Icelandic Chickens
Icelandic chickens are a type of chicken from Iceland. They are a landrace foul, which is rare outside their native country. Icelandic chickens originated with the settlement of Iceland in the 10th century by the Norse, who brought their farmstead chickens with them. Icelandics are active, naturally healthy fowl adapted to harsh conditions with good egg production even in winter. They are thrifty and make excellent farm and homestead birds. They also thrive in backyard conditions and are often very friendly and trusting. They are not a modern dual-purpose breed but do lay a lot of small to medium-sized white to pale tan eggs and often lay over a long lifespan. Some hens in every flock will go broody and be excellent mothers.
Mature roosters weigh 4.5 to 5 pounds and hens 3 to 3 1/2 pounds. Their lack of size is offset by their delicious meat which is best cooked in recipes that require long low and moist heat. Icelandic chickens are alert and react quickly to danger but are not immune to predation by wild animals and dogs. They are ideally suited to forage in free-range systems but a secure coop at night is a must. Good fencing and a coop will help their survival. Icelandic chickens are very independent and love to forage, digging manure and compost piles and can fly quite well which helps them roost as high as they are able to at night.
Icelandic chickens are not standardized in appearance. They support a wide range of plumage, color patterns, and some types have feather crests. Since Icelandic are landrace, meaning that their evolution was shaped by isolation and environmental factors rather than being selectively bred like other breeds of chickens, they do not have a standard of perfection. Unlike modern chicken breeds that commonly have an inbred factor of 12%, Icelandics have proven by DNA analysis to be remarkably genetically diverse.
Icelandic chickens are relatively rare. Estimates suggest about 4000 birds in Iceland, and an informal survey done in the US suggests about 1000 birds in North America, but they are gaining traction amongst homesteaders. Icelandics are on the livestock conservancy's watch list.
It is very difficult to find Icelandic Chickens. If you want to learn about more accessible breeds check out our Table of Contents ‘Breeds’ section.