Icelandic Chickens
Oct. 13th, 2010 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pacificpikachuAnkles are doing much better after a few days of rest. I'm still staying off of them as much as possible, but at least now I can limp around with just a little pain and stiffness. They're continuously getting better. :)
I had my chicken friend Candace over today! We talked for a while and looked at my birds, and it was fun! :D Also, she brought me my two newest flock members--one lavender white-crested polish and one blue white-crested polish! They are sooo darn cute, eee! I've wanted some polish for a while. Polish are the ones with the crazy feather "hats" or afros.
--
Also, I might as well post some more details about the eggs in my incubator. They are Icelandic eggs, also known as Íslenka landnámshænan (Icelandic hen of the settlers) or Haughænsni (pile chickens).
These chickens were brought to Iceland by the Vikings in the 9th century AD and were found on most farms for centuries. Indeed, one of their Icelandic names -- Íslenka landnámshænan -- means "Icelandic hen of the settlers." With the advent of the commercial type chickens, by the 1950s the Icelandic breed was nearly extinct. All the birds now existing (less than 3,000) are descended from a very small group of fowl saved in the 1970s. Icelandics are quite winter-hardy and lay white eggs. This is a long-lived breed and the hens make good broodies. They are also reputed to be quite docile. They are excellent on range, and another of their Icelandic names -- Haughænsni -- means "pile chickens," due to their habit of foraging on manure piles and other places rich with insects and seeds.
There is a great variety in plumage and leg coloration, many comb types exist in the population, and some birds have feathered legs. Crests also occur frequently. The facial skin is red and ear lobes are white.
The Icelandic chickens have twenty-two gene alleles instead of twenty-four, which is the number almost all modern chickens have.
From Sigrid, one of the few Icelandic breeders:
"I remember them on some remote farmsteads in the thirties--a small number foraging and taking care of themselves for most part, perching in barns and occasionally treated with leftovers the dogs did not want. They were friendly and never went far from the premises. They are social by nature and very hardy with high tolerance for harsh weather or weather changes.
They come in a rainbow of colors like all other livestock in Iceland, horses, sheep and cows. That is what makes them all unique. Most Icelandic chickens have a crest on top of their head. Their eggs are white or slightly beige and tend to be somewhat elongated. They are good sitters. Their combs come in many variations, straight, rosecomb, etc.
The Icelandic chicken generally lives a long live. I have 3 hens ten years old and one 11 years old. I know of a 15 year old here in Iceland.
The Icelandic chicken is called Landnamshæna (Settler's Chickens) or haughænsni (Pile Chickens). They were brought to Iceland by the first settlers from Norway before the year 900, and were known to find something to eat in manure piles. Therefore the names. Today they are sometimes called Viking Chickens. These chickens are mentioned in the old Icelandic Sagas written around 1250. Genetic research shows them to be 78% different from all other chickens in the world today. This is why it is important not to mix them with other breeds, once we do that, we can not get it back. Therefore we need to let them breed naturally as they always have. Nobody here in Iceland has worried about in-breeding for over a thousand years. I have had my RALA chickens in California since 1998, and started with a very few.
I have seen a number of roosters and hens together here in Iceland where they can enjoy more freedom roaming around because there are not many predators here. They seem to establish their hierarchy naturally. (There will always be a top rooster and hens tend to do that as well). So, " let nature take its course "and don"t "make a mess of it".
After WWII the interest in our old breed diminished when a lot of people from the countrysite migrated to the City (Reykjavik) for a "better life". Egg production became commercialized using foreign breeds.
In 1974, Dr. Stefán Aðalsteinsson realized that the Landnámshænan was just about extinct. He travelled all over the country looking for Icelandic chickens and found some in remote parts of Iceland, mostly on the East Fjords and the North East part of Iceland. He brought them to RALA (Agricultural Research Center) at Keldum. They were in protection untill 1985, when they were placed at the Agricultural University at Hvanneyri. Still in protection. When I refer to my RALA chickens I am referring to those. I got my chickens from this group specifically. The original RALA group is now at 2 farms near Hvanneyri.
