Icelandic Chickens

[Farmerboy16]

Hi Jake. Nice to see you too. I still have the offspring from your original stock. Very stunning birds! I have 8 of them, 1 roo and 7 pullets. 5 of them are crested.

 

[mlm Mike]

Brad, You have the beginning of a very nice flock. I can't believe how much faster they are feathering out compared to the RIR I hatched about the same time.

 

[coldupnorth]

Okay, I've been just a few eggs from my Icelandics and I have a question about their eggs. I read somewhere (probably on this thread a little ways back) that sometimes their eggs can be tinted or a light tan when they first start laying again but they will lighten up as they lay. Is this true? One of the eggs I got today was definitely a light tan compared to the white that I have been getting from one of my hens.
My small flock (1 roo and 4 hens) was new to me this Fall and were just getting over molt. They are all 1-2 years old.

 

[mbmess2003]

Brad, You have the beginning of a very nice flock. I can't believe how much faster they are feathering out compared to the RIR I hatched about the same time.

i can't either....i have some bantam barred rocks from horstman that were delivered 1 week after the Icelandics were hatched....this is how they look. that is one of my GNH chicks hatched on the 8th as well

 

[RedIII]

Okay, I've been just a few eggs from my Icelandics and I have a question about their eggs. I read somewhere (probably on this thread a little ways back) that sometimes their eggs can be tinted or a light tan when they first start laying again but they will lighten up as they lay. Is this true? One of the eggs I got today was definitely a light tan compared to the white that I have been getting from one of my hens.
My small flock (1 roo and 4 hens) was new to me this Fall and were just getting over molt. They are all 1-2 years old.

From what I understood, yes. And I'm relieved to hear someone talk about this, because just this morning I found a lovely little egg in the coop, very light tan in color. It was thin-shelled though, so it broke in my pocket

I think it's one of the Icelandics.

 

[debs_flock]

Here is the cockerel that sired Brad's eggs....he has a rose comb.
The females (5) have both rose and singles combs.

Beautiful boy, love the blue!

 

[debs_flock]

I took some updated pictures of the eight chicks (5 boys/3 girls). I still need to shrink them down, but wanted to post a couple of shots of the hairdoos!


Deb

 

[NotAFarm]

Okay, I've been just a few eggs from my Icelandics and I have a question about their eggs. I read somewhere (probably on this thread a little ways back) that sometimes their eggs can be tinted or a light tan when they first start laying again but they will lighten up as they lay. Is this true? One of the eggs I got today was definitely a light tan compared to the white that I have been getting from one of my hens.
My small flock (1 roo and 4 hens) was new to me this Fall and were just getting over molt. They are all 1-2 years old.

I was concerned when I got my first eggs from my original pullets, too. Nothing to worry about if they have a "tint" but they should not be beige. I thought they would be "brilliant" white like the leghorn eggs from the store. Those pullets, now going on three years old, lay white eggs. I'll see if I can get a pic of them with some of the new pullet eggs.
The large brown egg is from my SLW hen, other brown egg from a Java pullet, four "tinted" eggs from my two original Icelandic hens. They were just over 6 months old when they layed their first eggs.

 

[coldupnorth]

Quote: Great reference picture, Mary! The egg I got yesterday is white but the two I got today are tinted. One is very lightly tinted and the other is a little darker tinted. It looks dark next to the white egg but very light next to my other brown eggs. Looks like the darkest tinted one in the picture (not the browns). Thank you - I am relieved! I will have to find out from the breeder which of the hens are a year old and which are two years old.

Of my little flock, I have one that is friendly. She always comes to meet me and check out what I'm bringing to them. The rest always skitter away, but are out investigating as soon as I start closing their pen door behind me.

 

[NotAFarm]

Laurie, I read all the time how Ameraucana, Marans and Welsummer hens' eggs will light through the laying season. It makes sense that pullet eggs might have a tint at the beginning. Here is a link to an article about Icelandic chickens in Iceland, I'm sure many have seen this before, and the egg color is described as "a variety of white to cream to light brown"..
http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/10E06A03.pdf

Here is a pic of two hen eggs compared to one from the 5 1/2 month old pullet that just recently started laying..