Icelandic Chickens

[kathleens1979]

Anyone notice tinted eggs from their birds? I've heard of tinted eggs on this thread, but never experienced it myself. My three Icee hens all lay a matte, chalk white egg that sometimes are torpedo shaped, but often look like pingpong balls. I actually have an EE whose eggs have lightened to white, but I can still tell whose eggs are whose because hers are shiny while my Icees are not. This is not true of the eggs I just received. Some are kind of creamy white to almost peachy tan, and some are matte but most are shiny. Additionally, they are all a lot bigger eggs than my girls lay, but I think that could be age-related. Just found the differences interesting... Now I have the summer to find the white egg laying EE and rehome her since I want to be able to tell who is laying what.

 

[NotAFarm]

Anyone notice tinted eggs from their birds? I've heard of tinted eggs on this thread, but never experienced it myself. My three Icee hens all lay a matte, chalk white egg that sometimes are torpedo shaped, but often look like pingpong balls. I actually have an EE whose eggs have lightened to white, but I can still tell whose eggs are whose because hers are shiny while my Icees are not. This is not true of the eggs I just received. Some are kind of creamy white to almost peachy tan, and some are matte but most are shiny. Additionally, they are all a lot bigger eggs than my girls lay, but I think that could be age-related. Just found the differences interesting... Now I have the summer to find the white egg laying EE and rehome her since I want to be able to tell who is laying what.

Kathleen, The first eggs I got from my original two hens were not quite white but got white after about a month. They also increased in size as they got older, but never large. I have one hen that lays a noticeably tinted beige egg. I can always tell her egg from the others. She came from BYCer coldupnorth's flock which came from David Grote (whose original flock came from Lyle Behl but he now has other lines).
Egg color is something that can be bred for. Some people don't like white eggs and will want the tinted eggs.

I am posting this link again for those who may not have seen it. It is an article in a European magazine featuring an interview and photos from Johanna Hardardottir, founder of ERL, the preservation club in Iceland. At the beginning of the article it says breed information is provided by her. Under the "Utility and qualities" heading, you will see it lists "white and cream to light brown" as the egg shell color.
http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/10E06A03.pdf

 

[RedIII]

Kathleen, I have a hen who lays a rich cream colored egg. It looks dark next to her sister's eggs, but it's obviously a "white" egg next to eggs from my Wyandottes. I'll try and get a picture comparison at some point, if you'd like. I have noticed this shell color in the Behl line. My Sigrid hens lay stark white.

 

[NotAFarm]

Anna and Hola both wanted out of the broody coops yesterday morning so I opened the doors for them. Both ate fermented grains with the flock and took a dust bath. After a bit of clucking about they returned to their nests. While they were out, I candled the eggs. Each now has three nicely developing eggs left of the original 9 they each started with. The others were non-starters. It is obvious that Audun was not covering all 16 hens. I have not candled Asta's nest yet. She was 4 or 5 days behind the other two. Gula has only been on for maybe a week so I'll wait until at least day 12 to look at hers. My little Haela, 8 months old, is clucking about so she may be next.....

 

[nordicacres]

We are getting Icelandic chicks, yes! You can't be Nordic Acres without some Nordic birds, right? Does anyone have any good authentic name suggestions? We will be keeping all the females that we get and probably 2 roosters.

 

[kathleens1979]

We are getting Icelandic chicks, yes!  You can't be Nordic Acres without some Nordic birds, right?  Does anyone have any good authentic name suggestions?  We will be keeping all the females that we get and probably 2 roosters.

Welcome!!! Congrats on your new birds. Please post some pics when you get them!!! They are really great additions to any homestead!

 

[drumstick diva]

Mary, I like Haela, and I haven't even seen her yet, love the name. If she's thinking broody that's good enough.

 

[Turkeyrangler]

I would love to have broody hens. Had a broody Buff Orpington three year agos that produced 11 chicks. I free range and I thought she had been taken by a fox. Turns out she sat on 11 eggs; 9 pullets and 2 cockerels no less. She was in a tiger lilley plot right in the front yard the entire time. Never saw her once. She must have come out to feed and drink when we were at work. great hen still.

 

[drumstick diva]

Turkeywrangler, when she is broody you could give her turkey eggs if you wanted to. What a great mama to make sure more girls hatched than boys.

 

[NotAFarm]

We are getting Icelandic chicks, yes! You can't be Nordic Acres without some Nordic birds, right? Does anyone have any good authentic name suggestions? We will be keeping all the females that we get and probably 2 roosters.

I have an English-Icelandic/Icelandic-English dictionary that was a gift to me from BYCer coldupnorth.. I use it and a website of an Icelandic Sheepdog breeder that has lists of male and female names. Here is the link http://www.spurdann.com/index.html
On the top menu bar, chose Dog Names. The nice thing about the website is you can click on the names to hear how they are pronounced.

Mary, I like Haela, and I haven't even seen her yet, love the name. If she's thinking broody that's good enough.

Here is the most recent picture of Hæla (this is the proper spelling of her name, I don't always take the time to use Alt + 0230 on Microsoft to spell it properly).