55 Flowery Hens

[orrpeople]

Hello!! Since there is no SOP (that I know of...) what are we aiming for with our roosters? I have three from which I am trying to decide on the "lead" guy. Is it more preferable, do you think, to want as close to pure white, or one with some brownish or grey "smudging"?

Also, the girls seem to come in two colors: predominately grey and grey with goldish brown markings. Again, what is preferred? Both? Is there a name for the different colors?

Thanks so much!

 

[orrpeople]

Okay- learning as I go: silver (grey) and gold (brown) are the two predominant colors for these birds.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

@minihorse927 has them

good luck!!

 

[paintedChix]

This thread hasn't gone anywhere. I'd love to know how many chicks that the OP has and what they look like now. Have they started laying? What is the rate of lay (daily/every other day, etc)? Have you hatched any chicks yet from your originals (or were you planning to)?

What SOP did you choose to use? I am thinking that since they are based on Leghorns, I would go off of that SOP - at least when I start culling chicks. Is that the right way to do it?

I know that I have 8 pullets & 4 cockerels of 55 Flowery Hens. They are becoming very exciting to me. I seem to have a wide range in coloring in the pullets and the cockerels have mostly all lost the "smudgieness" in their white in the last 2 months (becoming "more" white). They were approximately 3 months old when I got them (1 generation removed from GFF breeding, if I understood right).

The latest pics of them on 28 June makes them just short of 5 months. The girls aren't laying yet. I was planning on doing 2 breeding groups of 4 pullets/1 roo (& the 2 roos I don't choose will go to freezer camp - 1 already chosen to keep-largest/most alert boy; 1 to go to "camp"-the smallest/spookiest boy)...

Here's what some of ours look like - (they were actually hatched on 2/4 - i need to go back and change the dates on some of my pics). I didn't see these birds until they were 3 months old and had feathered in. Especially on the cockerels, i have no idea what would be silver and what gold... On the girls? some thoughts there, LOL.

 

[Ale_16]

This thread hasn't gone anywhere. I'd love to know how many chicks that the OP has and what they look like now. Have they started laying? What is the rate of lay (daily/every other day, etc)? Have you hatched any chicks yet from your originals (or were you planning to)?

What SOP did you choose to use? I am thinking that since they are based on Leghorns, I would go off of that SOP - at least when I start culling chicks. Is that the right way to do it?

I know that I have 8 pullets & 4 cockerels of 55 Flowery Hens. They are becoming very exciting to me. I seem to have a wide range in coloring in the pullets and the cockerels have mostly all lost the "smudgieness" in their white in the last 2 months (becoming "more" white). They were approximately 3 months old when I got them (1 generation removed from GFF breeding, if I understood right).

The latest pics of them on 28 June makes them just short of 5 months. The girls aren't laying yet. I was planning on doing 2 breeding groups of 4 pullets/1 roo (& the 2 roos I don't choose will go to freezer camp - 1 already chosen to keep-largest/most alert boy; 1 to go to "camp"-the smallest/spookiest boy)...

Here's what some of ours look like - (they were actually hatched on 2/4 - i need to go back and change the dates on some of my pics). I didn't see these birds until they were 3 months old and had feathered in. Especially on the cockerels, i have no idea what would be silver and what gold... On the girls? some thoughts there, LOL.

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I know it’s an old post but maybe you can give a feedback regarding the 55 Flowery hen. I’m planning to buy some eggs directly from Sweden the next spring and I found different opinions regarding the egg production of the 55 flowery hen.

 

[paintedChix]

The young pullets/hens laid well for me. Once they went through molt, it seemed to take a bit for the egg laying to kick back up. However, I found that bird for bird, they had a better laying habit than any other breed I've had other than actual "production" types (hybrids bred for egg laying only).

I think, in our case, that I've had problems due to predators. I had some wipe out free ranging flocks (during the day) over different years and others, while they can't get in would prowl around, dig a bit, etc and that caused egg laying to drop off significantly with all of our chickens...

We've now had 2 hard freezes and it's staying in low 40's upper 30's (f). The 55 Flowery's are still laying - though not every girl every day. All are about 2 yrs old and went through molt earlier this fall.