Bohus-Dal Schwarzhuhn
Gallus gallus domesticus
✨ Fun Fact
The Bohus-Dal Schwarzhuhn was thought extinct until a biodiversity survey found a flock being kept by an 80-year-old farmer in a remote Dalsland valley who had simply never stopped breeding them — the birds had continued unimproved and unregistered for over 50 years while the rest of the world assumed they were gone.
A critically rare Swedish landrace breed from the Bohuslän and Dalsland regions of western Sweden, the Bohus-Dal Schwarzhuhn — literally 'Bohus-Dal Black Chicken' — is an ancient type of Swedish farm chicken that survived in isolated valleys along the Swedish-Norwegian border. These are medium-sized, entirely black birds with a single comb, clean legs, and a hardy, self-sufficient nature shaped by centuries of survival in the harsh Scandinavian climate. The breed was 'rediscovered' in the 1990s when a handful of surviving birds were found on remote smallholdings where they had been kept by elderly farmers who maintained the old type. Since then, the Swedish gene bank programme has stabilised the population, though it remains one of the rarest Swedish landrace chickens. Registered in DAD-IS and the Scandinavian Poultry Standard, the breed is valued as a conservation animal and as a link to pre-industrial Swedish agriculture.
🏷️ Breed
Bohus-Dal Schwarzhuhn (Swedish Black Hen)
💭 Temperament
Active, hardy, excellent cold tolerance, independent, good forager
📏 Size
Medium (2.3-3.2 kg)
⏳ Lifespan
5-8 years
🎨 Colors
Solid black (sometimes with green iridescence in sunlight)
🌍 Origin
Sweden — Bohuslän and Dalsland regions; ancient landrace, rediscovered 1990s
🏠 Habitat
Free-range essential; thrives in cold, damp Scandinavian forest-edge conditions
🍽️ Diet
Standard poultry feed; superb forager — extracts a living from rough Swedish pasture
🎯 Purpose
Dual Purpose
🥚 Egg Colour
Brown
👑 Comb Type
Single