The Svart Hona (Swedish Black Hen) Thread!

[gosselinfarm]

I've had my crew for a year now and they have proved to be very hardy, super foragers and self sufficient, great layers (about 4-5 eggs per week per hen) and very broody if I don't pick up the eggs daily (however I do prefer to raise the chicks indoors as they seem to be flighty if raised by a broody). I breed for pure black while still keeping a smaller gamier looking bird. I have had zero problems with side sprigs but straight combs is something I'm still working toward.
Super birds that have definitely earned a permanent place on my farm.

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[gosselinfarm]

 

[gosselinfarm]

 

[Zoomie]

Interesting. According to my friend in Sweden they have a landrace strain and an exhibition line. My guess is that is the standard for the exhibition line. Not sure which GFF and ECF imported from.

Yeah... that would be pretty interesting to find out. Does anyone know? Anyone friends with these two importers? I think by now everyone has stock that come from both places, it would be great to have a better understanding of what type of gene pool we are working with.

I sent the pics of the standard to my friend down the road and she does indeed know Swedish and can tell me what it says. I'll let everyone know as soon as I find out.

And man, @gosselinfarm those are some very handsome birds. The way you describe them makes them sound like the ideal bird for me. I'm really happy I managed to find some.

 

[campingshaws]

I would be inclined to believe that we have imported the landrace lines, since some of y'all are getting a wooly gene. I've yet to see that trait in my birds, but my original pair was the offspring of a GFF pair my breeder got, so I'm a few generations removed from GFF and ECF. My birds came from stock that were a blend of those two lines.

 

[BantyChooks]

Brand new Hona owner here. Campingshaws was kind enough to send me some eggs, and I ended up with these two cuties:



I have been loving them so far. Very sweet, smart, and inquisitive chicks.

 

[boykin2010]

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 never hatched a woolie from my line and I hatched hundreds upon hundreds.

 

[campingshaws]

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 never hatched a woolie from my line and I hatched hundreds upon hundreds. 

Thanks for joining us! What good info to have.

 

[Zoomie]

@BantyChooks congratulations! They are so cute!

@boykin2010 thank you so much for letting us know, very good information.

 

[KYTinpusher]

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 never hatched a woolie from my line and I hatched hundreds upon hundreds.

That is probably why the pullets I got from you were blacker than the birds I got from GFF.

I still have the 2 hens that I got from you and they are doing wonderfully! I know neither of them carry the woolly gene. However, both the cockerels and at least one of the pullets that I got from GFF carried woolly gene. My guess is that GFF probably started with 1 bird that carried the gene and hence the woolly offspring were quite inbred, which is why they don't seem to be as hardy as the standard feathered. I have been working on diversifying them to see if they get hardier. The 2 woolly cockerels I have now are doing quite well even with the steep temperature drops we are getting this year.