Icelandic Chickens

[Ohioann]

I have a problem and I'm hoping I can get some answers/help here. I have a flock of 6 Icelandics (4 hens/2 roosters) and I am incubating the eggs. Have had three hatches as of today. In the first two hatches the chicks were strong at hatch but druing the end of week one and into week two they started to die. There is no obvious sign of disease or distress until couple hours before they are dead when a few were a little "depressed". Other chicks (Welsummers) and poults (Minature white turkey) are doing well under the same brooding conditions. The Icelandic chicks are smaller that the Welsummers from the start but I expected that because the eggs are smaller. They all eat and drink well up to the point they die. I don't think it is the brooder temperature because the others are not affected. Could it be the feed?? I use a high protein, medicated starter for turkeys and game birds. The feed store said it would do well for chicks and the Welsummers do well on it as do the turkeys. Is high protein a probelm for Icelandics?? Being a landrace breed is their tolerance of "rich" foods different? Any comments or suggestions would be welcome.

 

[drumstick diva]

Out here they refer to the Canadian Geese as "flying outhouses."

 

[NotAFarm]

x

 

[The Sheriff]

Ohioan, sorry about your losses. My Icelandic chick have been strong and healthy for the most part. I feed mine Medicated chick starter and I add Polyvisol (without iron) to the drinking water for a couple of days. I also offer Gro-gel in the brooder until they are eating and drinking well. They go for the neon green color. My Icelandics have always been the hardiest in a mixed breed brooder. Do they have room to get away from the heat lamp if they want?

 

[The Sheriff]

KELLY!

My welsummer is broody! I just found her when I went to lock up tonight. She is sitting on a wooden egg and two brown eggs. She bit the skin on my hand! Did your girl PM my girl?

Dang, these broodies are putting the kibosh on my chicken empire!

I got three eggs out of that coop today and two Isbar eggs out of the other. I tossed three broody Icelandics off the nests this morning and as far as I know only one got back up. Good grief!

 

[The Sheriff]

Just wanted to pass along greetings from Sigrid to the Icelandic chicken lovers of BYC. She and Sveinn are in Iceland until the end of August. I emailed to pick her brain about the feathering issue. She has not seen it in her flock nor in the flocks in Iceland. She discussed it with Johanna who concurred. Sigrid called a couple of days ago and we had a lovely conversation about our passion. When I just had birds from Sigrid there were no feathering issues. That did not show up until I added from the other line. I reviewed my emails from the time I obtained those eggs and there was mention of an occasional chick with "odd feathers." I should have seen that as a huge red flag but I missed it.

I have talked with Sigrid, Kelly, Kathy, and Mary about my dilemma and what corrective measures I can take at this point to remove the gene from my flock. After much thought, fact finding, and soul searching I have decided to start over with my Icelandic flock. Kathy may be able to provide me with eggs from the birds that came from my foundation stock before the addition of the other line. Sigrid will send hatching eggs to me when she returns from Iceland in late summer. She felt confident that hatching chicks from Isi and Lukka until I can obtain from other sources will be fine. So I will keep only Isi and Lukka and the rest of my flock with be re-homed as layers for a friend. The two roosters will go to someone else as a safety measure against more Icelandics being hatched from these birds. I realize that this seems drastic but my goal is preservation and breeding with this gene or defect goes against that. I have sold the last Icelandic eggs and the eggs I have incubating are already sold.

The first half of my hens will leave on Tuesday and the others will stay as companions to Isi until Lukka finishes brooding her chicks and emerges from the broody condo and fenced run. My plan this time around is to keep the number of chickens in the Icelandic flock lower, just keeping the best of the best and not hatching just for the heck of it. Sorry Mahonri. Less is more will be the new mantra.

I had a difficult time coming to this decision but I feel it is the right thing to do. It will be so hard for me to see my beautiful birds go but the recipient is thrilled to have them.

As difficult as it is to see them go, I am also excited about getting back to the quality of my original birds. Poor Kelly will be here Tuesday when the first batch of girls leave for their new home. I will be a basket case.

So that's the plan, like it or not. I hope everyone will hang in with me while I go through the initial loss then the rebuilding process. I am hoping to hatch some chicks this summer so they will be at POL before next spring. While searching for the silver lining I realized now I'll have room for the turkey poults that will be arriving in the next couple of months. I will have room to grow them out, pick my trio and sell the rest.

Life is good, better with Icelandics. (Thanks Jake)

Mary

 

[Happy Chooks]

KELLY!

