Icelandic Chickens

[mlm Mike]

Cute chicks RedIII. I hope the little one is just a slow grower.

Jake, low 30's already, yikes. We were 40 this morning. We were able to get some tomatoes, and the poblano peppers did surprisingly well. Enjoy your visit with Mary!

 

[RedIII]

We had temps here yesterday and today in the low 30s, fall is here and cooling down fast ! I am winterizing the pens this week, and hoping for a few gift days of Indian Summer. This was the year without a summer here, too cold for the tomatos to bear and ripen fruit, 40 plants and not a single ripe one picked. Same for my sweet corn. I sure amnot happy at all with this global warming !

Meanwhile life goes on, of the last little hatch got five pullets and two cockerals !

Best ration this year. The previous hatch is 3/4 cockerals ! It will be a crowded rooster growout pen. I do have 3 very pretty dark ones, two showing quite a bit of Bluing. The others are Isi lookalikes. Which isnot at all bad.

Mary is bring one of her young guys, he has been on here, I am getting ready to get out of here early on thursday to meet them just ouside Flint on Thursday morn. I will be there even if it snows. Hoping it doesnt , they have a long drive beyond Flint.

Life is good, and better with Icelandic Chickens !

Hooray for chicks! And I'm surprised that you are already down in the 30's in your neck of the woods. That there is what I'd call robbed of summer. Do you have a lot of green tomatoes? I have an excellent recipe for a chow you can make with them, similar to a chutney.

 

[NotAFarm]

Red, I agree with Laurie (coldupnorth). I've had some that lag behind, usually pullets with too many bossy cockerel brothers. They do "catch-up" later. Because of the hawk problem, I had separated my pullets into a coop with attached hoop house run and have kept them confined for about six weeks. They desperately want out but I didn't want the hawk to get them or for all the "raging hormone" cockerels to injure them. They are looking great!

I said I would post pictures of the NotAFarm Icelandics that will be making a home in Michigan with Jake. While the existence of a current flock may be up for debate since we have not seen pictures, the fact is that come Thursday, Jake will have Icelandic chickens, whether you ever get to see another picture of them is the $64,000 question!

Jake gave me some tough marching orders but I think he will be happy with the results that Falki and Forsaela produced. I asked for his "priority list" for pullets to add to his flock and this is what he said:
1. rose comb
2. crested
3. whatever color, didn't matter

Then I asked if he'd like a rose combed cockerel for his hens and he chose the crested one from pics I sent him. This is cockerel he chose....

Gosi (knave, Jack):




The pullets he did not get to choose. I got eight pullets from FXF and two of them have single combs so they were out. The eight belong to four separate "pairings" of different ages or raised by different broodies or brooded by me. I chose to keep the two "siblings" of the single comb pullets so that all of them would have a buddy whether they stayed here or went to Michigan.
All have rose combs and three are crested.
So here they are........I think I have posted pictures of all of them at some point but I took these tonight......

Gjoska (Volcanic ash):



Grima (mask):





Ginna (entrap, trick):




Gletta (practical joke):
no crest but look how small her comb is and her coloring is gorgeous....




The pairings.......


Gletta & Ginna (same age but raised by different broody mommas, hatched 6/21/13):






Grimma & Gjoska (hatched 4/12/13 raised by Forsaela):






So there you have it..........the IL contingent moving to MI!
Jake, I hope you like them!

 

[Myrth]

So pretty!!!

 

[RedIII]

Oh they're gorgeous! Lucky Jake. If my little Ike turns out anything similar to Gosi, I'll be thrilled. Congrats on the new additions, Jake

You guys have fun and please be safe.

Mary, thank you also for your two cents on the smaller chick thing. I always worry about my little one because of how much smaller she is than her brothers. I just love her.

 

[mlm Mike]

Those are some great additions for Jake's flock!

 

[karimw]

Those are some great additions for Jake's flock!

X10! Just beautiful! I got all straight combs from Jakes chicks, so those small combs will be a perfect addition in his neck of the woods!

 

[Jake Levi]

Mary they are just gorgeous !!!!

Their pen is ready for them, fresh straw and the whole works ! You will have to coach me a bit on the pronounciation on a couple of them.

I am in process of cutting back, it has to be, so I am rehoming the last of my Delawares and the beautiful young Iowa Blues from the eggs that Kari sent to me. They are growing out just beautiful, are gentle and eat from my hand, interestingly one Birchin cockeral I particularly like also eats from the hand and seems to enjoy being petted. His temperament is much like my main Icelandic rooster Isi. All of them come to the pen door for treats, I am always surprised by which ones will come to my hands to sit and eat.

I really hate to part with them but it just needs to be. I will make sure that they go to a good home. The Delaware pullets are spoken for.

Life goes on.

 

[coldupnorth]

Mary the hjörð (flock) of Icelandics that you are bringing to Jake will be a great addition to his. You know that they will be in good hands in preservation of the breed.

I'm paring down my flock and breeds that I am keeping. My Icelandics are giving me the toughest decisions because I really don't want to keep too many roosters. I'm keeping my original, Freidrick and Hraun (that I hatched from Mary's flock). I wasn't going to keep any more roosters, but I have one that is growing out beautifully and he has a rose comb and not a single like most of my flock. I have 2 of his brothers that look very similar to him in color, but have single combs. Decisions, decisions!

 

[RedIII]

Hey all, check out this ad. Do these look like they're from Sigrid's line? These are for sale less than an hour from where I am. I didn't know anyone else in the area had Icelandics.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=26997209&cat=113&lpid=1&search=&ad_cid=1