Icelandic Chickens

[LarryPQ]

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I would never embarrass my poor pitiful Delaware girl (who would surely be competition for this ugly contest) by posting her picture!

Hey now, Mary DID ask.

I can go take another pic of her, so you can see her new feathers. I like her though....she'll never get mites or lice.

 

[kathyinmo]

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YAY! You have 2 girls laying now!

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

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YAY! You have 2 girls laying now!

Either that or it was the same girl that laid the second egg

I wish I had seen which one laid this time.

 

[The Sheriff]

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I told her what you named yours and she stole it! I have so many chicks from five broodies! Skye has 5, Miss Polaris has five, another girl has four, Lukka has 5 and another girl has one! And a broody is on a nest of seven right now. The eggs I took from the broodies are starting to hatch. One is pipped today. I think I have eight total plus the 26 in the other incubator which are hopefully all sold. I am hoping not to keep any of the incubator chicks. I would like to just pick from the ones being raised by the broodies for my replacements.

 

[The Sheriff]

Laree...

Wow, I concede.

Come on Kathy, get a pic posted! If you can't show your friends who can you show? Plus, how do we know Laree really wins?

 

[Jake Levi]

I'm with you on that Mary,I would like to not need the incubators next year at all, unless I receive some eggs with traits the flock doesnt have, but I really would like an all mama reared flock. They learn so much more so much earlier and it reinforces the maternal traits. And they are just fascinating to watch !

We are all in the early stages of learning about this breed, most of our birds were hatched in the last couple of years, and we have been enjoying them, now I am getting even more fascinated in the survival traits and what makes them such a great ranging chicken beyond what little we know from their early years.

I have seen many photos of early farms in Iceland, not at all like the Currier & Ives paintings by George Durrier, a great many were sod houses, with parts for the livestock some of them. Any breed of Chicken, or other livestock that could survive a thousand years of that has to have a LOT of special qualitys. There were also some farms with nice big stone houses and matching stone barns, but there were far more sod houses. These are really tough birds !!

Life is good, and better with Icelandic Chickens and Pack Goats !

 

[Tripp16]

Gorgeous!! Even the hens are beautiful!!

 

[kathyinmo]

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My girl would never forgive me. She has cataracts and only about half the feathers she should have. Poor poor pitiful thing. I took her apron-saddle off for a couple weeks and had to put it back on just so she would look presentable. If she wasn't such a sweet thing she would be going to the processor Sept 13 with the boys.

 

[LarryPQ]

I have a delaware/EE mix named Runt that never seems to regrow back feathers. Plus she has white feathers (which yellow in the AZ sun) so she always looks like someone peed on her. I suppose I could get her a saddle, but it is so HOT here.

But she is our favorite, one of my first 12 chickens, and super-lovey.

 

[AK Michelle]

I am so looking forward to getting the interior of the barn done so I can get the chickens moved in there. The little coop is too small for so many adult birds, there just isn't enough room on the top shelf

last night I got busy with a bunch of other stuff. When I was getting ready for bed I realized I still hadn't shut the chickens up. So out I went. It is finally dark now at 10-ish, so most of the birds had gone inside and my DS had shut the coop when he went out to take care of something else.

But, because I know my girls, I went out any way and shined my little flashlight up into the trees, sure enough, 2 girls were perched high up in the tree

One of the birds was Gæla, who usually comes when called. So I tried that. Nope, not happening. So I grabbed the 1X4 that I keep handy, for just this occasion. I used the board to bop the branch, no response. So I lifted and bounced the branch, again, no response. Now mind you, this branch is about 15' up this tree. So I slide the board against the branch till it bumped Gæla in the side. She moved sideways a step and settled back down. So I bumped again. Another step from Gæla. Once she got up against the other bird (who still needs a name) she just stopped moving and ignored further bumps.

So I put the board under her tushy and pushed her up thinking I would tip her off the branch. Nope, she stepped onto the tip of the board and went for a ride, as I lowered the board she stepped back on the branch - NOT what I wanted. So I repeated the process but waved the board (as well as I was able to considering I was stretched to the limits of my reach just to get the board up to where these two were perched) but that only made Gæla step onto a different branch.

My next attempt was to lift up under her, get her on the end of the board and try to keep her there while I stepped sideways, trying to get her out of the branches so she didn't have a anything to step back onto. But I hit a limb that blocked my path and lost her back onto the branch. So I repositioned and tried again, this time I was able to get her out of the branches and lowered toward the fence before she jumped free of the board and ran for the gate. ( I don't think she's a fan of carnival rides.)

Now I had a method so I repeated the last couple steps with the other one, and got her out of the tree on just the 2nd attempt

So I walked to the gate and into the pen, thinking I would scoop Gæla up without any big to-do and toss her in the coop with the other one following behind. NOPE! By this point Gæla was behaving like I was a 3-headed monster and running frantically from me. Being a bit short tempered by this point I gave in and opened the coop door, everyone inside rustled a little at the sight of pale light from outside. I warned them all that stepping one toe off a roost would NOT be in their best interest and they all seemed to understand, no one moved after that. I walked in a wide circle and the gruesome twosome ran headlong into the safety of the coop. I quickly closed the door behind them.

That was when I realized I missed a great opportunity. I could have made a fortune if I'd caught that on video and charged a nickel for everyone who got to watch and giggle. Hindsight...