Icelandic Chickens

[kathyinmo]

x

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
I do the same.

I get eggs in winter when they are not molting. My first Icelandic hen, Briet, molted twice as fast as my other breeds. She was done and back to laying before 2 months were up.

 

[joyous]

They are all beautiful! Really like the pullet!

Okay! I got some pictures today of my three Icelandic chicks. Tell me what you think!

My favorite cockerel. He's getting extremely pretty, and he's got a good temperament.


Here's the one I think is a pullet. She's shy. Love her color.


The second cockerel. He's started making more 'adult' noises lately, so I wonder how long it is before he crows.

 

[NotAFarm]

 

[RedIII]

Thanks, joyous and Not A Farm! The two cockerels are from Shawn. The second boy actually has some more rust and white on him, plus a little crest, but you can't see it in the picture. He tends to be a little bit of a drama queen sometimes, so I had to take what picture I could get before he wriggled. The boys are a little over three months old, now. The girl is around two months.

I have a hangup on the pullet, though. A friend and fellow BYCer ordered some Icelandic eggs through eBay, and this pullet was the only survivor of the hatch. I was given her as a gift, since I already had the two cockerels. I need to track down exactly who that seller was and where they got "viking chickens" from, since they claim to have bought their birds directly from someone who imported them. Until I know for certain that this pullet is pure Icelandic, I will not be breeding her. I very dearly want a breeding pair or two of Icees, but I think it's been made clear enough on this thread how precious this breed is, and I don't want to mess it up.

 

[mlm Mike]

I added insulation to a coop before last winter. I was hoping it would help keep water from freezing, at least for the just below freezing winter days. Winter was so mild I don't know if it helped. What I do know is is created a great space for mice to hang out. Taking it out is on my to do list.

They way my Icelandic Rooster has been acting, he might not be seeing winter. He went after my DW twice yesterday morning when we were choring. He was noticably absent from evening chores, showed up this morning and behaved. Then, this evening he pecked at a goat kid multiple time, being mean to a kid is a death sentence for a chicken here, or re-homed if he doesn't go after another person.

 

[Icelander]

Icelander, Here are the average temps for the nearest weather station to where I am in Illinois. I couldn't find a nifty chart like the other one but I hope you will see that we have large temperature swings between summer and winter. If you find the Great Lakes, just east of the middle of the country on the Canandian border, you will be able to point out Illinois.

Climate Avg Nearest weather station at DIXON 1 NW, IL Elevation 700 Feet
Month
High Temp Average Temp Low Temp
January 26.0 17.8 9.5
February 31.7 23.4 15.0
March 44.2 35.5 26.7
April 58.0 47.7 37.4
May 69.7 59.1 48.5
June 78.8 68.4 58.0
July 82.0 72.2 62.3
August 80.3 70.2 60.0
September 73.3 62.3 51.2
October 61.8 50.6 39.4
November 45.4 36.9 28.4
December 31.4 4.0 16.5


My interest in Icelandics was because of this wonderful thread that Mary started. Upon researching the need for preservation, I decided that a chicken bred for a thousand years in Iceland would be a great choice for Illinois weather. The bonus would be that I could help preserve the genetic treasure that was at risk of being lost. If I was new and just starting to read at this point of the thread, I would take the word of an Icelander over anyone else.
Since you posted

Quote:

some newbies may be discouraged and not want to try Icelandics because it reads like they need to have insulated coops (I don't agree that a plywood shell constitutes insulation but agree it would be warmer than metal in winter and cooler in summer) and be kept at a temp in the 50s. I am glad I mentioned it and that you clarified that the Icelandic breeders using heated coops are for stimulating egg laying and for comfort and not out of necessity.
I'm sure you are well aware that being an Icelander, everything you say will be taken as "gospel" by some. I would hate to see potential preservationists discouraged.

Thank you for sharing the temperature records, although December doesn't make much sense to me. How can the average be the lowest number? But wow, it gets brrr cold up there!

Anyway, I really hope that I've made it pretty clear I'm a newcomer to raising chickens myself and I so very sincerely hope nobody takes my word as any sort of gospel. If you do, for the love of all that is good and holy, please stop.

I hope it's clear that what I said above is entirely based on what I've seen breeders encouraging folks to do in Iceland. It's not what I do; after all, I don't live in Iceland and neither does anyone else in the forum as far as I've seen. I should have included at the very beginning that this "comfort-level" was discussed in relation to maintaining wintertime egg-laying, not as a general rule. Personally, I completely agree with letting the hens have a break from laying in the winter.

The last thing I would want to do is discourage newbies, or anyone, from keeping Icelandic chickens, they are animals that were hardy enough to be sailed across the rough North Atlantic ocean in open knörr boats that were small enough to fit inside a decent-sized American living room!

I am honestly just trying to convey things I've read and talked about with breeders at home. If I do an inadequate job, or what I say conflicts with your (often ample and expert) experience, I'd hope you continue to say so.

I really appreciate you pointing this out so I could clarify. Like you know, I'm new at this.

Quote:
I couldn't agree more. I won't be trying to manipulate my girls into winter laying, especially not the first full winter I have them, I'm very interested in seeing what their natural rhythm is like. And I'd like to see them turn 20!

(edited for grammar)

 

[NotAFarm]

x

 

[karimw]

LOL 50 degrees would be nice right now, insulation or not! My Icelandics seem to be handling the heat just fine too. I am losing my heavy bodied birds though, lost 2 gold laced Cochins yesterday

I'm guessing it was over 100 in their pen, though they could move somewhere cooler. The Icelandics and the Iowa Blues migrate to the most comfortable area in the barn. I did lose one cockerel to stupidity though, I found him hanging by his neck when I got home from work Friday. They like to perch on the dog's kennel and he must have slipped down and caught his head in the corner between the two panels. I fixed that area so it won't happen again, but wow. Sad deal. On the other hand, my pullet with the injured foot is doing OK. I have her in a cage in the coop so she can't be hastled but she is starting to put weight on it. Perhaps it isn't broken after all.

 

[Mahonri]

.