Svart Hona

In love with this breed!! <3

I purchased day old chicks and proceeded to raise them with Langshans. Not the best idea. I would definitely raise them separately from other larger breeds in the future. Shipping was hard on them.
However, the hen I ended up with went on to brood and raise two hatches last season, all of which were really healthy.
The original cockerel received a lot of handling as a chick. He went on to be aggressive, but selectively. He was valiant in his protection of the flock, and really impressed me in being consistently agressive to any human or other intruders, but trustworthy and nonagressive with me. Smart enough to discern. Fortunately, the hen raised cockerels (6) from last season were not aggressive, none whatsoever.
They are good flyers. I am crossing them with BBS Ameraucanas and Langshans, and the resulting offspring is carrying the fibro gene. They are smart and handy and can take care of themselves. All pullets, crosses and pure, started laying in the fall and laid all winter.
I am liking these small handy birds more and more, in spite of the egg size. The original hen is pretty friendly, but I haven’t tried to handle the hen raised birds. I like that they are cautious since they are free ranging.

I have a few of these in my flock. Was turned on to them by a local breeder as a hardier alternative to cemanis. They're beautiful black/green feathers are very striking, and my roo has the most stunning iridescent blue ears. They're very friendly. My girls will wander in through an open door and hop on your lap for snuggle time.

Not the best egg producers, but five stars for look, temperament, and ease of care.

I'm startled by this. Are you sure they are not cemanis? My svart honas started laying at 5 months old and lay every single day. The only time they have stopped laying is when they have been broody.

I have a pair of 6-month-old Svarthöna and I quite like having them around. They're very docile and easily tamed, in fact, they're annoyingly friendly at times. They are a smaller bird, so their eggs aren't full size, but that's just a minor inconvenience.

My Svart Hona are among my favorite birds. They always come over to interact or see what's happening when I go to the coop/run and neither the hens or roosters have shown anything but the best behavior. My SH rooster is my dominant flock rooster and is easy when mating the girls. He's in a coop with 14 pullets and another rooster (barred rock bantam) and they get along fine - both crow, both mate the hens, etc.

I hatched a few just to add to my flock and all ready planning on expanding in the spring and eventually moving them to their own breeding pen (along with some hobby project crosses). I can't recommend them enough - the only down side is that their production isn't great, but I knew that going in.

Very happy with my Svarthona. They are great birds. Healthy and even tempered, if not a little shy. Good with my kids. Absolutely gorgeous. A hit with friends and family (even "non-chicken people"). As someone that raises birds for eggs and meat, my only wish would be that they were a little larger.

This is one of my favorite breeds in my flock. They are a small sized bird but larger than a bantam. They are very beautiful birds who shine in a black, greenish sheen. Reminds me of an 80's prom dress, My roosters are very good at looking after their ladies. I have two roosters over two hens and 5 black isbar hens and a blue isbar hen. They all seem to get along great. They are no louder than any of my other breeds. They are a black melanistic chicken. My girls just started laying a couple months ago so, i am really not sure how they are as a layer. I read 90+ eggs a year. The egg is larger than a silkie.

The Swedish Black Hen, or Svart Höna, has the same fibromelanistic trait as that most coveted chicken breed from Indonesia, the Ayam Cemani. That is, virtually every physical feature outside and inside the Swedish Black Hen is the deepest black color. Some claim to see differences between the Ayam Cemani and the Swedish Black Hens –for example, the Ayam Cemani have been said to be more like gamefowl in body type– but the external differences are subtle and if they exist at all can only be discerned by a highly trained eye. Despite these physical commonalities the Swedish Black Hen has a vastly different history and has over the centuries adapted to a much colder climate than the Ayam Cemani. Also, Swedish Black Hens are even rarer than Ayam Cemani. A national poultry census in Sweden verified the existence of fewer than 500 Swedish Black Hens.
The gene that causes fibromelanosis is a mutation that existed in Asia more than 800 years ago. The gene promotes the proliferation of black pigment cells. This same mutation may have made its way in chickens transported to Norway as many as 400 years ago. (Norway and neighboring Sweden have a complex and often bloody history, but suffice to say that for a period of time Norway was a state within Sweden until Norway won independence in 1905.) A landrace of exotic black birds flourished on what is now the Sweden-Norway border, and what had probably begun as a tropical transplant to this frigid region eventually adapted to the colder climate. Some sources suggest that Swedish Black Hens made their way to the Nordic countries from seamen who traveled from Mozambique in the 1800s, although explanations vary and are often vague.
What is certain is that Swedish Black Hens are relatively small and sleek –the roosters weigh about 4 lbs.—and have a friendly, relaxed temperament. The hens lay white or cream-colored eggs. Usually the birds are almost completely black although some have deep mulberry red facial skin. Feathers can shimmer with iridescent greens and purples. These birds are capable foragers and reflect the mastery that comes from the hundreds of years of free-range living enjoyed by their ancestors. A Swedish poultry keeper told us that Black Hens are known for not suffering from frostbite on their combs. Our Swedish Black Hens have roosted in the open on windy nights as cold as 20°F without any ill effects. We have found this landrace to be hardy and easy to raise despite its rarity.

I just hatched three Svart Honas. Two of the chicks are totally crazy. They run around with so much energy they bash into things. The third one seems developmentally disabled. Very slow and gets knocked over all the time. Is this normal? My only experience with chicks is with silkies and they were so civilized compared to these birds.

Svart Hona

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