Icelandic Chickens

[Icelander]

One thing though Icelander.. Looked at some of your pictures.
you do have a nice flock.

Thank you Cooper12

They give me a lot of enjoyment.

 

[kathyinmo]

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[kathyinmo]

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[Icelander]

As an outsider to the group, this is beginning to kill me. Frankly, all you people with frayed icelandics that have continued to hatch and sell them are the ones spreading this "mutation". I'm glad some are starting their flock again. If the mutation is dominantly, or only, in the US, then those involved need to cull, not breed, or import lines. I like this bird, I do not have it, I may never have it. It's clear that it hasn't always been imported with regulatory diligence (no surprise). Right now in the US it appears that many lines have this issue and little has been done to stop breeding these lines and not to mention that there could be outcrossed birds (who is going to pay for genetic testing to determine this, anyway). The real issue is if fray is bad, you folks need to work harder on removing fray. Uggh!

Thanks redchicken. Just curious, would you say you have been put off from owning Icelandics because of the fray issue, or how it has been handled?

 

[Icelander]

It is really no big deal. It is just another mutation. There are TONS of mutations. Cull the affected, period. Problem with "autosomal recessive," is that it may take a couple generations (or more) before it shows up. By that time, many "carriers," could have already been produced.

So you think this could all be traced back to one individual/mutation?

 

[kathyinmo]

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[Icelander]

Because it is. Mutations have NOTHING to do with location. It is totally genetics...... mutated ones at that.

Thank you for repeating that Kathy, although I don't think you understand. The issue is that something allegedly "random" that happens in one location in 20 years when it could have happened in other locations for 1200 years clearly has something to do with the location. Just saying that it doesn't won't answer that question. Thank you for the effort though, I do appreciate it.

 

[Icelander]

Yes, of course. That's how it starts. One bird develops a mutated (fray) gene, and passes on that gene.
THEN, the offspring is a carrier of that gene. Mate the offspring together, or mate back to the original = fray gene visible (not just a carrier).

Thank you very much, this answer is actually quite informative! Since the gene is recessive, wouldn't this take some significant inbreeding to make it this noticable?

 

[kathyinmo]

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[kathyinmo]

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