Wow Molly, beautiful birds, those legbars and blue Isbars had to have come from Mary's birds because they are truly beautiful!!!
Have I mentioned before that I just ADORE my Icelandics? I so wish I could have kept Drekki Jr. He was such a good roo and so gorgeous, but dang he just didn't stop crowing. He would crow all hours of the day and night and I could hear him in the coop with only the little pop door to the run open from my bedroom. I hope the wall between the coop and our neighbors drowned the noise out, but I knew it wouldn't and my neighbor made a point that he would soon be showing his house to try and sell it and didn't want the chickens to be a negative. He seemed to be successful with all of my hens (I would never let any egg that wasn't PURE ICELANDIC to be incubated)... but I am tempted to see what a Drekki Jr X FBCM would look like!!!
I have 9 Icelandic hens and they are all just gorgeous. I did have 11 but one large black one with a nice crest died without any reason and the other that looked like a LB Leghorn died in the 110 heat after laying an egg. They are all serious eye candy for me at least! I've simply got to find a way to take some good pics of them. I could NEVER get Drekki Jr. to hold still long enough to get a good pic of him.
My two favorites are Ida and Goldie... like I said I've got to take pics of them. None of them have Icelandic names...I should translate the names I gave them! I have Ida, Goldie, Arby, Willeta, Rose, Morena, Blucy, Phyllis and Cloud. Morena is the oldest and I think she lays the largest egg. Rose is the largest of the group and she lays a nice sized egg too. I can't figure out which one is laying the cream colored egg but one or two of them lay a slightly off white egg. They share the coop with Blue (a Blue Ameraucana that hasn't started laying yet), Red,(a Production Red that lays a LARGE darker brown egg), Lucille (a Trader Joe's leghorn) ...lays a nice medium white egg, Barb, (a Barred Rock) that lays a light brown egg, Larraine, an Australorp that lays a light brown egg, and finally Maureen, a Black Copper Marans that lays a nice DARK brown egg but they are still a bit small for a marans. Maureen lays in a dark corner of the coop and Larraine always lays just outside the coop next to the edge of the run. Is there a way to teach them to lay in the nest boxes?
In another 8X8 pen, I have Geoffrey III... he's getting better lookin' each day but hasn't started crowing yet... came out of a very BLUE egg. A grandson of my Goeffrey (Blue Wheaten Ameraucana) Then I have Olive, a Blue Copper Olive egger - she is HUGE and the boss of the pen and lays a very dark olive egg. (her daddy was Geoffry Jr with a huge FBCM hen as her mother), Rowine, she is 3/4ths Blue Wheaten Ameraucana and 1/4th Wheaten Marans and lays a light olive colored egg. Lacy, an Ideal Leghorn that was hatched in June and still hasn't started laying and then the four Wheaten Ameraucana girls. Astrid, Tiny, Jennie and Janine. Astrid is the only one laying and lays a very nice blue to blue/green egg.
As you can tell I've DOWNSIZED tremendously... but I had to. I'm so glad I canceled my McMurray order or I would have been in trouble again. I just hope I can get a few chicks from the remaining Icelandic eggs because all the Icelandic hens and the roo are such gorgeous birds. GOAL FOR TOMORROW after work. PICTURES. I know you've heard it before, but I'm serious about tomorrow.
Can you all tell I'm still chicken crazy? ... and wish I lived on a farm where I could have 10 or more coops to raise lots of exotic breeds?
Other than the horrid socialism that looms ahead, I am positive for our future. Our country is just developing a lot of natural gas and oil reserves and if Mr. BO will allow drilling, our country will become the powerhouse of the world again and we'll reduce our deficit and debt quickly if he'll just allow us to use the resources we have. I'm praying that as the price of gasoline continues to decline that the price of feed will go down too!
I noticed a bunch of different breeds of all FEMALE chicks at the Western Ranchman feedstore the other day but I must resist for at least three weeks until I see if I get any new Icelandics that a friend in Gilbert will try to hatch for me. We'll see if I can make it that long!!! I do have an empty Laree brooder AND an empty 8X8 grow out pen with a heat lamp......
I fell asleep at 7PM tonight, got a phone call at 8:30PM and couldn't sleep so what do I do? I bore you all to tears with my chicken ramblings.... oh and I've got 8 foot tall corn in my garden and the cobs are really starting to get big. I've been picking beans and peppers and I'm waiting for my broccoli to mature, my peas are blossoming and I have a goodly number of lettuce plants growing as well as some HUGE tomato plants... so it's not all chickens, I like my garden too.
Have a great weekend y'all.
Luv y'all,
Dar
