Chicken Breed Focus - Hedemora

[WaterGoat]

Ooh! I want one! I like silkies but I'm not a fan of feathered legs. This would be the perfect answer!

 

[Trisseh]

Just sharing some pics of mine. I hatched a single bird out earlier this year, and was immediately hooked on this breed. They’re hard to find here and so far I’ve only come across 2 smaller places that have them at all; with the pandemic it was impossible to get from the one further from me so I reordered and hatched a few more eggs from the original breeder I purchased from. Here are the 3 chicks I hatched 1 week ago, and the last pic is my older almost POL pullet.
It appears out of the 3 chicks, I have 2 smooth and one wooly feathered. Here’s hoping for at least one cockerel! in the spring I’m hoping to order from the further hatchery and add in some new blood as well.

in order of appearance: Justice, Honour, Mercy, and Verity.

 

[AltonaAcres]

I want Hedemora hatching eggs if anyone has some

 

[PNWchkns]

My personal experience over the last 4+ years with the Hedemoras is that they are the most cold hearty chicken in their size group. I have never seen mine foraging in the snow, they prefer to stay in their runs or walk around in the paths I shovel for them. I still provide them with ceramic heaters when it gets down to about 12 degrees. I just finished insulating one of their coops with the hope I will not need to provide them with heat this winter. The silkied ones cannot fly so its good to have low roosts for them.

It is important that they have dense shade in the summer because they can die from the heat. They are very good at finding shade where they like to dig and sit in the cool dirt. Mine hang out in the woods 90% of the time which makes for great cover for them.

They are not cold hearty until they get their adult plumage so they must be kept as warm as any other chick. Sounds strange that I have to mention that but...

They have excellent personalities and make great pets especially for children (for some reason) I have never had a mean rooster with this breed.

It is almost impossible to put younger birds with adult Hedemoras. I keep a separate grow out pen next to their main pen so they can get to know each other and I also let them free range together. Once they reach adult hood they can be integrated like any other breed.

They all carry the silkie gene and so they have all the issues silkies.

I have never seen any champagne colored hedemoras. We only have black, white and Lavender in the U.S and they can have red or silver around the neck or laced through out the bird. I do have a hen that is half solid red and she produced a couple of chicks that had a little more red than her but they turned out to be roosters. I believe once I have an all red bird I may be able to get a champagne color by breeding it to a Lavender. I re-home (as pets) any birds with larger combs, despite being a landrace a small comb should be maintained to help keep them cold hardy. They are a super fun breed to own with all of their variations, sweet personalities and the medium size means they will not break the feed budget.

Are you by chance able to explain the woolly genes? I have a cockbird and 5 hens that are all straight feathered but came from a mixed flock of woolly and straight.

Wondering if I have a chance at hatching woolly?

 

[Imse]

This is the theory about wooly or not...

-Wooly X Wooly= 100% wooly

-Wooly X Smooth with wooly genes= 50% wooly, 50% smooth with wooly genes.

- Smooth with Wooly genes X smooth with Wooly genes = 25% wooly, 50 % smooth with wooly genes, 25 % smooth without Wooly Gene's

- Smooth with wooly genes X smooth without wooly genes = 50% with wooly genes, 50%without wooly genes.

- Smooth without wooly genes X smooth without wooly genes= 100% without wooly genes.

 

[Imse]

Here's a few pictures of our few hedemora.

Starting with Sota ( Soot), all black, comb and legs.

This is Ben and Blacky, both with red comb and grey legs.

This is Persille ( Parsley) , who just found out is was time to become mama. So we hope she will lay there for 18-19 more days. She is hiding 8 eggs.

 

[Imse]

Today we caught Persille while eating. She has 11 eggs, and I am sure there is life in all of them. She's on day 8, only 13 day to go.

 

[Imse]

The chicks are hatching. So far we have counted 3 yellow and 6 black.
Mama Persille is teaching them to eat and drink.

 

[Grisbeard]

Hatched 10 chicks from 13 eggs

 

[Grisbeard]

View attachment 2652905Hatched 10 chicks from 13 eggs

These are Hedemora höna from e-bay claimed to have greenfire parentage