Icelandic Chickens

[kathyinmo]

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[tazcat70]

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Yeah!!!!!!!


BTW Mary, so wonderful of you getting those SFH eggs for Mahonri.

 

[tazcat70]

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I went and looked when they were first talking about them. They are now on my someday list.

 

[tazcat70]

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Don't forget to get Emu's too

No, no, no! No emus!
Can't have Emu dinner for Thanksgiving, can ya?

Could you imagine the size of the platter you would need? You would have leftovers for months!

 

[tazcat70]

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Oh my gosh, I DO sound like him, don't I?

OK, I will just research. Guess I should have done that BEFORE I ordered.

Books. Books are always good. Ya, I'll order some turkey books.

Breath in, breath out. Relax, you still have about 15 weeks until Spring, and because that stupid groundhog never sees his shadow.

 

[Jake Levi]

Well, I myself think that the Porters Sweetgrass strain is beautiful, BUT, its not in the SOP, so if shown best you can do is AOV, if you want to show then the Royal Palm and the Small Beltsville Whites are smaller birds that can take BOS.

I have been on the Heritage Turkey thread for awhile, and am going to split an order between the Sweetgrass and the Palms. With the price of meat soaring in the market I am going to be raising all that I can this year. There are several good suppliers of Turkeys, Duane Urch, and Sandhill, but I just like the looks of the Porter Turkeys the best. Prices are pretty much the same with all of them. All of the heritage varieties of Turkeys do well ranging, and will lower the growing out costs quite a bit, just asw with our free ranging chickens, just need to acclimate them to being shut up at night coming in for some snack treats. Back in NYS I raised the Wishard strain of Bronze that is a strong ranging bird that roosts in your trees, raises their poults around your home and always comes in well for morning feeding, its a smaller breasted bronze that feeds its self twice as well as the standard bronze, but, here in NW Wa we have so many wild turkeys that I think that I would be over run with wild turkeys in no time if I had a free ranging bronze here.

BTW, CL and other are at the Chehellis show this weekend with her Buckeyes and Midget White Turkeys.

Yup, the Sheriff is great !!

Life is good, and better with Icelandic Turkeys, and heritage Turkeys !

 

[Gresh]

Hey, everyone! I may have asked this question before on this thread, but I forget if I got an answer or not, and I have a bad habit of forgetting some of my posts

What exactly constitutes an Icelandic? They look like any normal barnyard classic: a mix-breed, a combination of what appears to be Polish, Leghorn, and something else. What is so unique about them that makes them different from any other mutt? It seems like they could be a mix of just about anything.

I'm a person who highly respects the standardized breeds (or at least chickens that breed true) because they represent good stewardship and because they preserve the beautiful vastness of chicken genetics. Icelandics seem like all those mutts that the "modern chicken person" wants, like Easter Eggers or Legbars. Such scramblings of genes swallows up characteristics unique to the ancient, time-honored breeds like the Asil, Old English Games, etc.

What I really would like to know is a summary of the Icelandic's history. Are there any sources that indicate what chickens are included in its genetics? Do the Icelandic peoples know? Are Icelandic chickens a recent cross (i.e. mutt) or are they older and more time-honored (i.e. landrace)?

Though I am very adamant in supporting true breeds, I recognize the importance of landrace chickens. After all, many true breeds trace their heritage back to some landrace fowl that a farmer decided to get more intentional with. Two of my favorite breeds, the Orloff and the Kraienkoppe, both include local landrace fowl in their ancestry, and without those barnyard birds there would be no Orloff and no Kraienkoppe.

Any summary-info would be most appreciated.

~Gresh~

 

[Happy Chooks]

Icelandic chickens are a landrace. There it a lot of information on them in the first page of this thread and an article here:
http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/10E06A03.pdf

If you like chickens that breed true (as in standardized appearance), these are not the birds for you.

 

[Mahonri]

Gresh,

Over and Over again, I think you've been answered.


Let's see, white ears: leghorn? (lots of breeds with white ears)
Feathered feet : cochin, marans, faverolle, ???
small crests : polish, sultan, sulmtaler, SFH, ????
cream colored
OR white eggs : endless possibilities

I could go on an on.

NONE OF THE ABOVE!!!



ICELANDICS = LANDRACE FOWL

 

[Gresh]

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Thanks! By "not breeding true," do you mean that they can pass along a whole different body type to their offspring? Like the parent generation may be slender and graceful, but the offspring could be stout and clumsy?