Icelandic Chickens

[debs_flock]

Quote:
I think it's funny the two black chicks look like a Rockette pose.

Kelly, what did the two black chicks in your photo turn out like? And it's funny, your picture is so similar to mine, I thought it was mine until I noticed there were too many chicks

Mary, my roos are
Arne (second in command)

Heimo (dominant roo & feather legged)

Subordinate roo and will be rehomed - just too many roos in the pen

All my girls are the typical chickmunk chick (two from your eggs) and three from Mary (Sheriff). One girl from you has no crest. (Ignore the little frizzle serama roo in the background

)

Deb

ETA - the pictures are all a few months old, so they've matured a bit more.

 

[debs_flock]

I also hatched about 8 chicks a few weeks ago, two of them were feather legged.

Deb

 

[NotAFarm]

Deb, Does Heimo have mottling on his breast? It is hard to tell by the picture but it looks like it....and is his breast blue or black? He is very striking!
I will be looking forward to seeing how the chicks turn out!

 

[debs_flock]

Deb, Does Heimo have mottling on his breast? It is hard to tell by the picture but it looks like it....and is his breast blue or black? He is very striking!
I will be looking forward to seeing how the chicks turn out!

He does, light speckling. His breast is black.

I'll see if I can take an updated picture of him tomorrow.

Deb

 

[debs_flock]

He really is a handsome boy.

Deb

 

[NotAFarm]

Deb, Did Heimo come from The Sheriff? He has more leg feathering than any I've seen.

Elska did not have any black chicks in her August clutch (I'm sure all but possibly one are from her own eggs).....


...but one that was dark brown with a white bib started looking nearly black within a month...
on the far right in this pic.....

Here he is today at almost 5 months old...

crest pic from three weeks ago..



Your Heimo must be based on silver and my Eldur on gold, hence his chicks' down difference. I don't think Eldur will have gold in his hackle from what I see now. His crest has some gold in it, but not too much at this point.
The white breast/bib at hatch, I believe, signals the mottled gene. They have to have two copies to express it but I think those that carry one copy will have a bib. Just something I'm noticing in my flock. I only started with one mottled pullet and now have a daughter of hers (Elska) and two of her "grandchicks" that are mottled. Dreki is a son of Anna, my original mottled hen, so your Drekkette and other chicks you hatched from me last spring may carry that gene.
I love the fact that you never know what you're going to get.....they are all unique and beautiful!

 

[debs_flock]

Deb, Did Heimo come from The Sheriff? He has more leg feathering than any I've seen.

Heimo did come from Mary. Lukka was brooding five chicks when I went to Mary's to pick up Isbar eggs. I asked her about more Icelandics and she offered the five chicks to me. The feathering runs down the outside of his leg, but stops above his feet.

Here he is as a youngster



You can see his leg feathering appeared even more extreme when he was young.



Elska did not have any black chicks in her August clutch (I'm sure all but possibly one are from her own eggs).....
The black chicks I was refering to were posted by Kelly.


Your Heimo must be based on silver and my Eldur on gold, hence his chicks' down difference. I don't think Eldur will have gold in his hackle from what I see now. His crest has some gold in it, but not too much at this point.
The white breast/bib at hatch, I believe, signals the mottled gene. They have to have two copies to express it but I think those that carry one copy will have a bib. Just something I'm noticing in my flock. I only started with one mottled pullet and now have a daughter of hers (Elska) and two of her "grandchicks" that are mottled. Dreki is a son of Anna, my original mottled hen, so your Drekkette and other chicks you hatched from me last spring may carry that gene.
I love the fact that you never know what you're going to get.....they are all unique and beautiful!

They are a fascinating breed because of the variety. I'll have to post a better picture of Drekkette (DH told me today, she is his new favorite pullet, she hung out with him all day today while he worked outside. I think because she didn't know any of her new chicken friends.

) All across her back and tail are blue.

Deb

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote: Deb, These are the black chicks I was talking about.....do you think Heimo is the father? The second from the left will be blue for sure!!

 

[janelle18]

Here is a pic of my two Icelandic chicks hatched for NYE hatch a long. Unfortunately one died it had a bad leg. The other is doing great. I was disappointed by the hatch rate of my icelandics. Hopefully the one turns out to be a hen! I hate introducing one chicken tho grr. Everyone else's cute chick pics inspired me.

 

[debs_flock]

I just don't know for sure, he is definately the dominant roo and does all the breeding unless the other boys sneak in. The only way to know for sure is if I set up a breeding pen with just him. These were two chicks that popped out in the last batch I hatched.

The leg feathering was obvious at hatch. (Ignore that nasty finger, I'm losing my thumbnail

)

I've sent Icelandic eggs to a couple of people lately, it will be interesting to see what they get.

Deb