Icelandic Chickens

[kathyinmo]

Dump those dumb Polish. The Icelandics are much more beautiful and worthy of your time, energy, space, money, and so forth!

 

[kathyinmo]

Wanna see my new Delaware chicks?

 

[The Sheriff]

OMG...that is hilarious!

 

[Jake Levi]

Re the heavy male numbers over female:

could it be the combo of cooler weather and early in the year, obviously its the roosters doing/not doing, I am wondering if heavy percentage of roosters early on is a norm??

Are your Icelandics under a light ? Or natural day light?

 

[Jake Levi]

I posted that as studies have show in other species that season and time of day of breeding a female mammal affects the sex ratio, which led me to wonder if the hours of daylight and the season affects the sperm that the roo passes on.

A variance per brood is normal, a long run of it isnt. Something has to skew the odds that much.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Good thought Jake, but Mary has always hatched out lots of boys.

Kathy! Too funny!

 

[Jake Levi]

Hi

Whoever, for the numbers to be consistently skewed that much has to be for a reason, its just way out of the normal percentage, I have read some breeds do produce more males, but dont recall which. OEGBs were one, then a guy said he got more pullets.

Mary are your roos outside continually? Do they have any light when indoors??

This is a puzzlement to me.

What about other folks raising Icelandics? Do you get unusually more cockerals then pullets?

 

[scbatz33]

Ok, I'm 100 pages in and I am HOOKED! These birds are so amazing, beautiful and such free spirits. And Might I add, Warden, you are freaking hilarious!!!! I have chuckled this whole way thorough. I will keep reading, the history is fascinating - as are the birds.

I can't wait to see some of these amazing(have I said that already?) guys in person.

I am also fascinated with the idea of keeping them as they were for all of these thousands of years. I have been working diligently to get my lavender orps to "standard". I have a new tolbunt project that, quite honestly won't come close because I am not thrilled with the color standards(but that's a totally different story).

But here these birds are just free to do as nature calls them to do. it's brilliant really. Letting birds be birds and survival of the fittest. Keeping the human factor out of it.
Incredible!

I'll keep reading....but have to do so later!

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

Quote:
in chickens the hen dictates the sex of the chick... but that still makes me wonder about the large number of roosters... tho the big commercial poultry places have worked for years to see if environment could affect the sex of the chicks and the answer was no... but they weren't working with Icelandic's ether lol...

 

[Jake Levi]

Right on the hen controlling the sex,

in mammals time of the day affects the sex through different ph's in the oviducts and ovaries, so I am wondering if early spring has an effect, or the length of daylight hours is affecting it.

It would be interesting to hear from others who are incubating eggs as to their sex ratios at different seasons.