If Lisa Frank designed a chicken, we’re pretty sure it would be a Swedish Flower Hen.

These speckled beauties look like somebody took a perfectly respectable farm chicken and threw confetti at it. Red, brown, black, blue, white, sometimes crested, sometimes not, and occasionally a bird shows up that seems to have ignored the whole “flowered” assignment entirely.

But Swedish Flower Hens weren’t created to be pretty.

They’re a Swedish landrace shaped by generations of life on farms in the fertile plains of Skåne in southern Sweden. They weren’t bred toward a show standard, and their value isn’t determined by how perfectly their feathers match somebody’s idea of what a Swedish Flower Hen should look like.

In fact, the more you learn about them, the more you realize something important: The flowers may be what gets your attention, but they aren’t what makes this chicken worth preserving.

What Is a Swedish Flower Hen?

The Swedish Flower Hen, or Skånsk blommehöna, is the largest of Sweden’s native chicken landraces. Unlike a standardized breed, a landrace isn't supposed to produce birds that all look exactly alike. These chickens developed as functional farm birds within a particular region, and the Swedish preservation approach is meant to maintain the population's useful characteristics and genetic variation rather than turn it into a uniform show breed.

The Swedish name tells you exactly where the English name came from. Blomma means flower, and höna means hen. Older people who remembered these chickens even referred to them as “Di gamle blommede,” or “the old flowered ones.”

And these old flowered chickens have quite a history.

Three Farm Flocks Helped Save the Swedish Flower Hen

The Swedish Flower Hen population preserved today traces back to chickens from three farm flocks in Skåne.

Ester Pålson kept one flock in Esarp.
Kurt Jönsson kept another in Tofta.
Bror Svensson kept the third in Vomb.

Some chickens originally purchased from Svensson were also discovered in Knut Karlsson’s flock in Skurup in 1985.

According to the Swedish Gene Bank breed frame, landrace chickens had been kept on the farms associated with these original populations since at least the early 1800s. All three foundation flocks became part of the preserved Swedish Flower Hen population.

There were differences within those populations, too. Almost all of the birds from the Vomb flock, for example, were crested.

That matters because Swedish Flower Hens were never one perfectly uniform chicken.

And they still aren't.

Why Are They Called “Flower” Hens?

Those little white-tipped feathers that make Swedish Flower Hens look like they’ve been sprinkled with flowers are one of their most recognizable characteristics.

But there's much more variation hiding underneath the white.

The base color can be wild-type, with red-orange roosters and brown hens, as well as black, gray or blue, and, more rarely, a bright yellowish color.

On brown birds, you'll often see a strip of black between the base color and the white tip of the feather, creating a gorgeous three-colored appearance. That strip can also be gray or blue.

Birds carrying two copies of blue can become so pale that they appear almost white.

And here's one of our favorite things about Swedish Flowers:

Their flowers can change as they age.

The white portions of the plumage tend to increase with successive molts. A bird you thought you knew as a youngster may look noticeably different a few years later.

So when you hatch Swedish Flower chicks, part of the fun is watching what the hell they're going to turn into.

Sometimes a Swedish Flower Hen Barely Has Flowers

This is where the landrace part becomes really important.

Very occasionally, a Swedish Flower Hen may be almost a single color or have very little white flowering.

That doesn't automatically make it a “bad” Swedish Flower Hen.

The population naturally contains variation, and preservation breeding isn't supposed to be a beauty contest where we eliminate every bird that doesn't produce the flashiest pattern.

Could we selectively breed generation after generation for increasingly dramatic flowers?

Sure.

But then we'd be selecting for what we think a Swedish Flower Hen should look like instead of preserving the population we were entrusted with.

Those are two very different things.

What Should a Swedish Flower Hen Look Like?

While Swedish Flower Hens have tremendous variation in color and pattern, there is still a breed frame.

They're the largest of the native Swedish chicken landraces, with a round, robust body.

Hens generally weigh about 2 to 2.5 kg, or roughly 4.4 to 5.5 pounds. Roosters generally weigh 2.5 to 3.5 kg, or approximately 5.5 to 7.7 pounds. The Swedish breed frame allows some variation above or below those weights.

They have smooth, unfeathered legs and four toes. Leg and beak color varies and may be skin-colored, yellow, or mottled black.

Earlobes are usually white, although they may contain varying amounts of red.

The comb is single and serrated and is usually medium-sized, although some variation is normal.

And then, of course, there are the crests.

Crested Swedish Flower Hens: Yes, They’re Supposed to Be There

Some Swedish Flower Hens are crested.

Some aren't.

Both belong.

