Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[sevenbabychicks]

When do their crests usually appear (if they have them)? I'm new to this breed and we have a two-week-old chick who is just the sweetest thing. So far I don't see any telltale bumps on her head, and am wondering if perhaps one will emerge later on. I found a thread on legbar development and it looks like the crests on those pop up in the first week! Hoping there's still a chance our Ophelia might have one

 

[ChickenFarmer61804]

HI everyone .
Out of the 20 eggs I got 2 that hatched a light one and a dark one . They are about 4 weeks old can we sex them yet ?


Here is the dark one this one is more mellow the other one attacks my fingers

This is the light one and the finger eater. Are sweedish flower hens sapose to be flighty or aggressive ?
Anyways can you tell at this age if these are males or females and is there a reason they are so diffrent?

Oh My Gosh thank you so much! I got a chick from Rural King that looks EXACTLY like your top chick. It's been bugging me for the past 3 weeks. Thank you so much!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I just got news that @KYTinpusher has passed away this last weekend unexpectedly. Not sure if she's been on the thread lately or not as I haven't watched it diligently.

Walli was a breeder of shf and SB's. I got many of my sfh from her. She was a great person and helpful all around. She'll be greatly missed.

 

[Perris]

Elsa’s tail feathers are looking pretty long already too so she might be an Elmer we have 3 roosters out of our recent chicks and the 3rd took the longest to look for sure like a rooster.
I’m interested to hear from other’s if it holds true that only roosters have yellow legs

My rooster has essentially colourless, or flesh coloured legs. He took ages to show himself too, and it was only crowing that finally confirmed that Sara was actually Sven... he's a brown/fawn mottle with chestnut neck, black irridescent tail and mottle crest, and when he was a youngster I thought he was the prettiest pullet in the flock!

 

[Coop Z-ville]

How long did it take for Sven to prove he was a rooster? "Elsa" is 11 weeks old now and still no comb or wattle development.

 

[Perris]

I got him supposedly as POL in April, and he crowed some 3 weeks later...so was probably twice as old as your Elsa. And I don't think the breeder deliberately sold me a cock as a hen; I think they couldn't tell the gender either at that point.

 

[Coop Z-ville]

Thanks so much for the information. Sounds like I've got awhile before we know for sure. This may sound like a silly question, but are Swedish Flower Hens harder to sex than some other breeds?

 

[Perris]

I really don't know, as I haven't bred chickens as yet, I've just bought in pullets or POL of a variety of breeds, all others of which have been females. There are lots of posts on BYC about IDing the gender of young stock, and there are a few people with a reputation for being able to make accurate predictions on the basis of a combo of feather shape, comb size/colour, behaviour etc., but for most of us it seems certainty only comes with either crowing or laying!

 

[maralpz2006]

I think this is a boy

 

[Coop Z-ville]

Thanks for the info, Perris. I guess I will just have to wait and see.