Icelandic Chickens

[Chickielady]

Thankyou!
I absolutely LOVE the blues........with every variation you could dream up..lacing, wheaten qualities...and several show alot of "chocolate" type to them.
Almost all have crests, and we even have one pullet who is pure black, crested, which we call Jane

She looks so plain besides the others.
The very hardest part is:
Which cockeral to save, which to cull/sell.when they are all so gorgeous?
Does one breed for all a certain type/color/quality as we have done with all other breeds?
But with these, hatching 50 eggs, for example, will get you undoubtedly 25 cockerals, and so...some have to go.
Dang that is so hard to decide!
How do the other of you decide?
Based on color patterns?
This is my biggest Q with these birds.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Absolutely not. One of the things we love so much about the Icelandics is that there is NO STANDARD! We, the Icelandic preservationists, encourage no standard be attempted. Their genetic makeup needs to be preserved, and not standardized. We emphasize and encourage, no standardization and no cross breeding. This is important in the preservation effort.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Absolutely not. One of the things we love so much about the Icelandics is that there is NO STANDARD! We, the Icelandic preservationists, encourage no standard be attempted. Their genetic makeup needs to be preserved, and not standardized. We emphasize and encourage, no standardization and no cross breeding. This is important in the preservation effort.

Thanks Kathy.....as I thought.
G'night all~

 

[The Sheriff]

Hey everybody! I didn't get any notifications of new posts until tonight. I thought y'all went away for an early weekend. All of the birds pictured are lovely and, no Kathy I don't think your baby has the fray gene. I'll get a close-up of mine tomorrow if I can catch him/her. Those juveniles are going to grow out to be stunning both chickielady's and the Crash test dummies. Beautiful.

My little wondering cockerel broke out onto the netting again last night. Michael just stood on the deck and laughed at me while I got him back in.

The neighbor behind us knocked on the door today and told us that Louis, our emu was at their house visiting their llamas. We had to go get him and bring him home. He just loves animals and he found a way out to get over to visit. Michael bought some materials to try and shore up the fence. How could anything this sweet cause trouble?

I took this picture last night of three of the broodies on the top roost with their 11 babies. I call it Joint Custody!

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
THAT is the BEST news I could hear!

I can keep him? I can keep him!

The neighbor behind us knocked on the door today and told us that Louis, our emu was at their house visiting their llamas. We had to go get him and bring him home. He just loves animals and he found a way out to get over to visit. Michael bought some materials to try and shore up the fence. How could anything this sweet cause trouble?

I think I see the fray gene in ol' Louis there! I think Stella has been telling her stories behind your back. She has everyone wanting to join a gypsy commune now.

I took this picture last night of three of the broodies on the top roost with their 11 babies. I call it Joint Custody!

That is simply sweet! Those Icelandic mamas are just the best! I love it!

 

[AK Michelle]

You have some beautiful birds.
Quote:
I let the birds decide. They are all gorgeous so I watch and see who is at the top of the pecking order. I make note as the boys square off against each other, who is the usual victor. I also make note of who wounds the alarm when needed, who is nicest to the ladies, shares the treats rather than hogs them all for himself, and who the ladies seem to fancy the best. Some days it's one other days it's another, but there were 2 that were clearly "The One" more often than the rest.

I love that last pic you posted. What a great head of hair

 

[Jake Levi]

Hi Michelle

Nice pics ! I agree, on your sexing, and ALL keepers, the little one will grow on out, you need her feistiness there !!

Danny slipped his covers, but behaving, Princess still has her, and she needs them on her little stilletos ! I will try to get new pics of the sign, changed the lettering a bit for a bit more 'red neck' touch.

I am the same on rehoming, got one more group to leave in Boise and keep arguing with myself that I really can use all those roosters !

Stay tuned , will be back sometime, hang in there on the Preservation issue, we are a LONG way from knowing what we have, and the LAST thing we want is ill advised Breed Standards and 'outcrossing'.

I am watching the roos as Michelle does, and watch for the ones showing a healthy 'flock master' attitude, sounding the alarm, calling the flock to food, a dominance over other roos and keeping them in line. I will have 3, all different, although Blau and Bjorn are the same basic pattern , Blau has the black expressed as blue. But all 3 have the FLock Master temperament that I want, and Bjorn was the fastest growing of his hatch.

I will be looking at the chicks closely as they growout next year, and will probably give favor to broody raised chicks over brooder raised ones, hopefully there will be broodies to slip chicks under. We shall see. But, it is going to be a multi sire flock, all raised as naturally as possible including free ranging . I will try to pick chicks from good layers, and emphasize maternal traits in the hens. I dont want to screw up over a 1,000 years of hard proven selection !

I dont know of anyone who is remotely qualified to write a 'breed standard' for the Icelandic Chicken.

Enjoy, be well ,

Life is good and best with Icelandic Chickens and Pack Goats !

 

[Mahonri]

I'll have to post a pic of the one Icelandic hen I kept. She is black with a crest and some red feathering on her breast. I imagine she'll be laying by December.

Today is plant winter grass at the office day. I've also got to get to the feed barn for some feed and as well as pet food depot for some flock raiser. We've also got to get the back yard spruced up again... it may be one of our last weekends to use the pool before it's too cold. Last year my last day in the pool was Oct. 24th. The year before it was Oct. 31st. and then it's the long wait till the end of March... BUT, during that time our weather will be PARADISE.

Love all the pics. Still mourning the loss of my flock and roos, but glad I got to keep a goodly number of hens.

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote:
Mahonri, "long wait"?..................try a forecast for tonight of 31 F and last average frost date of MAY 15..........that is a LOOONNNGG wait!! Your black with red crested girl sounds lovely, how about a pic?! She'll probably be broody by December, too!!

 

[AK Michelle]

Quote:
Mahonri, "long wait"?..................try a forecast for tonight of 31 F and last average frost date of MAY 15..........that is a LOOONNNGG wait!! Your black with red crested girl sounds lovely, how about a pic?! She'll probably be broody by December, too!!

I'm with you there, the snow is creeping down the mountains, and we never consider being past the danger of frost till the first week of June and even then, there are no guarantees