Hi Dianne
I read over what I wrote, what I was trying to say is that the established modern breeds, ifnot having a lot of selection pressure according to their standards will diverge in appearance and traits, with no outside influence brought in, you can see it all over this site, show quality/production quality and breeder quality and usually there is quite a bit of obvious differences between them. Look at RIRs, when I was a tadpole over a half century ago my grandmother had a very fine flock of RIRs, she was very proud of them, with reason she often gave to me, she used to lecture me on them every day to and from the chicken house what they HAD to have, RCs where a biggie with her, now people show RIRs with SCs !
Otoh, if you breed a flock of Icelandics for ten or twenty years, with no outcrossing them in those twenty years you will produce Chickens like the Icelandics that you started with ! A thousand years is a LONG time to set a type, and it has happened with the Icelandics.
You commented on the variety of colors, that is something that has been selected for for a very long time , and that is what they produce in that. Whether it was personal pride in colors or just letting them happen, no-one knows, it just is. Color is not a survival item that was selected for in the harsh no-grain climate of Iceland. I say 'selected for', the type was selected for, whether by intent of climate and conditions solely I cant say, but there was a selection process there ongoing, and color was irrelevent. What is relevent is size, large enough to maintain body temps in the winter, small enough to survive on the meager rations in a country that grew little if any grain. That is much of the type, a survival trait. So is maternal ability, without it there would have been no Icelandics. Flock leading by the roos, much better then with other breeds I have had. Egg production is good, else they wouldnt have been kept. Cooking was largely of the stew pot, not Viking feast chawing we see in movies. So excess roos and old layers went into the stew pot, and were welcome.
There IS a distinct Icelandic type, but you wont find it in a single color, it wasnt selected for and I hope that it wont be, I dont want to lose any trait that could be traveling with a color gene.
So , all I can say is that this is a near ideal breed to have and to study, because it is a real authentic pure breed, and it is what it is, what that is remains for us to find out, they are there waiting for us. We dont really know but the tiniest bit of their history in development, all that we can really try to do is to extrapolate what life was like on the small farms and homesteads in Iceland and try and figure out how all the livestock was handled and developed there. Having seen pics of the dug-out homesteads in use after the forests were cut down I am sure that all livestock without a real practical value wernt keepers. Reading the Icelandic Sagas gives a very good insight into how life was early on there, you can extrapolate much from studying them. I was fascinated by them long before I knew of the Icelandic Chicken.
Life is good, and better with Icelandic Chickens and Pack Goats !
I read over what I wrote, what I was trying to say is that the established modern breeds, ifnot having a lot of selection pressure according to their standards will diverge in appearance and traits, with no outside influence brought in, you can see it all over this site, show quality/production quality and breeder quality and usually there is quite a bit of obvious differences between them. Look at RIRs, when I was a tadpole over a half century ago my grandmother had a very fine flock of RIRs, she was very proud of them, with reason she often gave to me, she used to lecture me on them every day to and from the chicken house what they HAD to have, RCs where a biggie with her, now people show RIRs with SCs !
Otoh, if you breed a flock of Icelandics for ten or twenty years, with no outcrossing them in those twenty years you will produce Chickens like the Icelandics that you started with ! A thousand years is a LONG time to set a type, and it has happened with the Icelandics.
You commented on the variety of colors, that is something that has been selected for for a very long time , and that is what they produce in that. Whether it was personal pride in colors or just letting them happen, no-one knows, it just is. Color is not a survival item that was selected for in the harsh no-grain climate of Iceland. I say 'selected for', the type was selected for, whether by intent of climate and conditions solely I cant say, but there was a selection process there ongoing, and color was irrelevent. What is relevent is size, large enough to maintain body temps in the winter, small enough to survive on the meager rations in a country that grew little if any grain. That is much of the type, a survival trait. So is maternal ability, without it there would have been no Icelandics. Flock leading by the roos, much better then with other breeds I have had. Egg production is good, else they wouldnt have been kept. Cooking was largely of the stew pot, not Viking feast chawing we see in movies. So excess roos and old layers went into the stew pot, and were welcome.
There IS a distinct Icelandic type, but you wont find it in a single color, it wasnt selected for and I hope that it wont be, I dont want to lose any trait that could be traveling with a color gene.
So , all I can say is that this is a near ideal breed to have and to study, because it is a real authentic pure breed, and it is what it is, what that is remains for us to find out, they are there waiting for us. We dont really know but the tiniest bit of their history in development, all that we can really try to do is to extrapolate what life was like on the small farms and homesteads in Iceland and try and figure out how all the livestock was handled and developed there. Having seen pics of the dug-out homesteads in use after the forests were cut down I am sure that all livestock without a real practical value wernt keepers. Reading the Icelandic Sagas gives a very good insight into how life was early on there, you can extrapolate much from studying them. I was fascinated by them long before I knew of the Icelandic Chicken.
Life is good, and better with Icelandic Chickens and Pack Goats !
