Icelandic Chickens

[Jake Levi]

Ditto what NotAFarm said ! They are free rangers without compare. They had to be to survive Icelandic winters!

We are having great weather here, for mid Jan. Its 10 out right now with 12" new snow.

Mary my little late hatch rooster from your eggs has learned to crow ! Sounded like he was gargling at first but after a week it kinda got more recognizeable as a crow. They are all beauties ! I wish he was a rose comb though. Ditto the beautiful spotted grandson of Isi . If I keep a third pen flock he will get used. His mottling is near perfect.

I was offline for a week, had to make a unscheduled trip to NW Wis, and as luck would have it weather and roads across the UP were harsh mid winter with a lot of blowing snow. I got back thurs and just not rested up.

It looks like al gore missed this one too !

 

[Nickeyo]

Hello Nickeyo! 

My flock of Icelandics is happiest when they are able to be out finding their own food.  They are voracious eaters of Japanese Beetles (for which I am sooo  thankful) and just about any other bug, grub, worm, etc they can find.  They will jump up to eat berries that are out of their normal reach and will spy-out under my bird feeders to find whatever the song birds may have left. I have hickory trees and when the nuts fall on the gravel driveway, the vehicles crush them and the chickens can be seen out there eating them.  They will also rob the barn cats' dish if they aren't there to guard it. They are very wary and the cocks alert the flocks to danger and the hens will run for cover at their alarm call.  The hens are fierce protectors of the young and teach them early about finding food.  This is not to say that they are never caught unawares.  I lost a hen to a hawk that was weaning chicks and out away from the main flock, so it does happen.  If you are looking for a flock that is great at finding most of its own food (this is only if you have sufficient area and weather permits for them to range), Icelandics would be a great choice....if you have a nice garden...you may have to fence them out of it if they do not have other ample spots to find food. 

If I were to get some I would hope to free range them completely, tree roosting included. I live in England so should be ok. I have a stream running through my land and I have loads of blackberry bushes and I have an orchard that makes loads of apples

Some of the fruit lasts nearly all the way into the end of winter, I also have nut trees and oak trees etc

 

[Bullitt]

If I were to get some I would hope to free range them completely, tree roosting included. I live in England so should be ok. I have a stream running through my land and I have loads of blackberry bushes and I have an orchard that makes loads of apples




Some of the fruit lasts nearly all the way into the end of winter, I also have nut trees and oak trees etc

It appears you are not eating the apples, but just allowing the chickens to eat them. Is that correct? Or are there just so many apples you can't eat them all?

I read about putting acorns in a sack, breaking them, and then soaking them several times in a bucket of water to get rid of the acid that is harmful to chickens. Then you can just give the broken acorns to the chicks and they will peck out the meat of the acorns.

 

[RedIII]

Nickeyo, I love your yard

Your chickens are also very pretty.

I let the Icelandics out this afternoon (they've been sojourning in the garage)





One of my roos was hanging out in the driveway near our chimney. When I tried to shoo him out back, he just gave me the slip and circled around to where he'd been standing before. When I came around the other side of the car to get him, I saw why he was there:



One of my hens decided she wanted to lay her egg in the window well next to the chimney. I'm pretty sure the roo was standing guard over her while she was there. Good boy <3

 

[mlm Mike]

RedIII, great roo you have.

 

[Nickeyo]

There are just so many apples we can't keep up, I've already collect over 10 sacks full I also have a massive horse poo heap full of bugs that my chickens love, so I hope there would be enough food to sustain them, I'm also thinking of getting guinea fowl

 

[Nickeyo]

And thank you redlll, your icelandics are very nice do you get much snow where u live?

 

[Jake Levi]

We had 6 F yesterday, warmer today, 12, with 4" of new snow, tis the season. Getting eggs from new pullets and hens but almost half are frozen. So may put lamp over one nest each groups use. Great photos of chooks here. Nikeyo Icelandics would think they were in heaven at your place !

Here deer would be eating your excess apples !

 

[Nickeyo]

We do have too many deer but they don't come into my garden...... Yet. But they love it along my stream and In the crop fields of sweet corn in my neighbouring fields. I have a succession of fruit here with me. I get plums and cherries early on, then my grapes come through, then my apples, pears and blackberries and elderberries. And now my slough berries are coming through now and I also put out wild bird seed and there are pheasant feeders in the corn fields so I hope they would find enough food, lol .

 

[RedIII]

And thank you redlll, your icelandics are very nice do you get much snow where u live?

Sorry for the delayed response. Yes, we get a fair amount of snow here, though it's probably not near as much as the more Northerly parts of the country get. Right now we have several inches where I live. I'm on the bottom of the valley floor, so the mountains get quite a bit more. I couldn't tell you how much we average per year, but when we get knee-deep snow here, I love it

Even though most of my neighbors probably hate it. I love snow. I have rolled around in it in my pajamas.

We do have too many deer but they don't come into my garden...... Yet. But they love it along my stream and In the crop fields of sweet corn in my neighbouring fields. I have a succession of fruit here with me. I get plums and cherries early on, then my grapes come through, then my apples, pears and blackberries and elderberries. And now my slough berries are coming through now and I also put out wild bird seed and there are pheasant feeders in the corn fields so I hope they would find enough food, lol

.

Okay, now I'm jealous of all of your lovely plants

And I just saw that you have ex-battery hens. That is awesome! I have wanted to get some for a little while, now. I just need a system to keep them totally separate from my Icelandics, since the poor hens will be carriers for sicknesses. But I still want them. I hate the conditions in commercial farms.