In 2003 there was a great promotional effort to initiate a general interest to save this breed. On Nov. 1 2003, The Landnámshæna Association with a yearly publication was established. They have now about 168 members. It is believed there are now over 2000 Icelandic chickens in Iceland. Mary O´Bryan got 2 hens, Lukka and Henna, and 2 roosters from me. Lukka and Henna are RALA but the roosters are from hatching eggs from one of the members of the Association.
I brought some hatching eggs from Iceland last fall for the first time in 12 years. Their rooster came from an old stock on the remote island Flatey, current population 5. The population in the forties was about 250. I had relatives there then and visited the island so this was very meaningful for me. Around 1950 or thereafter, the island was vacant for some time. There was a monastery there in 1172 and it was the center of culture in Iceland at that time. The island is now a popular tourist place with the ferry stopping there twice a day.
I hope this will be of some help to all of you."
Anyway, I feel very honored to have these very rare, endangered, and historical birds in my incubator. There are very few flocks in the US or anywhere outside of Iceland. :D It just so happens that a lady who lives near me and frequents BYC spent about a year researching the breed and ended up getting a trio of Icelandics from Sigrid and has been working on preserving the breed. Hence how I ended up with some! If I hatch some, they will be kept separate from my other chickens (most likely in the large pen where I moved the ducks and guinea fowl) so that I can keep them purebred.
Uhhh, chickens. That's pretty much my life at the moment. I have nothing fandom-y going on at the moment to talk about, unfortunately! I've been saving Pokémon fanart as usual and looking through Y!J lately, but other than that not much is going on as far as fandom stuff goes.
Also, I have an interview on Tuesday for that perfect job I applied for. We'll see how it goes--fingers crossed!
I had my chicken friend Candace over today! We talked for a while and looked at my birds, and it was fun! :D Also, she brought me my two newest flock members--one lavender white-crested polish and one blue white-crested polish! They are sooo darn cute, eee! I've wanted some polish for a while. Polish are the ones with the crazy feather "hats" or afros.
--
Also, I might as well post some more details about the eggs in my incubator. They are Icelandic eggs, also known as Íslenka landnámshænan (Icelandic hen of the settlers) or Haughænsni (pile chickens).
These chickens were brought to Iceland by the Vikings in the 9th century AD and were found on most farms for centuries. Indeed, one of their Icelandic names -- Íslenka landnámshænan -- means "Icelandic hen of the settlers." With the advent of the commercial type chickens, by the 1950s the Icelandic breed was nearly extinct. All the birds now existing (less than 3,000) are descended from a very small group of fowl saved in the 1970s. Icelandics are quite winter-hardy and lay white eggs. This is a long-lived breed and the hens make good broodies. They are also reputed to be quite docile. They are excellent on range, and another of their Icelandic names -- Haughænsni -- means "pile chickens," due to their habit of foraging on manure piles and other places rich with insects and seeds.
There is a great variety in plumage and leg coloration, many comb types exist in the population, and some birds have feathered legs. Crests also occur frequently. The facial skin is red and ear lobes are white.
The Icelandic chickens have twenty-two gene alleles instead of twenty-four, which is the number almost all modern chickens have.
From Sigrid, one of the few Icelandic breeders:
"I remember them on some remote farmsteads in the thirties--a small number foraging and taking care of themselves for most part, perching in barns and occasionally treated with leftovers the dogs did not want. They were friendly and never went far from the premises. They are social by nature and very hardy with high tolerance for harsh weather or weather changes.
They come in a rainbow of colors like all other livestock in Iceland, horses, sheep and cows. That is what makes them all unique. Most Icelandic chickens have a crest on top of their head. Their eggs are white or slightly beige and tend to be somewhat elongated. They are good sitters. Their combs come in many variations, straight, rosecomb, etc.
