Ölandshöns

Ölandshöns are Swedish landrace chickens from Öland, the long island off Sweden's southeast coast. The name is plural in Swedish and refers to a traditional farm population rather than a single-color exhibition breed. Birds are generally small to medium, lively, and thrifty, with plumage that can vary widely between lines; the lack of a narrow color standard is part of the landrace character. Their history is tied to island farmyards and later Swedish conservation work, which aimed to keep the surviving population useful and genetically distinct.

These chickens appeal to keepers who value foraging ability, natural behavior, and heritage breeding more than maximum egg numbers. They handle Nordic seasons when given a dry house, wind protection, and enough feed during winter, and they are active enough to need secure fencing or covered runs where predators are common. Breeding Ölandshöns should not turn them into a uniform show strain. Conservation flocks usually prioritize unrelated pairings, vigor, fertility, and retention of the broad color and body variation that came from the original farm stock.