Icelandic Chickens

[ReiMiraa]

Quote:
they are fine. gave the one rooster brahma x RiR away today for a guy wanting to introduce a large rooster to his meat bird program.... currently the icelandics and the other juveniles/ now almost mature bird, that were their broodmates free range during the day and eat mice. or chase my cayuga ducks...
They happy pigs.

i haven't had any other mysterious chicken deaths since then.

** the other chicks were my hybrid experiments. they are heritage breeds i crossed to play with hybrid vigor.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
they are fine. gave the one rooster brahma x RiR away today for a guy wanting to introduce a large rooster to his meat bird program.... currently the icelandics and the other juveniles/ now almost mature bird, that were their broodmates free range during the day and eat mice. or chase my cayuga ducks...
They happy pigs.

i haven't had any other mysterious chicken deaths since then.

** the other chicks were my hybrid experiments. they are heritage breeds i crossed to play with hybrid vigor.

IF there was an issue with bad feed, incomplete feed, I am guessing that it would have effected both breeds the same.
Icess have no extreme needs, they need what every other chick needs...and in so saying, after raising some, they are extremely precocious, and can find goodies themselves.
They are active birds, more so than most breeds, and from hatch, have an issue with boredom & need to be outside, more input, more grazing....
But I do not find a reason why you had 2 breeds in 1 pen, fed the same feed, and 1 breed failed, but for a genetic problem.
If it was the feed, both breeds would have failed.
It seems clear to me.
Tell me if I am wrong here~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Chickielady]

Rachel, your inbox is full, time to house clean.
But I do want WSU white cheddar...and I think you need to look into the Mack Hill lines more, if it wasn't a feed issue, in this case both breeds would have suffered, especially a larger fowl breed like your Brahamas...we'll talk tomorrow.
Goodnight all!

 

[The Sheriff]

Yes Kelly she took to the pretty brown eggs right away and I took her white one away and will do so everyday all day for 21 days!

What have I been doing all evening you ask? Here's a hint. This is Barn Girl's foot. It finally presented as classic bumblefoot but started out as an abscess on the outside of the foot. I am just writing a blog post about the surgery but it was very difficult and scary for both of us. She is resting now in a crate in the garage.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Did you use the wrap on it so her abcess will not get re-infected from stepping in poo?
I love the self sticky wrap, in the horse dept, cut longways, and use to hold a pad (2x2) on the bird's foot and keep it clean..the only thing I have seen that they cannot pick off of themselves.

 

[ReiMiraa]

Quote:
I will know this spring if its genetic for sure or something else weird was going on. (like it could of been a bacterial infection they are not immune to that triggered loss of appetite then triggered the Rickets disease but by then they were too far gone.) (we also live on an orchard and it could of been a chemical in the air they were sensitive to... but that is far fetched)

I will breed my small flock (small genetic pool) and run an experiment on divided batchs of chicks. one will be in a brooder with a very plain feed, scratch and electrolytes from the beginning.
the other half will be treated the same way originally and i will observe what/ if anything happens and will try more aggressive corrections (medication to eliminate possibility of bacterial infection) to see if its a weakness to feed or just the natural pathogens that my birds here are already hardy to and they are not....

if after 3 reps (because science experiments require a minimum of 3) i would do many batches to see if its genetic.... and if the chicks are vigorous after many weeks then i would be able to sell them with a peace of mind knowing its not something wrong with the line. Sometimes there are false starts. and maybe the ones that survived are the toughest for whatever reason and the problem wouldn't even happen again. only time will tell.

The Mack Hill lines are directly from Lyle. last i checked there were only 2 importations his and Sigrids. his was in 2003 and i think sigrid was 2007.

I cleaned my inbox. WSU white cheddar.... i will check the size of the can and the prices in the student market when i go in for my morning coco tomorrow.

 

[AK Michelle]

7 Icelandics are packed in crates and headed to the airport for a flight to Dillingham. I'm going to miss them but I'm super excited to send them off to another part of the world

I still have a dozen or so, plenty for a starter flock and I'm looking forward to springtime when they can be broody and we'll have Icelandics EVERYwhere

 

[The Sheriff]

Quote:
Actually that is incorrect. Sigrid was the first to import Icelandic hatching eggs from Iceland to the US in the late 1990's. Here is her Christmas card from 2000. Sigrid told me last year that Rosa and Hekla on the Xmas card are still alive and over 10 years old.

The newspaper article was from 2000 also. She did import more eggs at a later date but she was the first.

 

[NotAFarm]

Thanks for posting this Mary. I hope someday that my flock will show that kind of diverse feathering!! Beautiful!!!

 

[The Sheriff]

I forgot about the statement in the newspaper article about multiple roosters getting along well. I am going to be trying that out this winter since my rooster guy can't take any more for awhile. I also decided to keep Little Man. He is just too sweet with the ladies and I don't believe he has any problems genetically. In addition to him and Isi I have at least four little cockerels down there as well. If it gets to be too much for the girls by Spring I will know who's a keeper and who's not.