chicken (Isbar)

Description

The Silverrudd’s Blue chicken was developed in southern Sweden in the 1980s. The name derives from the person who developed the breed, Martin Silverrudd, and the genes that defer blue coloring to the feathers and to the eggshells. Because they combine genes for both blue eggshells and brown eggshells, Silverrudd’s Blue hens lay eggs in various shades of green, some with brown speckles.
Silverrudd’s goal was to develop a pure chicken breed with a variety of plumage colors and that consistently lays green eggs. Silverrudd bred these chickens for color variety, medium size, good egg production, and green shell color, but not to a standard body shape.
In 2011 they were first imported into the United States as Isbar (ICE-bar) chickens. A second import of Isbars occurred in 2013. Then, in 2016 the Swedish Cultural Hen Association officially renamed the breed as Silverrudd’s Blue in honor of the originator.