Icelandics vs Swedish Flower Hens

[Utahflock]

I'm looking at two landraces: Swedish Flower Hens and Icelandics. Seeing if anyone has had experience with one or the other or both! I'm interested in them because they are both supposed to be cold hardy (Live in Northern Utah where we see temperatures -15F), self sufficient, and love to free range which helps on feed cost. I've read that Icelandics love to fly and hide their nests which is kind of pushing me towards Swedish Flower Hens. Anyone have any input?

 

[Perris]

hello @Utahflock , welcome to BYC

I have Swedish Flowers and highly recommend them. Yes they're great foragers, predator aware, well camouflaged to hide from predators, nice natured, reasonable layers of 50-65g tinted eggs, and disease resistant. My oldest SFH is 5, very healthy, and has resumed laying after her winter break. She laid about 120 last year as a 4 yr old, and her fertility was still great - 5 out of 6 set in June hatched, and the pullets amongst them are themselves laying now. She has always laid in the nest boxes, though one of her daughters experimented with alternative locations before joining the rest in choosing the nest boxes. And the roos are excellent too. None of them fly as such, though I did have some with tree-hugger tendencies in years past.

I have no experience with Icelandics.

 

[Utahflock]

hello @Utahflock , welcome to BYC

I have Swedish Flowers and highly recommend them. Yes they're great foragers, predator aware, well camouflaged to hide from predators, nice natured, reasonable layers of 50-65g tinted eggs, and disease resistant. My oldest SFH is 5, very healthy, and has resumed laying after her winter break. She laid about 120 last year as a 4 yr old, and her fertility was still great - 5 out of 6 set in June hatched, and the pullets amongst them are themselves laying now. She has always laid in the nest boxes, though one of her daughters experimented with alternative locations before joining the rest in choosing the nest boxes. And the roos are excellent too. None of them fly as such, though I did have some with tree-hugger tendencies in years past.

I have no experience with Icelandics.

Thanks for the input. Some people say the Rooster's crow is extra loud? Have you noticed this as well or just about like any other?

 

[Perris]

Thanks for the input. Some people say the Rooster's crow is extra loud? Have you noticed this as well or just about like any other?

seems normal range to me - and definitely preferable to my leghorn's high-pitched squeek!

 

[Utahflock]

seems normal range to me - and definitely preferable to my leghorn's high-pitched squeek!

Good to know! I have a blue cuckoo maran rooster that crows all day anyways. He may be getting replaced with a SFH Rooster soon.

 

[Utahflock]

hello @Utahflock , welcome to BYC

I have Swedish Flowers and highly recommend them. Yes they're great foragers, predator aware, well camouflaged to hide from predators, nice natured, reasonable layers of 50-65g tinted eggs, and disease resistant. My oldest SFH is 5, very healthy, and has resumed laying after her winter break. She laid about 120 last year as a 4 yr old, and her fertility was still great - 5 out of 6 set in June hatched, and the pullets amongst them are themselves laying now. She has always laid in the nest boxes, though one of her daughters experimented with alternative locations before joining the rest in choosing the nest boxes. And the roos are excellent too. None of them fly as such, though I did have some with tree-hugger tendencies in years past.

I have no experience with Icelandics.

One more question for you, have you had a decent amount of them go broody? That's also a quality I am looking for.

 

[Perris]

One more question for you, have you had a decent amount of them go broody? That's also a quality I am looking for.

I haven't had many individuals (they are relatively long lived), and those I have have not yet gone broody, but the breed survived without intervention, so I think many must have the instinct. Also I have a mixed flock, and there are more with broody tendencies than I have space to accommodate, so every year I have to break some, and I don't encourage it in the others. But I do try to let those with broody tendencies raise a small clutch in turn.

 

[itkn]

I've read that Icelandics love to fly and hide their nests which is kind of pushing me towards Swedish Flower Hens. Anyone have any input?

I started a flock of Icelandics last year and they've been great! I wouldn't say they are the right bird for confinement, but mine don't really fly that much. They can fly over a 4' poultry net fence if they want to though. I mostly let them free range. They've never roosted in the trees but they do like a very high roost in their coop. My pullets have been pretty good about laying eggs in the nesting box. There's two girls at the bottom of the pecking order who sometimes lay eggs on the floor of the coop. So far I don't think they've been hiding eggs in the woods.

They are really fun and interesting birds. There was a study done in 2004 that showed 78% of the Icelandic DNA is unique and cannot be found in any other chicken breed in the world. If you decide to get Icelandics, you'll want to make sure you source eggs or chicks from a preservation breeder that can trace their birds lineage back to the original imports.

 

[itkn]

Here's some of my flock. The highest roost I built for them is probably about 6' high. Well, you can see a few started roosting up in the rafters, so I put a wider board up there for them to make sure their get would stay covered in freezing temps.