Icelandic Chickens

[Jake Levi]

Mary my Oct Crested RC pullet is colored like your first cockeral, only closer to spotting, with a brush of blue, a beautiful pullet. All four of these are very tame, love to be handfed and two stand to be petted, the smallest brown one enjoys being held, the temperament on these four is the best I have ever had. Gose is still tame and comess to be petted, even as a near mature Rooster. He is the flock meister now, the largest by quite a bit.

My only mottled one is a grandson of Isi, very loud mottled pattern, but, a SC, for the next year or two I only want to use a RC rooster, and preferably also crested. So this mottled guy will be put with 2-3 girls for a starter flock for someone.

Its winter here for sure, close to 3' of snow in places, over 2' everywhere, the pens are all wrapped in plastic, but still get some frozen eggs. Tis the season.

Spring is coming, it says so on the calender !

 

[mlm Mike]

Mary, looks like Falki and Fjola did good!

Twister-n-Dos - I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Icelandics lay brown eggs.

 

[NotAFarm]

Hello fellow Icelandic chicken enthusiasts. Hope everyone is having a good holiday season.

It is a balmy -25 here at home. It is in the -35 to -40 range in town. We are getting about 3 3/4 hours of sunshine. Ahh, winter in the subarctic.

Our 11 Icelandic girls are all laying well now. On solstice we collected 11 eggs. Pretty fun to get an egg from everyone on the shortest day of the year.

There is a big range in the size of the eggs we are getting. Some are small, most are medium, some are large, and then there is the occasional lunker.

Like this one at about 2 1/4 ounces.

May, looks like Falki and Fjola did good!

Twister-n-Dos - I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Icelandics lay brown eggs.

Twister-n-Dos, I second what mlmddh says.........Icelandics lay a white or nearly white egg. Any eggs you are getting that aren't white/nearly white are being laid by something that is not pure Icelandic. Who did you get your flock from?

 

[Twister-n-Dos]

I am confident in our egg sources. we got eggs from Lyle Behl, Mary O'Brien, and AK Michelle.


I don't think that the egg you all are questioning is as brown as it looks in that picture. Phone cameras do not necessarily reproduce color accurately.

Edited to add photo.

Here is another picture of the same egg.

 

[RedIII]

I am confident in our egg sources. we got eggs from Lyle Behl, Mary O'Brien, and AK Michelle.


I don't think that the egg you all are questioning is as brown as it looks in that picture. Phone cameras do not necessarily reproduce color accurately.

Edited to add photo.

Here is another picture of the same egg.

I have a hen that lays a similar shade of egg. She's from the Behl line. When you compare her egg to the other white egg layers I have, it looks very tinted and had me freaking out for the first little while. However, her eggs held next to any other brown or cream-colored eggs look pale. I believe someone else on here has a hen that lays eggs like this, too. To my knowledge, both her hen and mine are pure.

 

[tommysgirl]

The flock is not impressed with all the snow and frigid weather we have been having.

They spend the day inside with an occasional stroll out the door and a quick return to the coop....I can't blame them...I don't want to be out there any more that necessary either! I feel badly for the youngsters since they have never known the lush green banquet of spring/summer since they were hatched in October. My cockerels are not crowing yet and none of the hens have started back laying since their molts this fall. Hurry Spring!

Well, it looks like Jake isn't going to post any pictures of his Falki X Fjola juvies, so here are some of my 7 Falki X Fjola juvies.....all full siblings to his and in typical Icelandic fashion, none are the same.....each is an individual! I told Myrth that I didn't know if the Falki X Fjola cross would produce mottled chicks since I hadn't hatched any of her eggs, but it looks like she has that gene!

Two pullets.....

Third pullet....


Four cockerels....

Beautiful birds all the way around. I love the silver and black mottled!!!

 

[NotAFarm]

Our 11 Icelandic girls are all laying well now. On solstice we collected 11 eggs. Pretty fun to get an egg from everyone on the shortest day of the year.

There is a big range in the size of the eggs we are getting. Some are small, most are medium, some are large, and then there is the occasional lunker.

Like this one at about 2 1/4 ounces.

Here is another picture of the same egg.

I never would have guessed that those two pictures were of the same egg. Light can make a dramatic difference.

 

[Jake Levi]

Mary 3 of the 4 Oct chicks are mottled, the 4th is a dark wheaten, she is the super tame one. The two roosters are loud mottled, black and white, I plan to keep the RC one. The crested RC pullet is colored very much like your first rooster you posted, but also has a nice 'brushing' of blue.

Pics will come, sometime, dont know when, just got too many now that need their pics. Gose is a gorgeous dark flock meister, he has outgrown all of the girls, I havent come up with a name for the other rooster I am keeping yet, the dark wheaten pullet is Brijid. Thats both Norse and Gaelic. I am looking for similar derived name for the other pullet.

 

[RedIII]

So remember my silver chick from the three I'm raising right now? Yeah, it's getting pretty suspiciously roo-colored. The shiny blue feathers are coming in on the wings, and unless my eyes mistake me, the hackles are starting to look pointed. This is the mottled one I was so excited about, so I'll be sad if I have to let it go. Some of the hackles almost look like they have some black barring on them, too. I'll have to get some pictures.

 

[NotAFarm]

Jake, It is good to hear that the pullets are laying and I'm glad you are happy with them!

Red, Yeah, I'm with you on the disappointment when one you think is a pullet starts showing signs of being a cockerel..

..and the cockerels are so striking with their flashy colors....it is hard to let them go.....

The cold here has been brutal this year. Here is Eldur (with a Rhode Island Red pullet) showing a bit of frost bite on this comb tips.