Icelandic Chickens

[lalaland]

Here is a picture of a Swedish Flower Hen rooster belonging to KYtinpusher. She posted this picture on the Fermenting Feed thread. Looks like the cockerel posted above could be a SFH.

Please don't take this wrong, but I hope you won't breed anything and call it Icelandic, unless you are 100% sure that is what it is. What makes an Icelandic an Icelandic, is the genes that it carries, NOT how it looks. Preserving the gene pool, keeping it free from crossing with other breeds, is what preservation of the Icelandic landrace is all about. There are already detractors who want to label Icelandics as nothing more than "mutts" and barnyard mixes and when people have multiple flocks of similar breeds and keep them together, it leads to more fuel on the fire of doubt. Off the soapbox now...

REPEAT: This is a Swedish Flower Hen Cockbird belonging to KYtinpusher.....NOT an Icelandic

thanks for the pic of the swf rooster. I had ordered swf's, but didn't get any, unless the roo turns out to be one. The folks on the swf thread say no, not a swf because of his leg color - he has white legs, not yellow. He isn't a sulmtaler, either.

And don't worry, I would not identify something as icelandic unless I knew for absolute positive that it was icelandic. Right now, I feel confident that the two roosters (pics a couple of posts back on this thread) are icelandic. I am not confident of the pullets, because I have been told based on the photos that they are various breeds. It can be difficult to id a bird from a pic. I would like to think the first pullet in the pic of 4 different birds is an icelandic - deb thought so, and so did another poster on a diff thread. But again, photos are sometimes misleading.

Not sure what I will end up doing regarding breeding, but because of the confusion in the chicks stemming from the woman who hatched them, I would not sell them as any specific breed because at this point, I don't have a properly identified pair of rooster and hen to make that claim. (xcept for the araucanas).

thanks for the feedback.

 

[RedIII]

thanks for the pic of the swf rooster. I had ordered swf's, but didn't get any, unless the roo turns out to be one. The folks on the swf thread say no, not a swf because of his leg color - he has white legs, not yellow. He isn't a sulmtaler, either.

And don't worry, I would not identify something as icelandic unless I knew for absolute positive that it was icelandic. Right now, I feel confident that the two roosters (pics a couple of posts back on this thread) are icelandic. I am not confident of the pullets, because I have been told based on the photos that they are various breeds. It can be difficult to id a bird from a pic. I would like to think the first pullet in the pic of 4 different birds is an icelandic - deb thought so, and so did another poster on a diff thread. But again, photos are sometimes misleading.

Not sure what I will end up doing regarding breeding, but because of the confusion in the chicks stemming from the woman who hatched them, I would not sell them as any specific breed because at this point, I don't have a properly identified pair of rooster and hen to make that claim. (xcept for the araucanas).

thanks for the feedback.

Sorry

That is disappointing. The pictures of the first four that you posted looked very Iceland-ish to me.

 

[NotAFarm]

Yeah, they are kinda easy to tell apart from other breeds! I have one and it is the cutest, strangest little thing! It loves my big guy, Audun, and hangs around with him.....when the hens don't run it off........

Still waiting for a crow or an egg from it. I'm hoping it is a pullet so it can stay!

Here is Audun with Hans/Hanna....

 

[lalaland]

hans/hanna looks sweet! will keep my fingers crossed she is a pullet.

and Audun....is he icelandic? and do icelandics ever have white legs? (you can see what I'm thinking...)

and thanks RedIII. We'll see what these pullets turn out like as they grow older. And as far as I can tell, there isn't a clear way to definitely say this is or isn't an icelandic... without being certain of the parentage.

 

[debs_flock]

Yeah, they are kinda easy to tell apart from other breeds! I have one and it is the cutest, strangest little thing! It loves my big guy, Audun, and hangs around with him.....when the hens don't run it off........

Still waiting for a crow or an egg from it. I'm hoping it is a pullet so it can stay!

Here is Audun with Hans/Hanna....


Mary, do you have a closer picture of Hanna? She appears to be a pullet (yes, I have Araucana too)

Although I'm phasing them out. I only have two boys left, beautiful lemon blues I couldn't part with and I've put all my girls in with the Marans to create OE's.

 

[NotAFarm]

Deb (Happy Belated Birthday by the way!

), I'll try and get a new one later today! Hatch date was May 2nd, so I'm thinking/hoping pullet, too........unless they are really late bloomers!

 

[Myrth]

I have made it 3/4 of the way through this thread. Woot! I have evaluated my facilities and they fall short. I need to make it more escape proof. In the past I have kept Brahmas and Orpingtons. The coop and run would hold such bird, but probably not Icelandics. Not yet anyway.


I like Jake's concept of keeping birds best suited to your environment. For me that would be clean legged birds. My brahmas feathered feet did not do so well in Illinois winters outside. I think rose combs would also do better for me. My buff orpington cocks had trouble with frostbitten combs. Icelandics have the genetic diversity to adapt to different homestead environments.

I like the lack of an SOP. These birds definitely breed to type. They have a typical shape, and behavior. Type is more than color, from my perspective!

 

[NotAFarm]

hans/hanna looks sweet! will keep my fingers crossed she is a pullet.

and Audun....is he icelandic? and do icelandics ever have white legs? (you can see what I'm thinking...)

and thanks RedIII. We'll see what these pullets turn out like as they grow older. And as far as I can tell, there isn't a clear way to definitely say this is or isn't an icelandic... without being certain of the parentage.

Audun is an Icelandic. He came from Mary O's (The Sheriff) original stock from Sigrid.
I have never had an Icelandic with white legs. Audun has yellow legs and so does one of my original hens, Asta. My other original hen, Anna, has dusky legs (per the Standard of Perfection Glossary- "DUSKY: Refers to a shading of black pigment in the epidermis over yellow pigment in the dermis as in dusky yellow shanks") They have thrown willow, green, slate and yellow (and in a couple of cases, mixed - see pic below) legged offspring, but no white.

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote: Deb, Here is a close-up of Hanna and one of her rear/side that shows no sign of saddle feathers and one to show type next to some Icelandics (just to keep on topic

) Eldur said not to look at his bum.......he looks pitiful without his sickle feathers.......but they will be back soon!

 

[debs_flock]

First, I LOVE her tufts. Her comb is pretty pink, but there is no sign of development. I'd say the odds are pretty good she is a pullet. Sorry, I forget how old you said, the beginning of May?

Just to say, if I had been getting tufts like that, I might still be trying to breed them!

Practically everything I hatched was clean-faced with lots of residual tails. Another reason I'm using them to make OE!