Icelandic Chickens

[NotAFarm]

Deb, right at 17 1/2 weeks now. I thought her tufts were impressive, but she is the only one I have seen in person so didn't have anything to compare them to. I got 8 eggs shipped from BYCer Ray_N_Debi. Three hatched under Elska but two drowned in the water dish the first day out with momma (at one week old) with the flock. I called it Hans Solo since it was a singleton and was preparing myself that it would be a cockerel. Elska weaned it at 4 weeks and Audun has looked after it ever since. She has gotten brave and now tries to hang with Eldur and his group, but she is usually around Audun. I worry about her with the hawk since she is small and I think that her vision is somewhat impaired by the tufts.

 

[RedIII]

I have a friend here that has an Auracana hen, and she has large tufts like that, too. It surprised me when I first saw her. My friend just loves her, though. They are unique, pretty birds.

Had a predator scare today. First a hawk buzzed the preserve, and then a magpie (we think) went after some of the chicks. Got his butt handed to him by the hen, too, but I still locked up all of my little ones with their mama and let both of the Icee roo's out. Though I don't want any more problems, I would be interested to see if either of my boys would actually duke it out with a predator while they're on watch. They're very good about ushering everyone under cover and sounding an alarm.

The only Icee chick that I didn't get put away was Ike, because he cries and cries in a cage and I felt bad. I think the hen raising him is about ready to wean him off, by the way she's acting. I'd better not lose him to predators, because I'll be devastated. He is a little charmer and turning out so pretty.

 

[debs_flock]

Deb, right at 17 1/2 weeks now. I thought her tufts were impressive, but she is the only one I have seen in person so didn't have anything to compare them to. I got 8 eggs shipped from BYCer Ray_N_Debi. Three hatched under Elska but two drowned in the water dish the first day out with momma (at one week old) with the flock. I called it Hans Solo since it was a singleton and was preparing myself that it would be a cockerel. Elska weaned it at 4 weeks and Audun has looked after it ever since. She has gotten brave and now tries to hang with Eldur and his group, but she is usually around Audun. I worry about her with the hawk since she is small and I think that her vision is somewhat impaired by the tufts.

I got all my original eggs from Ray_N_Debi, I only ended up with one bird with very small tufts. They have remained even smaller, since the tufts seem to be a target for all her pen mates. Every other bird I hatched was clean faced and I get lots of residual tails. Either a few feathers or full tails.

Like I said, I hatched out two lemon blue boys (just love the color, which of course is non-standard for the breed). They are pretty though so I thought I'd at least grown them out. They are both clean-faced and rumpless.

 

[NotAFarm]

Good Morning Icelandic Lovers!

Here is an updated picture of Eyja and chick.....




...........and one of Falki and Fjola in the EggMobile..........

 

[TessK]

Are any of your Icie roos without combs? The internet tells me that all roosters have combs, but Lisa says some of our guys that I hoped were pullets (based on not having a comb) are roosters because they have the rooster tails. It's only distressing in that now I have to put more chickens in the freezer than I wanted to. In the photo you can see one of them in the back, rooster tail, no comb to speak of.

Also, at what age did you select and butcher your extra roosters? Mine were hatched May 23.

 

[AletaG]

Are any of your Icie roos without combs? The internet tells me that all roosters have combs, but Lisa says some of our guys that I hoped were pullets (based on not having a comb) are roosters because they have the rooster tails. It's only distressing in that now I have to put more chickens in the freezer than I wanted to. In the photo you can see one of them in the back, rooster tail, no comb to speak of.

http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/10E06A03.pdf might be of some help...
"The combs can either be
single or rose, even double on
roosters and it’s quite
common that the hens have a
crest on their head. The
roosters have large, bright red
wattles and when they have
reached two years of age they
have grown large spurs. The
roosters are substantially
larger than the hens and
proudly show off their
majestic tail with long shiny
sickles."

 

[NotAFarm]

Icelandics have many varieties of combs. Males will get pinkish color in their combs before females, but size of comb when they are young is not the best indicator of gender. Early wattles is often, but not always, a good indication of a male. The feathers just in front of the tail of male birds are saddle feathers. They are narrow and pointed. Females have rounded feathers in front of their tails. The one in the back that you pointed out is a male. I see a total of nine males in the picture.

 

[debs_flock]

Icelandics have many varieties of combs. Males will get pinkish color in their combs before females, but size of comb when they are young is not the best indicator of gender. Early wattles is often, but not always, a good indication of a male. The feathers just in front of the tail of male birds are saddle feathers. They are narrow and pointed. Females have rounded feathers in front of their tails. The one in the back that you pointed out is a male. I see a total of nine males in the picture.

I'd agree on the count, sorry.

 

[TessK]

Well, phooey.

Thanks, guys.

Maybe this other question got lost up there but at what age did you select and then butcher extra roosters?

 

[NotAFarm]

Because of my location, I cannot have many extra males since they crow early....and often if there are too many. In the past I have sold off the extra cockerels as soon as I identify them. Some go to farm homes, others to someone's grow-out pen. This fall, I will take a half dozen to the butcher to see how they dress-out. They will range from 5 to 6 months old so we'll see how they do. debs_flock butchers many of her excess cockerels, I'm sure she'll chime in on size.

As far as selection of who stays and who goes, that is strictly a personal choice! The longer you can wait, the better-off you will be. The males change so much over their first year, and many times beyond that. I think the females change much less once they are about 4 months old.

Examples:

Audun

at a year and a half


Falki
on left

at 8 months old


Galdur
to the right of momma Forsaela

at five months old...