Crests can vary tremendously. A rooster may have only a few extra feathers toward the back of his head or neck, while a hen may develop a much fuller crest visible from all sides. The Swedish breed frame refers to the fuller version as a “luva,” a Swedish word for a type of knitted cap.

And remember those original farm populations?

Almost all of the Vomb birds were crested.

So crests aren't some modern novelty somebody decided to add because the chickens weren't fancy enough already. They're part of the historical variation within the landrace.

But they do require some thoughtful breeding.

Why We Don't Breed Crest to Crest

The Swedish Gene Bank specifically cautions breeders about mating a crested rooster to a crested hen.

Pairing crested birds can enhance the crest trait in some offspring. An excessively developed crest can reduce a chicken's field of vision, which can interfere with its ability to see its surroundings and escape predators.

That gets right to the heart of landrace preservation.

A chicken looking spectacular doesn't mean much if we've selected a trait so heavily that we've made the bird less functional.

Here at Cluck It All Farms, we don't keep crested roosters in our Swedish Flower breeding pens. We can preserve crested genetics through our crested hens without deliberately making crest size the goal.

Because the crest belongs in the population.

An enormous crest isn't the goal.

Swedish Flower Hen Egg Production

The Swedish Gene Bank breed frame puts production at approximately 130 to 150 eggs per year for a hen that hasn't been broody. Eggs average around 60 grams and range from off-white to beige or brownish.

Our Swedish Flower Hens tend to outperform that number.

In our flock, we generally see roughly 150 to 200 eggs per hen per year.

Obviously, that isn't a promise that every Swedish Flower Hen everywhere will lay 200 eggs. Individual bird, age, season, nutrition, broodiness, and plenty of other factors affect production.

But ours have proven to be very respectable layers.

That's something we like about them. They aren't production machines, and we aren't trying to turn them into production machines. They're functional landrace chickens that can still put a pretty respectable number of eggs in the basket.

Do Swedish Flower Hens Go Broody?

The Swedish breed frame puts broodiness at approximately 20 percent and notes that broodiness is somewhat lower than average for the larger landraces. It also says that broodiness within the gene-bank population had increased through selection.

That actually lines up pretty well with what we see here.

We do get an occasional broody Swedish Flower Hen, but ours generally aren't terribly committed to the idea. They'll decide motherhood sounds fantastic, sit for a while, and then apparently remember they have other stuff to do.

So we don't personally consider our Swedish Flowers reliable broodies.

Could an individual hen prove us wrong and turn into the world's most dedicated mother? Absolutely. Chickens enjoy making liars out of anyone who makes universal statements about chickens.

But compared with something like our Swedish Black Hens, which can become feathery little nest-box dictators who refuse to negotiate, broodiness hasn't been a major feature of our Swedish Flower flock.

Hardy, But Let's Talk About What That Actually Means

Swedish Flower Hens are frequently described as hardy, and the Swedish breed frame does describe the landrace as hardy in its original environment, with good resistance to common chicken diseases.

That qualification matters.

These chickens developed on the fertile plains of Skåne in southern Sweden. The breed frame even suggests that the historically rich food availability of the region may have contributed to the Swedish Flower Hen becoming the largest of Sweden's native chicken landraces.

So we're not going to tell you that because the word “Swedish” is in the name, they're somehow magical Arctic chickens that can shrug off anything winter throws at them.

They're functional chickens shaped by their environment.

That's a much more interesting story anyway.

What Are Swedish Flower Hens Like to Live With?

Now we're leaving the Swedish breed frame for a minute and talking about our birds.

Our Swedish Flowers are curious, alert, confident chickens. They're interested in what we're doing, particularly when there's even the slightest possibility that what we're doing involves food.

They're not what we'd describe as a flock full of lap chickens, but ours are generally personable, entertaining, and very interested in whatever the humans happen to be doing.

And then there's Sheila.

Sheila lives in Pen 2, and apparently part of her job description is knowing where I am and what I'm doing at all times.

If I'm in the chicken house, she's chomping at the bit trying to see where I am. The second I walk into her pen, she's underfoot.

Whatcha doin', Mom?

Got any goodies, Mom?

Where are we going, Mom?

She doesn't necessarily need me to pick her up and carry her around. She just needs to be involved. If something is happening in Pen 2, Sheila would like it noted for the record that she is available to supervise.

That's probably the best way I can describe our Swedish Flowers. They're not necessarily clingy chickens, but some of them are incredibly curious and people-oriented. They want to know what's happening, why it's happening, and whether snacks might somehow be involved.

And Sheila isn't our only Swedish Flower with a whole lot of personality.

