Icelandic Chickens

[AK Michelle]

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Welcome Jloeffler, I can't answer about the heat, but I can say that mine are very tame and friendly. I can handle all mine rather easily and some even fly onto me and look to be pet and played with. They are extremely smart and have great survival skills. They do like to venture out, foraging farther from the coop than the rest but are easily called back, especially when there are treats involved.

 

[Happy Chooks]

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Welcome!

They seem to do quite well in the heat. Mary and I live in Northern CA, and it's not uncommon for us to get to 115 for a week or 2 in the summer. We are usually in the 100's for quite a while in the summer here, but we don't have the humidity.

There are a few members here raising them out in AZ. If they can survive there, they can survive anywhere.

 

[LarryPQ]

Mine seem to be handling the heat pretty well, and it is stinking hot here.

 

[NotAFarm]

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and to the Icelandic thread (addiction!)!! Kathy is in Misery, oopps, Missouri, and will have temps that compare to yours. Laree and Mahonri are in the oven, AZ, but while the heat is HOT, it's not as humid as Kathy and you are. I'm in Illinois, and while we have the occassional 100+ indices, our misery is limited, most of the time, to the winter months.

They haven't reported any more problems with their Icelandics than any of their other breeds.

Personalities are very individual. Below is a pic of one of my girls last fall (granddaughter 15 months, pullet 6 months). She continues to be the favorite pet even when she has chicks. Others are not so chummy but none are agressive.

 

[kathyinmo]

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No, I didn't lose one. I knew she was in there. Yeah, right, I knew it. (Well, I knew I was one Dekaware short in "the other" group, anyway.) Correct, # 20. I was just wondering when you would notice.

Now that she has bonded with the Icelandics I really don't have the heart to move her.


The other Mary, I just love your pictures! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Jloeffler]

Thank you so much for the quick answers and warm ( ha ha ) welcomes! I think I may have to add Icelandic into my chicken math equations! Do they get along well with other LF? I see that many of you have eclectic mixes of chickens too, but you could keep them separated. Do they deal well with confinement? Currently mine are approx. 4 - 10 birds per 100 sq. Ft. Runs with an additional 4+ sq ft coop space. Very little fighting so I am assuming everyone is still content! Who knew chickens would become my drug of choice?! LOL

 

[kathyinmo]

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Well, they "deal" with confinement, but they sure don't like it. But then again, neither do the other breeds. I have quite a few breeds and they all get along fine.

Kathy is in Misery, oopps, Missouri, and will have temps that compare to yours.

Believe me ....... it has been SUPER miserable this summer, too! Temps over 100 for WEEKS! The Icelandics are doing fine, and they do well in the winter, too. They are very adaptable, I believe.​

 

[NotAFarm]

Here is the hen pictured above as a 6 month old pullet, now over a year old with her second brood for this year. She finds a place to take them out of the main yard and teaches them where to find the best bugs and worms. She returns to the coop each evening and "gets them to bed" before the others enter the coop. They eat very little feed except during the winter months when nothing else is available (prompting me to start raising mealworms so they have some fresh protein then too!

). Yes, like Kathy said, they "deal" with confinement, but certainly don't like it!

Here's the chicks under some dogwood shrubs. Even the blonde ones do a good job of hiding themselves. They are great foragers from a very early age. These chicks are two weeks old.

 

[AK Michelle]

Confinement. HA! I had to fish 3 of them out of the tree last night. They were a little higher than last time

I am hoping

that once their new spacious luxery barn is complete and they are not so stinkin crowded, they will all be more willing to just go in and go to bed.



TOM, your picks of your mamma just made me realize I haven't thought about broody boxes in the new barn. I need to go and look at what everyone else is using. I think we are copying Mary's "bookshelf" nest boxes for both the Icelandics and the layers...



Everyone: How do you house your broodies?

 

[kathyinmo]

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Nella-brooders are great when the are setting.