Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Coop Z-ville]

I don't know how long they lay. I just got my first egg yesterday from Elsa, my SFH. She is 44 weeks old, and I was starting to wonder if I would get ANY eggs, as my other pullets starting laying at 20-25 weeks! It was a beauty, though, and I was so excited! Perfect, and HUGE-62 grams, poor girl.

 

[Perris]

congrats on that egg! That is big for a first egg!

 

[Coop Z-ville]

Elsa is always surprising me, especially with her intelligence! I had been suspecting she was getting ready to lay (she was showing all the signs-even her voice had changed!), so I was checking the nesting boxes carefully each day. On that day, however, I almost missed it- the nesting box lids were frozen shut on the outside, so I had to crawl around inside the coop to check them. Elsa's egg was tucked into the straw and almost invisible from the angle I was looking-it kind of blended into the straw more than the brown and blue eggs I am used to. It was the first day the girls had been out of the coop in a couple because of -20 windchills, so the rest of the flock had eagerly gone outside. Elsa held back, so we talked for awhile as I cleaned, then I checked the boxes one last time, and there it was! After complimenting Elsa on a job well done, she happily joined her friends outside.

 

[SierraSfhFamily]

Our eggs went into the incubator today! We will wait a week to candle them to see if we have growth (as suggested in the incubator directions). Fingers crossed!

 

[SierraSfhFamily]

Good and bad news today. I got itchy and candled one of the incubator eggs. There’s definitely growth! Will do the rest this weekend so the hubby can see too.
Bad news is that we lost one of our hens to body lice. We have never had a parasite problem before and didn’t realize that hens can physically look ok but still have them so badly. Also didn’t know that body lice are fast and can be hard to spot! I thought this hen was ill and treated her as such. She would look better than worse, and started to get picked on by the others. It was too late before I realized what the true problem was. I feel terrible but am glad she is no longer suffering at least.
We have been treating all of them (plus coop) and at least have time to make sure the critters are eradicated before any chicks that we have go outside.

 

[Chickenbrainiac]

They are a farce. There are many breeds which have been selected for egg production. The Swedish flower hen never have. There are plenty of breeds which are active and alert (good "foraging" behavior). None are any better or worse than another. Swedish flowers have no extraordinary ability in this area than any others. There are plenty of breeds which are good broodies, or not, depending on your desire. No Swedish flower magical abilities there either. The mille fleur pattern which these are based on is extremely attractive when bred correctly. It looks sloppy and haphazard when not, and neither Greenfire nor any of the others working with them have an understanding of what that is or how to breed for it, or at least they just don't care. They are a landrace, not a breed, basically mongrels which have some common characteristics, but they are not consistent enough to be considered a breed. Some have crests, some don't, different colors and patterns pop up unexpectedly. Those are not the hallmarks of a pure breed.

 

[Finnie]

I don't think anyone is calling them anything other than a land race. I don't see any "farce".

 

[Phage]

They are a farce. There are many breeds which have been selected for egg production. The Swedish flower hen never have. There are plenty of breeds which are active and alert (good "foraging" behavior). None are any better or worse than another. Swedish flowers have no extraordinary ability in this area than any others. There are plenty of breeds which are good broodies, or not, depending on your desire. No Swedish flower magical abilities there either. The mille fleur pattern which these are based on is extremely attractive when bred correctly. It looks sloppy and haphazard when not, and neither Greenfire nor any of the others working with them have an understanding of what that is or how to breed for it, or at least they just don't care. They are a landrace, not a breed, basically mongrels which have some common characteristics, but they are not consistent enough to be considered a breed. Some have crests, some don't, different colors and patterns pop up unexpectedly. Those are not the hallmarks of a pure breed.

People keep non-working dogs, and house cats, including mixed breeds. Are they a farce too??? Guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Edited to say ... I see on another thread you said “I got my first ever hens last August, 2 “
So you must be a chicken expert.

 

[Mo'sMenagerie]

Been reading this thread because I'm picking up two SFH pullets tonight A friend of mine hatched out a dozen or so eggs. I recently lost a sweet little Bluebar Leghorn pullet to a hawk (sadness) so she's hooking me up with these two little SFH! I'll post pics soon.

 

[Perris]

look forward to seeing them!