Ewe Crazy Farms here, yes I still occasionally follow this thread :)
The Svart Hona I imported from the UK were a bloodline that was previously from Germany. The German grandparents(?) to the birds I imported were shown so I assume they were an exhibition line rather than a landrace line. I...
If your goal is to get them laying again, I would just keep breaking her from being broody.
I usually didn't let my hens sit because I preferred to raise the chicks myself and keep the hens producing
The time of laying varies depending on the time of year they were hatched and their environment.
Mine typically averaged around 6 months. Some would start at 5 months, and some would take up to 7 months.
A feather could fall out or he could stand a certain way which could give someone the idea of wry tail. Being stepped or smashed could temporarily adjust the tail feather alignment as well. Wry tail wouldn't just be something you notice one day, its a physical deformity that would be noticeable...
That's hard to determine without a picture although the most likely culprit. If it's wry tail, it wouldn't just now start looking like that and it would be quite obvious.
I dry hatch mine with great success (no added humidity.). It stays at about 35% naturally. When I first started hatching in 2012 most of the chicks that didn't hatch died in the shell due to drowning.
Never had any problems with dry hatching , but others have tried that method without success...
There are only two known lines of Svarts in the U.S.
Ewe Crazy and Greenfire. I believe the silkied gene originated in the GFF line.
As for your strategy of breeding, that sounds like a good plan. Do that for a while and then hatch just from your best pair only to compare the offspring.
From what I've seen of recent auctions, svart hona pricing is higher than the Cemanis.
The svarts are a little more rare right now since they aren't being mass produced on the same level as the Cemani.
I like the rooster you posted birdman - is that the one from my line or GFF?
I would pick whichever bird is showing the best features right now and not worry about the size much. Pick the rooster with the best bone structure and overall blackness and you can't go wrong.
Later on down the road...