Icelandic Chickens

[ChestnutRidge]

Quote:
I am so sorry about your little chick.

What a thing to witness.

I'm glad your hen still has the other chicks to raise.


I have to break out of lurker mode for that one! While I'm breaking my code of silence, I'll just say that I enjoy reading this thread and admire these awesome chickens (and, of course, their awesome owners). I don't have the proper situation to keep them myself, but I am rooting for the Icelandic chicken!

 

[NotAFarm]

Oh NO! What a horrible thing to witness.....I guess better knowing what happened though so you can take the necessary action to prevent further losses.

Thanks for posting the pics of the Icelandic juvies!! Do you know if any are from the few that hatched from my eggs?

 

[speckledhen]

OMgosh, Mahonri, that's awful!

 

[NotAFarm]

Okay, Icelandic fans..........I have a question for you. I've run this by Mary and she said to ask all of you.

I have three youngsters that have feathering that is not like the others. It seems they could carry the "hookless" gene. Has anyone else hatched any like these?
Mahonri posted a pic that looks like it could be similiar and I asked if he knew whether it came from my eggs. If so, that would be four from the mating of Ari over Anna and Asta. I'm pretty sure that Anna is the mother of Kalista (she has Anna's darker legs, Asta's legs are very yellow), but don't know for sure.

They all seem to be "skinny" and Barbara (who I can actually catch easily having been brooder raised and not broody raised!) is indeed quite thin. Alexi and Kalista have a hard time getting down from the roost and I notice that one or the other often stay on the ladder up to the roost. I think the feathers being what they are makes flight difficult. Kalista does not leave the coop very often and when she does, she stays very close to it. She is in with the large (20+) grow-out group (Icelandics, Javas and JavaxSLW) that are the week before and the Easter Hatch. They are currently in separate quarters that have ranging next to but not part of the other yard. Alexi and Kalista range in the yard with the main flock and seem to hold their own. I always make a point of seeing that they get treats or specials when I bring something out.
Any insight would be great...I know Kathy had some of the "silkied" Ameraucanas at one time and I wondered if this was something similiar to what showed up in them.

Alexi (after White Sox shortstop Alexi Ramirez. "Skinny Little Man" is his nickname in our house, so it fit this son of Ari's)

Kalista (after Callista Flockheart the skinniest actress I know (or at least one of them) and I needed a K sounding name to go with the other girls in that group!):

Barbara (an Icelandic name from the Greek for foreign or unknown because she is so different from the others):

A close-up of Barbara's wing feathers:

A shot of Alexi's front:

One of Alexi's back:

Seinna, The Other Mary

edited because I noticed I had the hen's names wrong on the leg color sentence
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Living on 4 acres (that is Not A Farm) in Lee County, North Central Illinois.



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[kathyinmo]

Silkied Icelandics? Yeah, why not! The gene can very well be a mutation, or it can be a gene that is recessive from many generations ago, if I recall correctly. That is, if it is a gene. I wonder if you breed 2 of those fluffy birds together if all the chicks would be fluffy, too.

I don't know if this would be good thing or a bad thing. It would definitely inhibit the Icelandic nature of being so active and going up so high, as they do. Hmmmm, I just don't know.

By the way, I have read several articles about this "silkied" or "hookless" gene popping up in many breeds. Most just cull for it. Some do embrace it and breed for it. I dunno.......

 

[NotAFarm]

Kathy, Did the feathering on your Ams look like these?

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Let me look for a picture.

I have pictures here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=31282-silkiefeathered-ameraucanas

 

[NotAFarm]

Mine do not look like those. Yours were showing the "silkied" look from the very beginning...mine didn't. I have no plans to breed them together, just wanting to know if anyone else has hatched chicks with this type of feathering and what they look like as adults.

Thanks for the help!!

 

[kathyinmo]

I think there is another gene (a mutation) called "fray gene" or something like that. I wonder if that is what you have.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
When I saw the pictures, I was thinking fray as well. Lemme go find the info on it.