Icelandic Chickens

[gimmie birdies]

I bought the one Icelandic chick on Sat. so today I really wanted more and bought the other 2 today.

 

[LittleChickSpy]

Adorable, gimme!

I'm having an impossible time deciding which cockerels to keep. How do you all do it? Maintaining genetic diversity, plus aesthetics, heartiness, and personality? I have managed to convince myself to narrow it down to 4, but 4 is
too many for my 9 pullets.

 

[LittleChickSpy]

My 6 week olds hit the ground for the first time today. They loved it so much. I fell in love with this fella today, when he hadn't previously been one of the frontrunners. I think he may be one of my keepers. He has dark legs, when almost all the other cockerels have yellow legs.


My other 3 contenders. I really like 2 of the other 4, too, but I guess have to narrow down somehow.
Far left has always been my buddy. He was a charcoal chipmunk chick, different from all the rest.
Middle I love his coloring and comb for diversity. He was a really cool light caramel/tan chipmunk, also different from the other chicks.
Right is filling in so differently than the other roos. I love how mottled/patchy he is.


Maybe I'll narrow down to these 4 and then cull based on personality, if I need to.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Don't cull till the crow- some times I don't cull til they feather out so I can see what they look like.

 

[guzmanbg]

I agree, if you can wait a little. I had sellected 2 boys, with the intent of only choosing one in the end. The one that I really like is very mean to a pullet so he is the one that will go. The other is a grey/blue color (not as striking as the other) but certainly better behaved with the ladies.

 

[LittleChickSpy]

Good advice to keep them as long as I can. I'm new to little roos. My first and oldest cockerels are 10 weeks old. I had 4, but lost the huge fight-instigator and my favorite boy to cocci a couple weeks ago (I lost 3 chicks). The two cockerels that are left are getting along very well, and are penned with about 25 ladies, so should be good to go there.
The Icee cockerels are starting to spar more and more. I don't need to be concerned unless it's especially vicious or bloody, is that right?

 

[RedIII]

Well, I got home a day early from the deer hunt due to problems with animals at home, and two of my Icelandic chicks are gone. I don't know if they got eaten or killed or what, but I'm none too happy about it. The cage they were in could only have been opened by a human, sadly, which means our caretakers let them out. It seems my quest for a black Icelandic will continue

 

[NotAFarm]

I agree with gimmie, don't let any go that you are not absolutely sure of....like Kelly and I said, they can fool you with the wattles and comb....waiting for the crow will confirm it. I have 7 cockerels out of 9 in my Easter Hatchalong group, The cockerels will be leaving shortly. Elska's five look like 3 and 2......2 for sure cockerels and 2 for sure pullets....the other one will be one or the other....probably a cockerel just late showing because of his more dominant brothers. I have my suspicions about the 8 that the 4 mommas have but it is too soon to make those decisions yet. I'll try to get some pictures soon.

Red,

I was sad to hear of your loss. Leaving someone else in charge when I go on vacation is always a source of stress for me. I know whoever is watching them would never do any thing to intentionally cause them harm but things happen when someone is not used to the routine I follow. I just chalk it up to a lesson learned and try to remember to write out more specific instructions the next time I leave.

 

[RedIII]

Thanks for the hug, Other Mary. I'm still kind of melancholy about it. I realized afterward that I lost one of my bloodlines (Flekka, very strong Behl heritage) with those chicks. I'm very grateful to still have birds from both Shawn's and Laurie's flocks in my adult pen, so I didn't totally lose the Behl line.

I'm considering collecting more eggs for hatching in about a week or so. I have my youngest roo, Ike, in with my Icelandic girls. His form is absolutely gorgeous. He's the son of Laurie's Fridrick.

 

[LittleChickSpy]

How early have your cockerels started to crow? Because, I just went outside thinking one of my dogs was in some sort of trouble (lol), but it was lots of crowing. I looked at my older cockerels (13 and 11 weeks -- the 13 week old is a surprise. It turns out one of my hatchery sexed pullets is not so much a pullet

), and didn't see any of them doing it. There was 1 11 week old cockerel I couldn't place at the time, so it's possible it could have been him. But, all my chickens were looking over at the Icelandic pen, where there was all kinds of action happening. I never placed exactly which cockerel was crowing but, it sure seemed to be coming from their pen. Is it even possible at 6.5 weeks?