Hedemora Thread

[klf73]

well, my new grey rooster fell over dead yesterday, no idea why. I noticed saturday night he was a little lazy looking and never as rambunctious as the girls, I tried putting avia charge in the water and he just fell over dead yesterday.

I wonder if there is a way to combat the fragility this breed seems to encounter. I am still clueless as to what he passed from...they are still inside because of the weather so I know it wasn't environmental, and the room they were in have never had chickens in it before(to my husbands dismay). I am so sad as I was really looking forward to babies from this guy

. So now I have to decide if the two girls go with my soft roo that I posted a picture of or a hard feathered roo that has a free range group of girls. My only hesitation with the free range guy is he is rough on the hens he has now and they all have saddles but at the same time don't want to have the same roo over all my girls. Suggestions?

 

[longgrove]

Sorry to hear about your rooster. That has been my experience, mostly. i've rerely had sick chickens, other than those who succumbed to preditors, mostly had them just suddenly died without much warning or clear cause, very dissapointing and puzzling.

Starting up with a little flock of layers. (So far, 7 pullets and a cockerel who is cream legbar) Would love to get a couple of cream legbar pullets. Have a silkie and a cochin/wyndotte pullets that will, hopefully, become reliable setters by late Fall. So, if I can't find legbar pullets, may be in the market for cream legbar hatching eggs by Fall.

On another note, when researching the legbars, discovered the Greenfire site and the Hedemoras. I'm fascinated with this breed. Living in Maine, my ideal chicken would be a good layer, super cold hardy, a good forager, easily handled and disease resistant. (I don't care about meat qualities as I learned decades ago that I while I really enjoy raising animals, I just cannot slaughter and eat the animals that I raise). Hedemoras seem to have many of these qualities. I am interested in trying to raise a few of these and in working with other nearby breeders to do this. This seems to be a good breed for a "homestead chicken" for Mane. I live in Hancock Cty, where in Maine are you?

 

[Dentaku]

I'm a new member on this forum and just like Svarthöna i live in Sweden. Since i was born and raised in Dalarna, the region in Sweden where Hedemora hens have their origin it wasn't very hard to decide which breed of chicken to get when me and my boyfriend bought a house in my old home town. Now we have four pullets and a cockerel walking in our garden.

We've had them for about three weeks and they're adorable, always greets us in the morning when we let them out of their coop and flock around us if we are outdoors. If you try to sit in the garden with something edible you end up with a lap full of chickens though.

 

[Dentaku]

Some pictures of my little flock:

 

[Sebrightsrock]

 

[mothernaturesdaughter]

Beautiful birds.

 

[enggass]

Hey all, new to the thread. Can't wait to add some of these to my varied flock! I think they will enjoy our Maine winters...

Keep the picture coming...

 

[snowpetals907]

Where are all the hedemora people at?
I have 4 hedemora all about 7 weeks old. I am lucky enough to have gotten 3 lemon blue pullets!
Already they are flying and roosting and foraging away. They didn't want to be anywhere near the heat lamp at 3 weeks even.
I think they'll enjoy the snow
I'll take some pictures this weekend...
but i'd love to see how everyone else's are doing!

 

[longgrove]

Hi all and esp Snowpeals. Congrats on the Hedmora chicks. They and Cream legbars are the two heratige breeds I'm most interested in. Looking forward to pics!

Right now I'm in mourning. A ouple of months ago one of my 3 (then 4 month old) EE pullets suddenly died and I took her for necropsy. The Vet found tumors. Mareks was suspected, then two pullets had respiratory symptoms for a week but now seem to have fully recovered. I thought maybe we were past the worst of it but yesterday my sweet Creamlegbar roo started with symptoms of ataxia and weakness and today I finally got the results back from the histology and she had Lymphoid leucosis (which has sx very similar to Mareks, has about a 4-6 month incubation period and there is no vacine for it). I fear the worst for Reggi the roo.

 

[mothernaturesdaughter]

Longgrove, I am very sorry to hear about your chickens, that has to be devastating. Please be aware when considering owning Hedemoras that they are highly susceptible to Mareks Disease, the original importer has a disclaimer on their site that should be read before buying. Also consider that not all of the colors have been imported to the states but, they are gorgeous. I hope I have not discouraged you. I recommend only purchasing hatching eggs with this breed and, be prepared to keep them in a cool location with fans for the summer months because they do have Extremely heavy feathering. I hope you are able to get your problem under control very soon, God bless.