Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[PugBug]

Looks to me like the black in this last pic is a pullet

OMG

I just now saw that you said it's a pullet!

 

[dungheap71]

If you could only keep one of these Roos, which one would it be?

 

[Bulldogma]

For me personally - I want to grow my roos out to maturity before selecting my "keepers."

What I look for:

• Straight comb with no sprigs on non-crested (I don't worry so much about those with crests).
• I cull for split wing - there should be 10 primaries - but this is hard to tell before they are grown out. A lot of juveniles look like they have split wings only to mature with perfectly good wings.
• Deep chest and wide body.
• A good spread on the tails of both roosters and hens - the offspring will be better egg layers than those with pinched tails.
• Good overall health.
• On roos the tails should be held at a 45 degree angle or better - not low on this breed.

Further - I want to keep at least one crested and one uncrested for variety - and preferably the roos will have different colors.

But that's just me. Everyone should do what is right for them and keep the birds that best suit their own needs and purposes.

 

[dungheap71]

You seem to always provide a better way of looking at things!

Let me pick your brain about a few things. All of my sfh's were hatched at the same time from the same parents etc... The darkest too is and has always been the boss of the whole crew. He's obviously matured sooner than the others. I could tell he was a male by the time he was feathered out not so much by visual cues but by the way he acted. He IS the boss. The other two havnt even tried taking the lead. They will spar like brothers do. But no feather pulling. Why is that? Stupid question I suppose. I know twins and triplets and they seem to mature differently and have differing personalities. The darkest roo is crowing, courting hens (or at least practicing) and the others, if they didn't have combs and wattles you'd think they were hens. Is pecking order that strong?

And let me ask you this speaking of split wings and other deformities(Can you tell im new at this?) he does appear to have ever other primary flight wing missing. Is that split wing? I have another cockerel the claw (nail, talon) missing on the outermost toe on both feet. Would this be a reason to not let him breed? I thought maybe it is a developmental thing rather than a genetics situation.

How old is considered mature?

 

[redhen689]

Awwww my lil ones are 10 days old too!

Mine are 10 days old today.

Here are a couple photos from yesterday. Note: That light colored chick is a Columbian Wyandotte, and there is a RIR in there too.
The SFH wing feathers are growing in faster than the other 2 breeds.

 

[Bulldogma]

You seem to always provide a better way of looking at things!

Let me pick your brain about a few things. All of my sfh's were hatched at the same time from the same parents etc... The darkest too is and has always been the boss of the whole crew. He's obviously matured sooner than the others. I could tell he was a male by the time he was feathered out not so much by visual cues but by the way he acted. He IS the boss. The other two havnt even tried taking the lead. They will spar like brothers do. But no feather pulling. Why is that? Stupid question I suppose. I know twins and triplets and they seem to mature differently and have differing personalities. The darkest roo is crowing, courting hens (or at least practicing) and the others, if they didn't have combs and wattles you'd think they were hens. Is pecking order that strong?

And let me ask you this speaking of split wings and other deformities(Can you tell im new at this?) he does appear to have ever other primary flight wing missing. Is that split wing? I have another cockerel the claw (nail, talon) missing on the outermost toe on both feet. Would this be a reason to not let him breed? I thought maybe it is a developmental thing rather than a genetics situation.

How old is considered mature?

Yes - just like people, chickens can mature faster or slower than their peers.

As for split wing, you won't know for sure until they are at least 4-5 months old. Don't cull these birds for split wing before that! They go through awkward stages - just like teenage people. They may also appear to have split wing while molting... so make certain they are not in a molt when you are evaluating them. I know of someone who put a pullet she thought had split wing in a non-breeding pen, but when she re-checked the bird a few months later, all the primaries were there.

Split wing is when the first primary is permanently missing. This is the primary feather that should rest up against the first secondary feather (you can see the numbering in the first picture). The absence of this feather gives the wing a gaped look - a split look - and usually the wing will not fold up neatly like chickens who don't have split wing. Part will hang out because of the absence of the first primary feather.






As for the missing nail... hmmm... I won't breed a bird that has crooked toes if I know it is genetic. Some birds get crooked toes from humidity issues in the incubator and those birds I will breed as it is not genetic and can't be passed down to the offspring. I would be leery about breeding a bird with a missing nail. If he was otherwise my best bird, I would breed him and see if his offspring carried the missing nail trait. If it was being passed down, I would cull the rooster. If not - I'd certainly use him.

In short - genetic problems that could hinder the ability of the bird to free range, evade a predator or do the things that chickens do (scratching in the dirt - flying a few feet, etc.) would be on the top of my cull list.
Birds with aesthetic issues like sprigs on the comb would be on my "maybe" list.
Birds with overall good health and no genetic deformities are on my "keep" list and those that happen to be the colors I need are on the very top of that keep list and will likely end up in the breeding pens.

 

[ki4got]

and here's a related question -- are crests completely dominant genetically, i.e. can an un-crested bird be carrying a crest gene?

crested gene is dominant, but most sfh IMO are probably heterozygous, so will thro 50/50 with uncrested mates.

and yes, vaulted skulls can happen, those that I've had hatch, don't live long. so if you have crested hens, put them with uncrested roos, and vice versa. or understand that you may have some losses and put them all together.

 

[ki4got]

If you could only keep one of these Roos, which one would it be?

wait until they mature and choose based on personality, IMO... the ones that are nice to the girls and even nicer to people are the keepers... ones who bully the girls and try dragging them around by the nape need lessons in manners LOL

 

[PugBug]

If you could only keep one of these Roos, which one would it be?

Purely based on color, I love the 2nd one. But I would wait to see how they grow out more because they will change so much over the next months...

 

[ddpbk1]

Since I can't get shipped eggs to hatch very well (62 shipped and 9 hatched and 5 still in incubator), I finally won an auction on RBA last night. Now I should be set and get the colors I want. Hopefully not so many roosters. Chicken Math is going to get me in trouble. My DH is going to kill me. I have Basque(11), Rhodebar(14 GreenFire) and Swedish Flowers (26+, 20 of which sex is undetermined), plus the laying stock (21) and I have 18 that are males that I know of. I wish I could get rid of males.