Meet Chet: The Hen Who Had Us Completely Fooled

Ah, Chet.

Chet spent her early life here at Cluck It All Farms convincing us she was a cockerel.

She strutted.

She postured.

She CROWED for crying out loud.

She had that whole “rooster in training” thing going on so convincingly that we were sure we knew what we were looking at.

We did not.

Chet was a pullet.

And because apparently fooling us once wasn't enough entertainment, she grew into the kind of hen who would perch on a shoulder like a pirate's parrot and supervise whatever was happening around her.

Chet has her own story elsewhere on the blog, but she belongs here because she's a pretty good example of why we enjoy Swedish Flower Hens so much.

You think you know what you're getting.

Then the chicken has other plans.

The Flowers Aren't the Point

This may be the most important thing we can tell you about Swedish Flower Hens.

Their appearance made them famous.

Their appearance is not the primary goal of preservation.

The Swedish breed frame specifically emphasizes maintaining broad variation within the population along with appropriate weight, reasonable egg production, good parental characteristics, satisfactory flock behavior, and the other functional qualities of the landrace.

And it makes one thing particularly clear:

Color is of secondary importance.

That's a pretty powerful statement for a chicken whose NAME comes from its color pattern.

It means the prettiest rooster isn't automatically the best breeding rooster.

The hen with the most dramatic flowers isn't automatically the hen whose genetics most deserve to dominate the next generation.

A barely flowered bird isn't automatically useless.

A non-crested bird isn't missing something.

A crested bird isn't automatically more valuable.

The chicken underneath all that confetti still matters.

Preservation Is Not About Making Them Match

This is where landrace breeding requires a different mindset.

If we continually select only the most dramatically flowered birds, we change the population.

If we decide crests are desirable and keep breeding the biggest crests to the biggest crests, we change the population.

If we decide one color sells better and breed almost exclusively for that color, we change the population.

Eventually, we might create some absolutely gorgeous chickens.

But are we still preserving the Swedish Flower Hen?

That's the question preservation breeders have to keep asking.

Our job isn't to make them match.

Our job is to maintain a healthy, functional population with the variation that belongs there.

A Note About Swedish Flower Hens in the United States

The Swedish Flower Hen has a much shorter history in the United States than it does in Sweden.

According to the U.S. import history we have for the population, the first 15 Swedish Flower Hens arrived in the United States on June 17, 2010, from a breeder of non-crested Swedish Flowers.

By November 11 of that year, a total of 19 birds representing both crested and non-crested flocks had been imported, with three different bloodlines represented.

A fourth import occurred in 2013. Our records on that import note larger combs and some barring among the birds, suggesting that particular flock may have been mixed.

That relatively recent and limited import history is worth understanding if you're raising Swedish Flowers in the United States, especially if preservation breeding is your goal.

These aren't just pretty spotted chickens that appeared in American hatcheries one day.

There's a population history behind them.

Are Swedish Flower Hens Right for Your Flock?

If you need every chicken in your flock to look exactly like the photo you fell in love with, Swedish Flowers might drive you nuts.

If you want chickens that can surprise you?

Now we're talking.

You can hatch a group of chicks and end up with different colors, different amounts of flowering, crested and non-crested birds, and individuals whose appearance continues changing as they molt and mature.

Our birds have also been good layers, curious flock members, and generally not terribly committed to broodiness.

But the biggest reason we keep them isn't because they're pretty.

It's because they're worth preserving.

Want to Raise Swedish Flower Hens?

We raise Swedish Flower Hens here at Cluck It All Farms as part of our preservation work.

If you'd like to hatch some confetti chickens of your own, you can check out our Swedish Flower Hen hatching eggs and chicks to see what's currently available.

Just don't ask us exactly what every chick is going to look like when it grows up.

That's between the chicken and whatever artistic decisions it makes along the way.

Final Thoughts

Swedish Flower Hens might be some of the easiest landrace chickens to fall in love with based on looks alone.

But if all we preserve is the look, we've missed the point.

These chickens came from old farm populations in Skåne where usefulness mattered. Their size mattered. Their ability to reproduce mattered. Egg production mattered. Flock behavior mattered. Their ability to function in the environment around them mattered.

The flowers?

Those came along for the ride.

Today, those ridiculous, beautiful feathers are what make people stop scrolling and say, “What kind of chicken is THAT?”

And we're perfectly happy about that.

Because maybe the confetti gets somebody's attention long enough for us to tell them why the chicken underneath it is worth saving.

 

🐔

Flowers on feathers
No two chickens wear the same
Old farms bloom again