My welsummer is broody! I just found her when I went to lock up tonight. She is sitting on a wooden egg and two brown eggs. She bit the skin on my hand! Did your girl PM my girl?

Dang, these broodies are putting the kibosh on my chicken empire!

I got three eggs out of that coop today and two Isbar eggs out of the other. I tossed three broody Icelandics off the nests this morning and as far as I know only one got back up. Good grief!

You can't blame me, you didn't get her from me.

Talk to your Isbar girl!

Again, I lost some blood to my broody BR (thanks Kathy) - gonna have to remember the leather gloves tomorrow night. 3 weeks of this, sheesh! She'd better be a good mama hen! (she's not even a year old yet)

I think I have a couple others that are "thinking" about being broody. For the first time EVER, my barnevelder hen pecked at me today and made that broody sound - but she laid her egg and got off the nest. (I'm bad, I saved the egg for the broody BR) They are certainly fighting over the nests.

Did I ever say I wanted my Icelandics to go broody?

I'm going to end up with a crapload of chicks this year! **Disclaimer - see signature line about no chicken willpower.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Mary- I applaud you making this hard decision, and working to rid of that gene. I hope that you will have a better flock of Icelandics by fall.

 

[RingedTeal]

Just wanted to pass along greetings from Sigrid to the Icelandic chicken lovers of BYC. She and Sveinn are in Iceland until the end of August. I emailed to pick her brain about the feathering issue. She has not seen it in her flock nor in the flocks in Iceland. She discussed it with Johanna who concurred. Sigrid called a couple of days ago and we had a lovely conversation about our passion. When I just had birds from Sigrid there were no feathering issues. That did not show up until I added from the other line. I reviewed my emails from the time I obtained those eggs and there was mention of an occasional chick with "odd feathers." I should have seen that as a huge red flag but I missed it.

I have talked with Sigrid, Kelly, Kathy, and Mary about my dilemma and what corrective measures I can take at this point to remove the gene from my flock. After much thought, fact finding, and soul searching I have decided to start over with my Icelandic flock. Kathy may be able to provide me with eggs from the birds that came from my foundation stock before the addition of the other line. Sigrid will send hatching eggs to me when she returns from Iceland in late summer. She felt confident that hatching chicks from Isi and Lukka until I can obtain from other sources will be fine. So I will keep only Isi and Lukka and the rest of my flock with be re-homed as layers for a friend. The two roosters will go to someone else as a safety measure against more Icelandics being hatched from these birds. I realize that this seems drastic but my goal is preservation and breeding with this gene or defect goes against that. I have sold the last Icelandic eggs and the eggs I have incubating are already sold.

The first half of my hens will leave on Tuesday and the others will stay as companions to Isi until Lukka finishes brooding her chicks and emerges from the broody condo and fenced run. My plan this time around is to keep the number of chickens in the Icelandic flock lower, just keeping the best of the best and not hatching just for the heck of it. Sorry Mahonri. Less is more will be the new mantra.

I had a difficult time coming to this decision but I feel it is the right thing to do. It will be so hard for me to see my beautiful birds go but the recipient is thrilled to have them.

As difficult as it is to see them go, I am also excited about getting back to the quality of my original birds. Poor Kelly will be here Tuesday when the first batch of girls leave for their new home. I will be a basket case.

So that's the plan, like it or not. I hope everyone will hang in with me while I go through the initial loss then the rebuilding process. I am hoping to hatch some chicks this summer so they will be at POL before next spring. While searching for the silver lining I realized now I'll have room for the turkey poults that will be arriving in the next couple of months. I will have room to grow them out, pick my trio and sell the rest.

Life is good, better with Icelandics. (Thanks Jake)

Mary

I know this is a difficult desicision but it's for the best.

 

[RingedTeal]

You can't blame me, you didn't get her from me.

Talk to your Isbar girl!

Again, I lost some blood to my broody BR (thanks Kathy) - gonna have to remember the leather gloves tomorrow night. 3 weeks of this, sheesh! She'd better be a good mama hen! (she's not even a year old yet)

I think I have a couple others that are "thinking" about being broody. For the first time EVER, my barnevelder hen pecked at me today and made that broody sound - but she laid her egg and got off the nest. (I'm bad, I saved the egg for the broody BR) They are certainly fighting over the nests.

Did I ever say I wanted my Icelandics to go broody?

I'm going to end up with a crapload of chicks this year! **Disclaimer - see signature line about no chicken willpower.

I got my knuckle ripped open by a bantam cochin today.