Icelandic Chickens

[bambi]

I will rephrase my question maybe this can help get a answer to my question. If you went to a auction or you happen to be at someone's place how would you know by looking at a chicken that it has been crossbred with Icelandic? Each Icelandic chickens pretty much have a different look to them. My poor brain just keeps thinking about this question after Mary, commented about if she ever happen to see one crossbred. I sure hope I get a response. Yep it is not above me to beg for a answer

 

[Greybear23]

PICTURES!!!!

Lynn

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5 more left..no pips yet

Cheryl,
How is your hatch going? I can hardly wait to see your pictures!

 

[greatergraceoffbg]

Bambi, that is a very good question. At this time we are relying totally on integrity and honor AND a very tiny population. Very few people have Icelandics, literally all people who do have the Icelandics can currently trace their lines with little effort. I think a total of four sets of eggs have been imported to my knowledge. Lyle Behl being the first, and his eggs from that first generation are spread around pretty good. Then Mary got hers and her story is through our thread, they came from the RALA research flock in Iceland, ( MARY CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG HERE!) and the person who brought those in has another newer set they brought in, and then one other person has brought in hatching eggs and none of theirs has been distributed. One man clains to have Icelandics brought in during the 1880's and he is a nice sincere man who truly believes in his families account of the the birds, the birds are mottled, crested, but have a darker egg. ANY fowl in the US for 130 years is very likely crossed. I did searches for anything Icelandic in poultry magazines on google going back to the 1880's and there is nothing. SO its just not easy to verify if these birds are Icelandics. So its nothing against this man, but its not worth the chance of messing up genetics we know for sure are pure to mix them. I have birds from three of the egg import groups, all kept separated and all going into the second generation now. Mixing these lines is not bad but for me at this point keeping them separated is of more value to the breeding. Mary is to be credited with her selfless presentation of the Icelandics here on BYC, her distribution of the Icelandics and her fun yet focused thread of pictures, conversation and encouragement. We need people dedicated to preserving the Icelandics. I have mine in two locations and though I have other chicken breeds they are housed on a totally different property. I have yaken every precaution that is possible to identify my birds as to origin, and isolate each breeding group and keep new young birds growing. Your observation is a good one, to be able to certify that an Icelandic is pure will be a necessity in the future. Right now we are very fortunate to have devout preservationists like Mary, Kathy and myself keeping this thing real.

Andy in Fredericksburg

 

[Greybear23]

From what I have seen and read I honestly don't think you could tell if it were a cross with Icelandic, to me the breed favors the looks of our American Games and I have seen crosses with other breeds of them and you can tell they are a cross of some kind but you are at the mercy of the Honesty of the person of whom the bird belongs to!!! Just my opinion, Lynn

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[NotAFarm]

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My opinion is not "trained", it is just my opinion, but, I will try to answer some of your questions as I know of it. As is stated earlier in this thread, Mary (The Warden) has birds from different sources. These different sources got their stock from the legal importation of eggs from Iceland. She has shared these birds with different people. We are trying to share them with others. There is not an official "long-term genetic conservation" program, per say, here in the U.S. like there is in Iceland. We will do things differently than the Icelanders do and than each other does because of where we live and how we maintain our flocks. Our birds will be different enough to trade with each other if we want "new blood" but will retain the genetics that they arrived from Iceland with. Importation of new blood through eggs is something that will happen when there is someone who can afford to do so and has the contacts to do so. Some of the current flocks are here because of Icelandic sheep breeders who have been to Iceland and brought eggs back. Perhaps in the future, others will bring more back to help bring in a new influx of blood like they do for their sheep herds. That's my insight........hopefully others will chime in with theirs.

 

[bambi]

Thank you Greatergraceoffbg and Greybear for your input. I know that I have read from others in this thread that they had Icelandics as well and if I read it right they didn't get them from Mary, so where did they come from if not from Mary's/Sigrid's flock? I appreciate the education that you are giving to the readers.

 

[NotAFarm]

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Andy, That is a very good answer.

 

[drumstick diva]

I've been following this thread for quite awhile. These chickens came about from surivival of the fittest type of evaluation. If say, group A raises them in a hot,arrid region - over many years would the Icelandics loose their cold tolerance?? When humans determine the breeding partners it's no longer natures choice. I am not trying to flame or incite any fighting - just curious.

 

[centrarchid]

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I think cold tolerance will be degraded over time. If incubators are norm for hatching and early rearing, same is likely for parenting behavior (broodiness) and birds with highest egg output will also be an advantage.

I think roosters selected for breeding privileges need to be selected in some random fashion rather than based on eye of the keeper. More roosters than typical might also be better for each flock. Roosters carry good genes as a well that might be lost through excessively hard harvesting.

 

[Bob's Henhouse]

Along the lines of what Mary had to say... It seems all the Icelandics carry all the diversity of the species in each of them. Hence, when they breed, they are passing along all the genes to their offspring, the next generation, which is why breeding for a particular look, size, or purpose is not likely to be effective. As such, mixing one flock with another for genetic diversity doesn't seem like it would be necessary. (Although it is always fun to get new blood

)
This is just my untrained, ignorant 2 cents worth, which after inflation probably leaves me owing money.