Icelandic chicken breeding.

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If I were to have Icelandics what would I breed for? They are a landrace, and therefore have no set standard. So what would you select for and against to keep the Icelandics, Icelandics. This also applies to every other landrace out there.
 
The most obvious point is to select against defects and problems.

Do not breed from any chicken with a crossbeak, or a crooked tail, or crooked toes, or any other thing that would be a defect in all breeds.

Select for general good health: not the chick that needed help to hatch, not the one that needed special care in the brooder, not the chicken that looked extra-miserable when the weather was very cold or very hot or very wet, not the ones that got sick if others remained healthy, and so forth.

If you see a chicken that has very different traits than the rest, it might be an accidental crossbreed, so view it with suspicion too.

Other than that, I would say to select in favor of the traits that made you want that landrace in particular: good foraging ability, or predator awareness, or good mothering ability, or a variety of feather colors, or whatever other traits they are known for.
 

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