Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[dina253]

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Grumpus, it is. He's probably upset because I keep talking about his white legs!

He is too cute!

 

[Hamiam]

Everyone meet SunBae (top pic with Penelope the cat), Rieko and Ioane. They are so sweet and they always wait by the door when we get home from work. I think they recognize the sound of our car


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They look sweet. I love your crested SFH, SoonBae.

 

[dina253]

They look sweet. I love your crested SFH, SoonBae.

She is super sweet and always want to sit on my laps. She pecks if we don’t pay attention to her.

 

[Coop Z-ville]

They are all very pretty! Love the feather colors on SunBae!

 

[Coop Z-ville]

I understand. I'm just wondering how other breeders feel about the leg color. Has anyone ever had a problem selling chicks with the lighter legs? I think it's ugly.

There is a discussion on another website about Swedish Flower Hens: It states that
"The skin can be yellow or black mottled in color, with legs being clean and light tan in color. Chicks’ legs can be a pink or grey color.

The Swedish Flower hen has never been bred to any written ‘standard’ therefore there is no standard for this chicken as yet.

There are breeders working towards a standard, but you have to wonder what that standard will be and how it will affect the current diversity of coloration."

 

[Wiggie]

My SFH chickens are now about 13 weeks old. They look completely normal (no bare patches) but we have lots of feathers everywhere. Is this a normal part of their development?

 

[Coop Z-ville]

I have read that during the first six months of their life, chickens go through several "juvenile molts" where they lose some feathers and new ones grow in quickly. You would not know they were molting if not for seeing all those feathers lying around. I, too, was worried when my chicks, now 18 weeks old, had feathers all over the place. They seem to be molting less now. Adult chickens usually molt twice a year, although individual chickens could be different-of course.
My Swedish Flower Hen had to molt to have her lovely white-tipped feathers grow in!

 

[Wiggie]

Thank you for your reply. I hadn't heard of juvenile molt before and my prior chickens were older when I got them.

 

[Coop Z-ville]

This thread has been pretty quiet for awhile! I do have a question about Elsa, my SFH. She is 35 weeks old now, and still has not laid her first egg. My other 4 girls (2 Black Australorps and 2 Easter Eggers) have been laying for 1-2 months. I know they have slowed down because of winter, so am I going to have to wait for Elsa to start laying until closer to spring now? She really is not showing the signs the others did before beginning to lay, like crouching down, redder comb, practicing nest making, etc. Could it be the difference in breeds?

 

[Perris]

my SFH just started up again last week after molt; an LA started up and then stopped again, and NGs I have who are about 40 wks old have still to lay. Hopefully your Elsa will compensate with egg size and quality when she does finally get laying!