Chicken Breed Focus - Icelandic

[NotAFarm]

From what hatchery are you getting your stock, please?

I have been raising them about a year. I have 17 breeders and just hatched out 26 chicks a week ago and am hatching right now.

How about some pictures of your breeders?!

 

[N F C]

How about some pictures of your breeders?!

And chicks too please!

 

[drumstick diva]

I didn't know hatcheries bred icelandics.

 

[NotAFarm]

Detail Value
Breed Purpose Dual Purpose
Comb Single
Broodiness Average
Climate Tolerance All Climates
Egg Productivity Medium
Egg Size Medium
Egg Color White
Breed Temperament Flighty
Breed Colors/Varieties Many
Breed Size Large Fowl

Sumi, I marked in red the items in your listing that might need to be changed:
Combs can be of any type: single, rose, cushion, walnut
Eggs are white to tinted (cream, beige)
Temperament is "wary"-they are very aware of their surroundings but with proper handling will be very calm around their people.

Great with their people.....








Getting good egg-color pictures is hard.........even with eggs that aren't blue!




Combs of all types....

 

[NotAFarm]

Do you own Icelandics? Are you an Icelandic breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!

Posted some pics...now the answers to the questions:

I've had Icelandics since June, 2010.
I have bred them since the following spring, March 2011.

1. I loved the variety they offered, and that I would be helping to preserve a genetic treasure.
2. Owning them is a ton of fun....but the reason I own them is that I believe they need to be preserved. They are a unique and special landrace. Protected and preserved by a small group of people in Iceland that didn't want to lose what had been developed for hundreds of years. The foresight of some of them, to send/bring eggs here, to develop a community of like-minded people with preservation of the race in mind, is something to be admired. Their trust in us, to take such a treasure and keep it pure, is a sign of their devotion to their Viking heritage. An Icelandic is only an Icelandic if they are kept pure. No amount of "breeding back" can remove genes that were not present in them when they arrived here. The purity of the flock must be the purpose and utmost priority when keeping an Icelandic flock.
3. They are great foragers and very self-sufficient. They love their freedom and I love sitting and watching their antics. The cocks with their hens, the way the flock interacts with one-another, the broody with her chicks, the alerts for danger, the reaction of the flock to the alerts, there is so much to love about them.
4. I've already overloaded this thread with my pictures but a broody hen with chicks needs to be posted:

 

[N F C]

Posted some pics...now the answers to the questions:

I've had Icelandics since June, 2010.
I have bred them since the following spring, March 2011.

1. I loved the variety they offered, and that I would be helping to preserve a genetic treasure.
2. Owning them is a ton of fun....but the reason I own them is that I believe they need to be preserved. They are a unique and special landrace. Protected and preserved by a small group of people in Iceland that didn't want to lose what had been developed for hundreds of years. The foresight of some of them, to send/bring eggs here, to develop a community of like-minded people with preservation of the race in mind, is something to be admired. Their trust in us, to take such a treasure and keep it pure, is a sign of their devotion to their Viking heritage. An Icelandic is only an Icelandic if they are kept pure. No amount of "breeding back" can remove genes that were not present in them when they arrived here. The purity of the flock must be the purpose and utmost priority when keeping an Icelandic flock.
3. They are great foragers and very self-sufficient. They love their freedom and I love sitting and watching their antics. The cocks with their hens, the way the flock interacts with one-another, the broody with her chicks, the alerts for danger, the reaction of the flock to the alerts, there is so much to love about them.
4. I've already overloaded this thread with my pictures but a broody hen with chicks needs to be posted:

Nuts, I'm out of ovations at the moment. Hope this will suffice

Nice photo!

Question...do all Icelandics have that little "wig" on their heads? I like it!

 

[Blooie]

I don't think so, Debby. Sumi said at the beginning that some have little crests, some don't.

 

[N F C]

I don't think so, Debby. Sumi said at the beginning that some have little crests, some don't.

Duh, so she did. Sorry!

 

[NotAFarm]

These are my two original hens.

Asta, rose comb and wheatenish coloring and Anna, single comb and mottled.
Neither of them had/have a crest, but both hatched chicks with crests when bred to a cock with a crest.


Here is a good picture of two full sisters...rose comb, no crest and single comb, crested

 

[oldcampcook]