Hello Everyone! As promised, here are some pics taken Sunday of my Icelandics.
Ladies first...........here is my sweetie pie Anna taking her afternoon siesta....isn't she pretty?
Now for the stunning Asta.......one of her beautiful face and head.....one of her back to show her feather coloring. Yes, her right flight feathers have been trimmed.
Here is Ari...showing off his 'stuff'...........
Notice the stink eye he's giving me?
His coloring is really striking.
And last, but not least........Audun in his not so solitary confinement pen. You can see that he has company on the left side....nine 6 week old red sex link layer chicks (not all mine) that are free ranging at the time the pic was taken. He is in the middle of the free range yard so he has company all day. I'll get a better updated pic when he is out.
Okay, now let's see some updated pics of all the other Icelandics Mary sent out!!
Mary, The flock reduction may happen but not yet..........
The two boys take turns being out. They are just too full of themselves and the hens and ducks have no peace when they are both out. I'm trying to let them work out "an arrangement" with the hens as to who will be paired with who. There seem to be a couple of hens that are starting to show a preference. Like, hanging out near Audun when he is penned or roosting with Ari when he is out. Hopefully, they'll be able to coexist without all the drama one of these days. As for the ducks..........the Mama duck misses having a drake around so...............but I think she's a little tired of the constant attention. The younger 2 girl ducks just hiss and the boys know to back off. Never a dull day here!!!
Finally! An updated pic of the youngsters. They are 7 weeks old
Of course they still dont hold still worth a hoot.
And here is an updated pic of Buri. He has colored out beautifully. He spends his days laying next to the BLRW pen. I do believe that he is madly in love with one of the hens in there. The only thing that moves him away is the dogs or the call for scratch. Otherwise there he lays.
Pretty, pretty! Love Buri and that's a nice crest on the brown one. Thanks for the update and pics. I hope the hen that is the object of Buri's desire is smaller than the barred rock that Rico loved so much! He was always getting his a$$ kicked!
Thanks Mary! I was hoping for crests on all of them but only the brown seems to be heading that way. I am pretty sure that the brown and the one all the way to the right are hens.
The one in the middle, scrunched down has the start of waddles and a pretty prominant comb started.
I can live with that! lol
I think that I will continue to allow Buri and Jokul to free range and keep the youngsters penned providing that there are 2 hens and 1 roo. Each fall after the major laying season, I plan to 'turn out' the penned birds to free range and keep the chicks penned for the next years breeding. This will allow me to build the flock, keeping them purebred and at the same time giving them the opportunity to free range and live as naturally as possible.
I may occasionally toss Buri and Jokul and any new roos in with the hens to keep the gene pool as wide as possible.
Everyone that stops out to our little place remarks on the Icelandics. They are certainly eye catchers!
Sometimes the crests are slow in coming in. I have had some that get crests much later than the others so don't give up hope.
We are finally, hopefully, set to move to our new place this weekend. This will be a real challenge with four broodies on eggs and a blind Orpington! You can read all about it here:
I hope we have enough of an internet connection to keep in touch. That part is really worrying me! If I disappear for a few days I am probably unpacking. I may have to buy a laptop and go to Starbucks for coffee every morning to post my updates.