Icelandic Chickens

[AK Michelle]

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And still we wait for pictures of Jake's Icelandics

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Thanks for the translation and pics, it explained your comment quite clearly.

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Wow, rough night, I'm so sorry

 

[AK Michelle]

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Mary, it looks to me like your roo is a little big for your coop

Thank Michael for letting us giggle at his pictures.

Thanks,

 

[AK Michelle]

Alright Speckled Hen, you need to come have a word with your namesake. A few nights ago she decided to roost about 12 feet up a tree, and before long, the blue girl decided to join her. No problem, I got a board and tapped their branch and down they came.

The next night they were a little higher up, in more dense leaves, but a few taps to the branch and down they came.

Last night, she was probably almost 20 feet up, I had to reach as far as I could holding the board by it's very tip. The first tap and the other two came down, the second tap and she moved to another branch and proceeded to chatter at me. The last time I actually tapped her little tushy, and she finally decided to move it or lost it. But she didn't aim well and banged her foot on the edge of the roof as she came down over the coop and landed less than gracefully. I can't wait to see where I find her tonight.

 

[Mahonri]

GOD BLESS MICHAEL!

Tell him I am SO EXTREMELY impressed... you'd better give him ANYTHING he wants now...

... after a hot bath and shower of course....

 

[centrarchid]

AK Michelle,

My problem is not with language, rather poor grammer and spelling.

Eclipse molt - See post #7410 for partial explaination of eclipse molt. To further, an eclipse molt occurs in adult birds, usually following breeding season. Birds shed the showy display feathers (around neck in some chickens) and replace them with shorter, rounder, and darker feathers that are kept on for a month our to until they are shed and replaced by next round of the showy display feathers. Most domestic roosters these days go from one showy set to another skipping the eclipse feathers. Timing for eclipse molt is during heat of summer. Be sure to follow links in post #7410.

Alleles - Everything characteristic an animal has is at least partially influenced by genetic code. The code is made up of many stretches called loci, each coding for a specific characteristic (eye color, feather shape, comb type etc.). Consider a loci coding for presence of toppy feathers in Icelandics (the tuff some have on head). In reality the chicken has two copies of the loci, one from mother and one from father. As matter of fact an individual has a single copy of each chromosome type from each parent. The allele term comes into play when mothers copy might differ from fathers copy which often is case. With the toppy loci, if chick gets only one coding for the toppy characteristic from either parent, then the chick will have the toppy look. No toppy allele, then no toppy look. The toppy example giving is very simple. Most characteriscs, like the complex and varied color patterns exhibited by Icelandics are a result of many loci and their alleles interacting. Icelandics are unusual in todays chicken world in that the number of alleles has not been reduced through selective breeding to match some ideal of perfection. That is good.

 

[AK Michelle]

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Ok, the eclipse molt must be triggered by heat, if it is indeed the "short sleeved" version of feathering. My birds have never molted. Not a single one of them. They may lose a feather hear and there, much like my lab leaves a trail of hair everywhere, but like the lab, they never appear to be any less covered. No bare spots, no disheveled appearance. I have always assumed it is a climatic thing. It doesn't get hot here and it's not summer long enough to be conducive to shedding ones feathers.

As for Alleles, I had asked for clarification before I read your initial explanation, but this just makes it that much clearer. Thank you very, I don't pretend ot be an expert in biology or genetics, but these random bits of science do answer some of the questions about why and how they look like they do.

 

[AK Michelle]

As most of you know, I'm building a barn, and it's getting all new "furniture" too

No more kitty litter bucket nest boxes

Here is my question, how do I convince the girls there is a new place to lay their eggs. The barn is only 40' from the old coop, my guess is the girls will be trying to get in the old coop to lay. It is, after all, the proper place to lay their eggs and has been for about 4 years. Should I lock them in the barn with their new nests for a couple days till they figure out the old home just ain't home anymore?

 

[Mahonri]

My younger AJ look a like...

 

[kathyinmo]

Mary,
YAY Michael! Hope you fixed him his favorite meal tonight!

Mahonri, sorry for your losses. I have been experiencing predators galore here. So far we have trapped 11 coons and just a few minutes ago Cody shot 2 possums. One was inside a pen eating feed off the ground, the other was above it, in a tree. Both traps are set. Cody saw another coon last night and shot and missed him. Still gotta get him............ Hope you get your predator!

 

[The Sheriff]

For his efforts Michael got a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

I've cooked a lot lately for recipes to add to my blog so tonight it was just a sandwich. Tomorrow I'll get the broody boxes ready and we'll move the girls at night. In twelve days I will have five mamas with babies, four of them in the same yard! Bring it on! I am hoping to get some great pullets from this bunch to replace the girls I lost.

Oh, and Stuie and Louie say "Hi."