Icelandic Chickens

[kathyinmo]

Announcement! I recruited yet another Icelandic preservationist! A young man here that is actively involved in 4H comes out to my place every once in awhile. I had given him some Delaware chicks and told him if they ended up being boys he could bring them back. He brought back 2 today. He and his mom looked around and took a few chicks and grow outs. We started talking about the Icelandics, and BAM, I got 'em!

I sent them home with 8 new chicks and notice that I will be hatching more on the 20th. YAY! They are gonna spread the word about the preservation effort, so we may have some more interest here in Missouri.

Well, the broody basher, errrrrr, I mean, "broody buster," was busy here today! I cleared out a pen. The floor is concrete pavers. They have a pop door to the outside. I took each broody and dunked her in a pail of water; submerged for one full minute. Funny thing, they appeared to enjoy this. The pen has 10 broodies in it, which includes 2 Silkies and Kola. It is new to all of them. Some got up on the roost for most of the day. Others wandered about aimlessly, clucking sweet nothings. Kola screeched her head off, as her usual pen is right next door.

As I went to lock up tonight................ YES, ANOTHER broody wanna be on the nest. Another Silver Laced Wyandotte. I grabbed her off the nest and tossed her right into the broody buster pen.

I gotta tell ya, this has been one unreal experience!

Never in my wildest dreams (or nightmares) did I think I would ever have to deal with over 20 broodies at a time. I left Silkie mama and her 6 chicks in the rabbit hutch coop, and one more Silkie in her own pen sitting on a bunch of eggs. One Barred Rock has 8 chicks, and I will not take them away from her. The most outraged of all was a New Hampshire. I thought she was gonna scratch my eyes out! She flaired up to twice her size, trying to protect her eggs! The blue Orp that I said was failing (because she is in mourning after I snatched her babies away) ...... Well, the young man and his mother asked if they could have her. They are going to try to nurse her back to health. She is bone thin and pale, and a very prominent keel bone. Her crop is empty. I hope they can save her. It was a relief for me to not have to cull her. I feel so guilty about this. Lesson learned.......... do not take babies away from broodies after only a couple days. They mourn. Really, they do!

 

[The Sheriff]

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Good job Kathy! Wow you have your hands full. Let is know if they save the poor broody!

 

[tazcat70]

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Mahonri, I am so sorry to hear that. I know that she was special to you. We all have those moments where we realize that we coulda/shoulda done something different that would have saved the life of something in our care.

 

[tazcat70]

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Yeah Kathy!!!!!! That is great news! And the fact that he is young, even better.

I had a first time momma that did really a good job for a month, then she was done. Her babies were devastated. One little rooling would just walk back a forth in the pen, so sad.

 

[Jake Levi]

Mary you are so right about losing some,

a good friend told me long ago that, if you have livestock you will lose some, the only thing to do is to chalk it up to bad experience and move along. Mahonri I can relate to how you feel about your pullet, she was outstanding, and a keeper. So I am holding off moving the young ones from 4 weeks to 5 or 6 weeks out to the chicken house and run.

Tonya I love your signature line, it really puts things into perspective.

Kathy I am hoping next year to have your luck with broodies, all Icelandics !

I would love to have all of next years chicks mama raised.

Sun is shining, the cool wet days are behind us herre and it is looking more like June.

Life is good, and Icelandics make it better.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Mahonri........I am so sorry for your loss. I too know how awful it feels to lose them. But Mary is right, we do learn from the experiences to better protect them next time.

Kathy.....You broke Kola too?

I knew you said you wanted no more broodies, but I didn't think that included Kola. I suspect she will get revenge on you. I hope your broody buster coop works for you. And on the Orp broody, why did you take her chicks away? I sure hope they are able to nurse her back to health. And great news on the new addicts to the Icelandic movement!

Jake.........good luck on the broody front. I have so many of the broody breeds - Brahma, Marans, Ameraucana's, Orps, Icelandics, Barnevelders - and not a single broody. Hopefully it will be different next year when the Icelandics and Barnevelders are older.

 

[kathyinmo]

Yes, Kelly, Kola too. No more broodies. NONE!

I took the Orp's chicks away because I simply did not have room to house her and the chicks. I do not have 20 or 30 broody apartments available for these crazy hormonal biddies and their babies, ya know. It takes ALOT of room! My adult breeders and grow-outs use up all my space. Initially I was building new additions. That is just crazy! I put a stop to that. No more buildings. I need to listen to my husband, "in moderation, Kath; in moderation." I get too carried away.

 

[Happy Chooks]

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Moderation? YOU?

Okay, now that I said that - I understand now about the broody and chicks. How sad that she was so upset about it. I really hope she makes it.

 

[LarryPQ]

Mary- I think I got 6 chicks out from the last batch of eggs you sent. They may be going to Dar's house for his broody...we'll see when he calls if he still needs them.

Kindof a dismal hatch these last two hatches. I think I need to take a break for a while.....

Or two weeks. Turns out I am hatching and raising chickens for Midwestern Unversity. Long story short, I will have to do 2 more hatches this year, but since the birds will all be for dissection, I am just going to throw in eggs from my Alohas & layer flock.

....somewhere to dump the roos.......

 

[thebirdguy]

Mahonri-- Sorry to hear about Goliath.. I hate that part of keeping animals.. Everything is going well and then something happens out of your control...

We had a little tragedy of our own this weekend.. Saturday I was gone for about an hour and 1/2.. I got home and of course went straight to the brooder to check on the Icelandics.. I found 1/2 of them wet, 3 that looked dead and several others that looked close.. I quickly grabbed all the ones that were soaked and not moving.. put them in a bowl and rushed to the bathroom to use a hair dryer.. After a few minutes, I had them warmed up and they are all alive.. I decided to put them in the incubator that I have running with turkey eggs as I had an empty tray in it.. Left them in there for about three hours and they all perked up and I was really hopeful that we had saved them.. Unfortunately 4 of them didn't make it including the chocolate brown one...

I still don't know what happened for sure but my 4 year old said the water got tipped over.. I'm sure he accidentally knocked it over, the chicks in the immediate path of the water just happened to be the smallest ones for the most part and they just didn't have the the body mass to compensate for the sudden loss of body heat. So now I am down to nine chicks... On a positive note, they all seem to be doing wonderfully.. noticed a couple of pasty butts in there this morning that I'll have to keep an eye on but they are all doing well.

Is it just me or do the icelandics chicks seem to be more scratchers than other chicks? Mine from day 1 can't eat without scratching.. it is so funny... It must also be a characteristic that they teach as the marans that are in with the older 4 icelandics are all scratching fools now too.. I have the waterer up on a wooden block in that brooder and I still have to change it 3-4 times a day as they fill it full of shavings..