Icelandic Chickens

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Yeah, but you're gonna' have to find it!
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Pssst. Look in the bag of shavings.
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I have a frizzle that lays in the compost heap, UNDER the cover. I have to remember to look in it regularly. Today I found 5 in there.

Oh well, at least she isn't broody.
 
Hi Kelly

the Iowa Blue as would be expected originated in Iowa in the early 20th Century, its origins arenot known and it became a popular homestead chicken, hens are dark birchen, roos have black and white capes and occasionally it goes down onto the back,

they are a homestead free ranger and go broody easily, lay light brown eggs, up to 6lbs on the hens and a bit more for the roos.

With the influx of production breeds many stopped keeping them and only several hatcherys carried them, and then those went out of business in competition with the big operators so they were down to several isolated flocks. Sandhill began working with them a few years ago and there are now a dozen or so people in Iowa keeping them, but numbers are way down, a couple big hatcherys , Ideal for one, got stock from Sandhill, Privet did also and plan to introduce them, Ideal was only selling cockerals this year.

I was wanting to get a few in MI but the move interfered now I am planning on getting some in the spring. I am very much focused on the free ranging homestead breeds that need preservation.

The roos are said to be quite social with people but fierce protectors of flocks, taking on hawks and stray dogs.

There's a couple threads on here on them and some good pics of them. I will start a small flock and see what I can do to help build numbers of them. Icelandics are my main breed though.

Life is good and better with Icelandic Chickens and Pack Goats.
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Well Kelly my prediction that today would be the day of an egg event happened! Either my BR or NH is laying for sure as I got 3 light brown eggs today! Also, there was a yolk in one of the nest boxes but nothing else. Not sure if Phyllis laid and her egg got broken but her eggs are tiny and there was way too much yolk for that. So, if that is true, then someone else is laying! In the jail yard the news was that Raven made a quick in and out visit to a nest box and Skye finally stopped pacing and laid her egg. Lukka only added one Icelandic egg to her stash of Barnevelders today and that was taken away.

I printed out an accounting of the replacement value of my birds to give to my neighbor so he has a written statement of what it would have cost him had his dog gotten in today. I valued the Icelandics at $47.50 because Hodges Farms is getting $95 a pair on RareBreedAuctions. Everything else is what I paid for it or what it would cost me to buy one now. It came out to $5,115.00. So depending on which yard it gets into, his total could be up to that amount. When it gets to it's full size (the largest is 260 pounds) it can probably get into all three yards with little effort. It was sure pushing at the fence and gate today.

Trying to get into the chickens.

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The little boy trying to get it to follow him home. No such luck until they went and got three more kids to help drag it.

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Climbing up the hill from my layer yard.

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Finally getting off my property.

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All these pictures were taken in my yard today!
 
Success! The little flock of Icelandics I waved goodbye to this morning landed in Dillingham and their new owner really likes them.
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Of course, they are Icelandics, who wouldn't like them
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Congrats on the egg Mary! I bet it's your NHR as she's super red. Maybe your BR is starting up too with the soft shelled egg.

Jake - thanks for the info! Interesting that their origins are unknown.
 

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