The Svart Hona (Swedish Black Hen) Thread!

[FowlWitch]

She is much more black than him...he has a pink mouth too...

Either their lineage wasn't carefully managed for strong fibromelanistic traits or they were cross-bred to a black feathered chicken somewhere back in the line. they look like SVs in the face, though, so we can only guess.

 

[Guy4God]

They were only $15 for the pair....so I'm not upset either way....they seem pretty content with life. I will see what I can do to get them "more" black. Thanks

 

[Tbird84]

I agree with fowlwitch. I was not successful in my attempt at photos of my group's skin. It is a grayish color. So they will need work too. I'm no expert by any means, so here is a definition/explanation of what a land race is. Please note that this was copied from wikipedia.

A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted,[1][2][3] traditional variety[4] of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolation from other populations of the species.[1] Landraces are generally distinguished from cultivars, and from breeds in the standardized sense, although the term landrace breed is sometimes used as distinguished from the term standardized breed when referring to cattle.[5]

Specimens of a landrace tend to be relatively genetically uniform, but are more diverse than members of a standardized or formal breed.[1]Some standardized animal breeds originate from attempts to make landraces more consistent through selective breeding and a landrace may become a more formal breed with the creation of a breed registry and/or publication of a breed standard. In such a case, the landrace may be thought of as a "stage" in breed development. However, in other cases, formalizing a landrace may result in the genetic resource of a landrace being lost through crossbreeding.[1] Landraces are distinct from ancestral wild species of modern stock, and from separate species or subspecies derived from the same ancestor as modern domestic stock. Landraces are not all derived from ancient stock largely unmodified by human breeding interests. In a number of cases, most commonly dogs and horses, domestic animals have escaped in sufficient numbers in an area to breed feralpopulations that, through evolutionary pressure, can form new landraces in only a few centuries. In other cases, simple failure to maintain breeding regimens can do the same.[citation needed] For example, selectively bred cultivars can become new landraces when loosely selective reproduction is applied.[6]

 

[ScottKelly1974]

They were only $15 for the pair....so I'm not upset either way....they seem pretty content with life. I will see what I can do to get them "more" black. Thanks

I've breed Ayam Cermani chickens. The pure ones do have the black skin and their feathers take longer to grow in. I've let the rooster have some buff orpington and a lavender orpington hens. Those chicks hatch out with black bodies and the orpington color as a face mask and belly. Their feathers grow out normally with both black feathers and the orpington color. Some feathers would have spots of black.
On the other hand, I got an Americana for the rooster. Their chicks come out with faded black color. Latter the feathers are generally black, looking like an Ayam Cermani but with white skin. The comb can be either single or pea, and turns red. Only one had some puffy cheeks, but that trait did not come out in the rest. This mix I hatched out looks like a black feather chicken and has white skin and dark meat. In fact all the AC mixes I tried came out with dark meat, not black but also no white meat.
Looking at your pictures and the fact they were only $15, I would have to say the seller knows they are mixed SV + ?, and just wanted to get rid of them. Or they could just be a common black feather white meat chicken. Either way your birds are not pure SV.

 

[ScottKelly1974]

Another thing I've noticed with my pure and mixed, is when you open their mouth. My pure AC are jet black, whereas the mixes have a white mouths or spots of white, but no all black.

 

[Cwimbish]

Hello all. I have two SH chicks from a GFF RBA assortment. One is becoming a woolly now that feathers are coming in. Is there a consensus on the woollies? Are they less vigorous? More cold sensitive? Remove from breeding stock? Or do they just look odd and are otherwise normal?

 

[ScottKelly1974]

Do you have pictures?

 

[FowlWitch]

Hello all. I have two SH chicks from a GFF RBA assortment. One is becoming a woolly now that feathers are coming in. Is there a consensus on the woollies? Are they less vigorous? More cold sensitive? Remove from breeding stock? Or do they just look odd and are otherwise normal?

Second on the pictures. I have a SH cockrel who has weird feathers - they aren't silked or frizzled, just.... Not smooth at all lol

That's him in the background. Sorry for bad pic

 

[ScottKelly1974]

From what I can see of your cockerel, he is about 4 months old or younger. Still growing. His tail feathers have not fully grown in. If you could take several pictures of him in sunlight, both of his head and tail, it would be helpful. There are some differences between the two all black chicken breeds to look for.

 

[FowlWitch]

From what I can see of your cockerel, he is about 4 months old or younger. Still growing. His tail feathers have not fully grown in. If you could take several pictures of him in sunlight, both of his head and tail, it would be helpful. There are some differences between the two all black chicken breeds to look for.

Here he is