Icelandic Chickens

[RedIII]

I hate heat and humidity

Amen to that! I think we are in for a long, deep winter here, which means lots of people complaining, but oh well. I love snow. Now to make sure we have our wood pile all set to go. And have the heat lamp ready for the coop. It can get a bit chilly out there for the girls.

 

[CoopCop]

I still have 11 of the 32 intact eggs I received going in the incubator. The rest were either clears or early quitters. I was figuring my hatch rate would be low due to it being my first hatch and what looked like some rough handling by the postal service. Two days to go till some eggs should be cracking open. Will post pics of my first Icelandics as soon as they arrive.

 

[NotAFarm]

I still have 11 of the 32 intact eggs I received going in the incubator. The rest were either clears or early quitters. I was figuring my hatch rate would be low due to it being my first hatch and what looked like some rough handling by the postal service. Two days to go till some eggs should be cracking open. Will post pics of my first Icelandics as soon as they arrive.

that they all hatch!

 

[LittleChickSpy]

Oh, fingers crossed all of them hatch! Can't wait to see them!

I let 3 of my boys go to nee homes today. Too much fighting. Also, I have alpha man already trying to service the ladies. My guys aren't quite 10 weeks old! They seem to be maturing crazy quickly!

I'm also fiddling with the idea of another smallish hatch to provide more genetic diversity to my flock. I will be doing one more hatch of other chickens, starting this week. Reasonable part of me thinks it is best to wait until next spring for the Icelandics. Probably best.

 

[CoopCop]

My 11 year old came running in to my room this morning yelling "We got one! We got one!"

I go in the laundry room where I had the incubator set up and find one of my Icelandic eggs had opened up and given me a chick. About five minutes later we saw one of my five BA X EE eggs give us a little black chick (with the Icelandic next to it cheering it along). After the black one got its legs under it they both went back and forth to two other eggs that are pipping (one Icelandic and one BA X EE) to give pep talks. Hopefully we'll have a few more by the end of the day.

 

[LittleChickSpy]

Yay! Very exciting! How are you going to tell them apart, if you don't see them hatch? Do the ba x ee all look alike or something?

 

[mlm Mike]

Congratulations CoopCop!

 

[RedIII]

Congrats CoopCop! Are you marking them so you know which is which?

 

[CoopCop]

Not marking them as the X chicks are almost all black with some white/silver marks on chest and belly. I have three Icelandic hatched with two more pipping and four of my five X chicks hatched with the last one pipping. Hopefully several more Icelandic eggs to go.

 

[Maldwin]

Great news. Congrats. Hope the rest go well for you.