I almost ordered more eggs off Ebay

[hnorth]

Last year I ordered 25 Icelandic chicks. After normal attrition and culling the cockerels, I ended up with 10 hens and one very handsome rooster who goes by the name Tony Soprano.

After cracking, and examining several eggs earlier last week- I determined that Tony wasn't doing his bit. Although I had discreetly observed successfully "servicing" several hens. I began to think about the possibility that he wasnt amorous enough or fertile enough.I thought that in order to continue with my purebred Icelandic chicken project, I would have to obtain a replacement for Tony. Still I put a dozen eggs in my homemade incubator and turned it on.

The truth is that Tony is a good rooster: a gentle leader who points out worms and bugs to the hens and he often stands watch over his bevy. Like many other Icelandics, he isn't overly interested in people and is somewhat standoffish. He shows no signs of aggression.

I dont know of an other purebred Icelandic chickens within a reasonable driving distance so...I began to think of ordering a dozen Icelandic hatching eggs. I wanted to develop a new rooster roster out of a new hatch. I located a solid source of the eggs and several days went by. Im reluctant to try to hatch shipped eggs because of several costly mistakes on my part and rough handling on the part of the USPS.

To my great surprise, 6 of the eggs showed signs of development. I delayed my order for a few more days "just to see". Lo and behold 8 eggs have veins when I candled them. Tony is redeemed!

 

[Debbie292d]

Go, Tony, go!

Sometimes it takes some of these guys longer to do their job. It seems by the time they are jumping all over our hens, we'd think they should be, but they aren't always. I've just gone through this, and we're slowing getting more fertile eggs from him. I guess it's not just a light switch.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

Last year I ordered 25 Icelandic chicks. After normal attrition and culling the cockerels, I ended up with 10 hens and one very handsome rooster who goes by the name Tony Soprano.

After cracking, and examining several eggs earlier last week- I determined that Tony wasn't doing his bit. Although I had discreetly observed successfully "servicing" several hens. I began to think about the possibility that he wasnt amorous enough or fertile enough.I thought that in order to continue with my purebred Icelandic chicken project, I would have to obtain a replacement for Tony. Still I put a dozen eggs in my homemade incubator and turned it on.

The truth is that Tony is a good rooster: a gentle leader who points out worms and bugs to the hens and he often stands watch over his bevy. Like many other Icelandics, he isn't overly interested in people and is somewhat standoffish. He shows no signs of aggression.

I dont know of an other purebred Icelandic chickens within a reasonable driving distance so...I began to think of ordering a dozen Icelandic hatching eggs. I wanted to develop a new rooster roster out of a new hatch. I located a solid source of the eggs and several days went by. Im reluctant to try to hatch shipped eggs because of several costly mistakes on my part and rough handling on the part of the USPS.

To my great surprise, 6 of the eggs showed signs of development. I delayed my order for a few more days "just to see". Lo and behold 8 eggs have veins when I candled them. Tony is redeemed!

Oh you are so lucky. My rooster is in the exact same scenario. He's a great rooster but I need fertile eggs. I got like 5 fertile out of 24 this last hatch. He's having a hard time staying on the hens. I tried 14 more eggs and nothing. Not even 1. Last year every egg was fertile. To be honest I think his hens are too big for him. He can't balance.

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

Hi! I can’t find much on here about icelandics. I have a 4 week old Icelandic and 2 day old Icelandic. Just the two of them.

The 4 week old has always given me hen vibes, looks very elegant, has that hen stance and got her tail feathers quickly.

But… she is getting wattle bits and flys right up to me.. either very friendly or I fear is a cockerel.

How quickly did your Icelandic’s get wattles? She’ll be 5 weeks on Tuesday.

Also has a slight comb but it’s not turning pink.

 

[Zenmonkey]

It's still early in the year, and Tony is young. It might have taken him some time to ramp the hormones up and then develop a successful technique.

I've w never raised Icelandic chickens, but some breeds have known issues. Butt feathers blocking the exchange, physical size or shape making "targeting" difficult, etc.

I'm glad you have Tony time to prove himself. Congrats!

 

[Zenmonkey]

To be honest I think his hens are too big for him. He can't balance.

So... the broad breasted turkeys are all artificially inseminated. And there's a number of coturnix Quail breeders who use AI as well. For our non-duck, non-goose companions it seems like a fairly straightforward process.

Search YouTube for coturnix AI (probably have to spell it out, otherwise you'll get lots of ChatGPT offering to tell you all about bobwhites and penguins).