The Icelandic chicken generally lives a long live. I have 3 hens ten years old and one 11 years old. I know of a 15 year old here in Iceland.
The Icelandic chicken is called Landnamshæna (Settler's Chickens) or haughænsni (Pile Chickens). They were brought to Iceland by the first settlers from Norway before the year 900, and were known to find something to eat in manure piles. Therefore the names. Today they are sometimes called Viking Chickens. These chickens are mentioned in the old Icelandic Sagas written around 1250. Genetic research shows them to be 78% different from all other chickens in the world today. This is why it is important not to mix them with other breeds, once we do that, we can not get it back. Therefore we need to let them breed naturally as they always have. Nobody here in Iceland has worried about in-breeding for over a thousand years. I have had my RALA chickens in California since 1998, and started with a very few.
I have seen a number of roosters and hens together here in Iceland where they can enjoy more freedom roaming around because there are not many predators here. They seem to establish their hierarchy naturally. (There will always be a top rooster and hens tend to do that as well). So, " let nature take its course "and don"t "make a mess of it".
After WWII the interest in our old breed diminished when a lot of people from the countrysite migrated to the City (Reykjavik) for a "better life". Egg production became commercialized using foreign breeds.
In 1974, Dr. Stefán Aðalsteinsson realized that the Landnámshænan was just about extinct. He travelled all over the country looking for Icelandic chickens and found some in remote parts of Iceland, mostly on the East Fjords and the North East part of Iceland. He brought them to RALA (Agricultural Research Center) at Keldum. They were in protection untill 1985, when they were placed at the Agricultural University at Hvanneyri. Still in protection. When I refer to my RALA chickens I am referring to those. I got my chickens from this group specifically. The original RALA group is now at 2 farms near Hvanneyri.
In 2003 there was a great promotional effort to initiate a general interest to save this breed. On Nov. 1 2003, The Landnámshæna Association with a yearly publication was established. They have now about 168 members. It is believed there are now over 2000 Icelandic chickens in Iceland. Mary O´Bryan got 2 hens, Lukka and Henna, and 2 roosters from me. Lukka and Henna are RALA but the roosters are from hatching eggs from one of the members of the Association.
I brought some hatching eggs from Iceland last fall for the first time in 12 years. Their rooster came from an old stock on the remote island Flatey, current population 5. The population in the forties was about 250. I had relatives there then and visited the island so this was very meaningful for me. Around 1950 or thereafter, the island was vacant for some time. There was a monastery there in 1172 and it was the center of culture in Iceland at that time. The island is now a popular tourist place with the ferry stopping there twice a day.
I hope this will be of some help to all of you."
Anyway, I feel very honored to have these very rare, endangered, and historical birds in my incubator. There are very few flocks in the US or anywhere outside of Iceland. :D It just so happens that a lady who lives near me and frequents BYC spent about a year researching the breed and ended up getting a trio of Icelandics from Sigrid and has been working on preserving the breed. Hence how I ended up with some! If I hatch some, they will be kept separate from my other chickens (most likely in the large pen where I moved the ducks and guinea fowl) so that I can keep them purebred.
Uhhh, chickens. That's pretty much my life at the moment. I have nothing fandom-y going on at the moment to talk about, unfortunately! I've been saving Pokémon fanart as usual and looking through Y!J lately, but other than that not much is going on as far as fandom stuff goes.
Also, I have an interview on Tuesday for that perfect job I applied for. We'll see how it goes--fingers crossed!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-10-14 06:53 am (UTC)Best of luck with the interview!!
no subject
Date: 2010-10-14 07:18 am (UTC)And yep, chickens usually live 7-15 years depending on the breed. There are some breeds with very short lifespans (mostly production breeds), but most of the breeds I raise live a long time. I have three hens right now that are twelve years old and at least two that are ten.
Thank you! :D Have you found any job possibilities yet?
no subject
Date: 2010-10-14 10:56 pm (UTC)