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i managed to get a good mid-flap picture of my birchen marans cockerel with my iPhone, so it CAN be done... but your guy is so handsome! here's mine:

thanks very much!! i'll post photos of these crosses if/when their flowers turn up...

quick question: how early do SFH chicks start showing mottling or flowering in their feathers? i have hatched some "swedish crosses" (SFH x isbar), which at three weeks still just look blue/black/splash -- so am curious as to when i might expect mottling to appear, if it's going to? thanks!

thanks -- my first rooster was actually an SFH, but i didn't end up keeping him -- i don't have space for more than three breeds at once, and SFHs, along with cream legbars, were not among my final choices to focus on with breeding -- so i'm just an admirer for now. but who knows, that may...

so here are the blue isbar/SFH crosses, all three of which (out of 3 eggs set) hatched overnight: they look very isbar-ish to start, but i'll be interested to see if/when the distinctive SFH flocking starts kicking in! this is a picture of their mom: astrid and dad, the blue isbar: blue

i only have one SFH at this point, a lovely pullet, but am attempting to hatch three blue isbar/SFH crosses (plus some CLs and campine eggs), just to see what a swedish cross might look like (don't worry, i won't pass them off as pure!) -- and they are due to hatch today or tomorrow, so exciting!

just also keep in mind that genetics are never a set or static thing -- they are always shifting slightly from generation to generation -- and human management adds a factor that may not be represented genetically. so it's possible that crested-to-crested crosses evolve to have lower mortality...

i am experimenting with a dry-ish hatch this time around (32% humidity til day 18, then up to 65), have nine cream legbar eggs in the incubator + three SFH x isbar eggs (a swedish cross!) that are due to hatch monday or tuesday -- so will see how they do.

I only have one SFH pullet right now, she's about 8-9 months old & has already been broody & raised three chicks -- but she stands up for herself just fine in her mixed-breed pen (one isbar, two isbar/marans crosses, and one araucana, who is by far the lowest in the pecking order)

yes, my SFH pullet went broody this winter, only a few weeks after starting to lay eggs -- she's raised three chicks and has now just started laying again... the day they hatched! she was a great mom.

hatching day here, for my crazy went-broody-after-only-laying-for 2-or-3-weeks swedish flower hen: it remains to be seen how many of the seven eggs she's been sitting on made it through our recent Big Freeze, but one has hatched already (see empty shell to her right), and in my brief nest-check...

well, speaking of getting started early -- my SFH pullet who just started laying eggs 2 or 3 weeks ago, is now acting broody. if i set eggs under her, she'll hatch them a week before the winter solstice. how crazy is that?

so, i have decided to let go of my SFH rooster, Max -- he's a marvelous bird, but i don't have space to focus on many breeds, and i think he's going to have to go. in case anyone within driving distance of Sonoma County wants a lovely roo! he's a little over two years old, very well-behaved...

snapped a picture of my almost-to-point-of-lay pullet this afternoon -- it's been pointed out that the "flowers" on her breast look like little hearts...

thanks, very helpful! step one for me is clearly just to keep the birds in for a while, as the bobcat has been encouraged to hang around by the 4 that it's caught...

they were not SFHs, but i have lost 4 birds in the past two weeks to a bobcat (mostly likely a mama with kittens nearby, since she's hanging around -- usually they hunt over a very large range & aren't so "resident" in one spot) & have had to stop all free-ranging outside their runs for now --...

i have just hatched six SFH crossed chicks from various hens (australorp, cream legbar, silver pencilled rock, and basque), but none are bantam... can't wait to see what they end up looking like, though!

i've also never seen (although i'm no expert!) barring on the feathers of SFHs, which your pullet has -- so either a cross or an entirely different breed? hopefully someone with more experience with these birds will chime in!

she actually looks a lot like a chick i had, that was a cross between an SFH roo and a crested cream legbar hen -- photo taken at about 6 weeks of age: