Icelandic Chickens

[snhchick]

Took quite a few tries, but I finally got a video of Sid "singing." Not much of a crow yet, but he is very proud.

 

[WVMHP]

Beautiful flock of pure Hlesey line Icelandics available for local pickup in Colorado. Nine hens that just started to lay and one gentlemanly rooster.

 

[snhchick]

Notafarm - Aww, the chick and grandkids are cute!

snhchick & icylady - have you identified the gender of your mystery chickens?

My hen that started laying at 16 weeks & stopped @ 18 weeks is still not laying now @ 20. The other 2 are not laying yet either. We have been in the 90s most every day so Im just hoping its too hot and I know they still are young. I keep searching the property for hidden eggs and haven't seen any either but as small as they are it wouldn't be hard to hide really good!

Here is another pic of the new additions. I have had them for 4 weeks now (time flies) so they should be approx 8 weeks. Still looking like hens

I ended up with one roo (I was right about Sid) and three hens. Now if I can just get them to go into the coop at night instead of roosting on the roof of the coop. I moved their favorite launching pad (a plastic table that is in the pen as a hiding spot), so I'm hoping that they can't reach the roof anymore. I'll see what happens tonight!

 

[racuda]

I've had Icelandics for about four or five years and I remember reading a long time ago that sometimes feather problems will pop up. I thought I was immune but now I have a pullet that looks like she is going through a really bad molt. No one is feather picking her. she has looked like that since she was a chick. The older she gets the worse she gets.

Does anyone know what I am talking about, or did I just imagine reading about bad feather problems with some Icelandics?

And if this IS genetic I suppose I must consider culling her.

 

[NotAFarm]

I've had Icelandics for about four or five years and I remember reading a long time ago that sometimes feather problems will pop up. I thought I was immune but now I have a pullet that looks like she is going through a really bad molt. No one is feather picking her. she has looked like that since she was a chick. The older she gets the worse she gets.

Does anyone know what I am talking about, or did I just imagine reading about bad feather problems with some Icelandics?

And if this IS genetic I suppose I must consider culling her.

racuda/Randall,

I hope this answers your question without anyone jumping in and accusing anyone of not keeping their flock pure (something that has happened here in the past).

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/299038/icelandic-chickens/6420
^^
Starting on this page and continuing for quite a while (on and off through many pages), you will find discussion of feather anomalies of various kinds with links to various references spread throughout the thread.
My post at the link above was the first noting feather anomalies. Since I never hatched any others with any problems after the first couple of clutches I set, even though I kept the same bloodlines, I assume my problems were from the Sulmet that I gave to one of my original hens. I didn't know at the time that Sulmet could affect hatching eggs. I used Sulmet because I was desperate to treat the Cocci symptoms Anna was showing and it was the only thing our TSC had in stock at the time. Eggs from her were hatched four to eight weeks after her treatment. I culled all mine that showed the feather problem. I wish now that I had kept them through their first adult molt to see if their feathers changed but I didn't want to take a chance on eggs from them getting accidentally hatched. I didn't have enough different/separate coops to properly keep them. Mine were normal sized and perfectly healthy except for the feather anomaly.

 

[racuda]

racuda/Randall,

I hope this answers your question without anyone jumping in and accusing anyone of not keeping their flock pure (something that has happened here in the past).

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/299038/icelandic-chickens/6420
^^
Starting on this page and continuing for quite a while (on and off through many pages), you will find discussion of feather anomalies of various kinds with links to various references spread throughout the thread.
My post at the link above was the first noting feather anomalies. Since I never hatched any others with any problems after the first couple of clutches I set, even though I kept the same bloodlines, I assume my problems were from the Sulmet that I gave to one of my original hens. I didn't know at the time that Sulmet could affect hatching eggs. I used Sulmet because I was desperate to treat the Cocci symptoms Anna was showing and it was the only thing our TSC had in stock at the time. Eggs from her were hatched four to eight weeks after her treatment. I culled all mine that showed the feather problem. I wish now that I had kept them through their first adult molt to see if their feathers changed but I didn't want to take a chance on eggs from them getting accidentally hatched. I didn't have enough different/separate coops to properly keep them. Mine were normal sized and perfectly healthy except for the feather anomaly.

That is fantastic! Thank you! No matter how many ways I Googled it I couldn’t find those posts. I didn't look for "anomaly" though...I'm not going to hatch any more chicks this year anyway, so I'll just keep an eye on her.

 

[Icies]

All, things are not going well. When I got home from work last night one of the hens was not doing well. Very weak and lethargic. With my limited experience, I thought she acted like she was trying to lay but couldn't so I soaked her in warm water on & off all night & tried to force feed her calcium. A couple of times she seemed to get more energy but it never lasted. There is an avian vet not too far from here so I was there when they opened this morning. They did an x-ray & there is no stuck egg but she is very bad. They are giving her fluids & testing her to try to find out whats wrong. They said she would either improve or die in the next couple of hours :'( I guess the reason Im posting mostly is because the vey really gave me a hard time about the rooster. Said she was too young for adult behavior & that was likely a contributing factor, that the stress of being mated compounded whatever other problems she is having. Is that true??

 

[Icies]

Specifically, she said a roughly 5 month old chicken is the same age as a 10 yr old girl & she sees young chickens come in with broken pelvis' because of mating.

 

[Icies]

Sorry for so many posts, especially right in a row but stuff is weighing heavily on my mind. I would love to know people's thoughts about keeping roos w youngish chickens. They are the same age so I thought they would do age appropriate things but maybe Im wrong.

They tested her & she was clear or parasites & infections. When I brought her in this morn there was still food in her crop (not hard) but I told them I was 99% sure she ate none of the food I left for her overnight. They checked again later & when it was still full they began the process of trying to empty it. It didn't work quickly but I just got a call & it is finally empty. They are giving her liquid food. The prognosis is improved but she is still "critical". Since the crop wasn't hard just not emptying from what I read that means sour vs impacted. If I am mistaken, please correct me. I think impacted can lead to sour but I don't think its the other way around. I know this can happen for many reasons but I want to make sure there is nothing Im doing to contribute to it. Honestly, I don't want to go thru this again & cant afford to (this is costing a small fortune). One of the things Im thinking about is I give them a fermented food which is supposed to be good for the gut flora. Because it's wet I dont leave tons out. I dont want it to go bad plus I havent figured out a good container that keeps them out of it but gives them more yet not too much that it goes bad (its hard when you only have a few, most seem to be geared to larger operations). I feed them 2x per day & there is usually a tiny bit left when I feed again & they free range all day so I figured they were also eating lots of other stuff & while they always act like they are starving when I feed them, so do my dogs & they are healthy. Could it be the 2 major meals plus free ranging vs constant food supply be contributing? Does anyone check their birds crop in the morning to make sure it's empty?? Also, they say moldy food does it, who knows what they are eating in the compost pile... but isn't that what they are supposed to do??
Any help is appreciated. Im pretty distraught & looking for answers.

 

[NotAFarm]

@Icies
I'm sorry you are having this problem with your pullet. I admire that you have gone to such effort and cost to figure out why she is ill. I hope she survives and thrives.

Young pullets should not be subjected to the unwanted advances of cockerels.
Here is a link to the page, May 24, 2016, containing your post (#21732) about your cockerels and my response (#21734-specifically the first part, "Breeding").
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/299038/icelandic-chickens/21730

In my flock, I feed fermented grains in the morning and free choice dry feed in the coop 24/7. My flock free ranges during the day on approximately 3 acres. I don't check crops unless I have one that is acting ill. I have not had problems with sour or impacted crops so I have no advice for you on these.