Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Sunshine0235]

I have one little swedish flower chick, I have some eggs that were supposed to hatched yesterday, well one egg actually, and its pipped internally and there is movement but no actual hatching yet.

Here is my only SFH, its the one on the far right, its an old picture, so its mostly feathered with a white chest,I need to get an updated photo:


I can't wait until it grow up a far bit and gets the speckled coloring. Im just hoping that egg hatches so I have a least a chance at having a pair that I can breed from vs just one. The chick is my family's favorite. I started the eggs in a new bator, so Im hoping that is what is causing the delay, might not have been as warm as my previous incubator by half a degree or so.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Quote:
My SFH eggs usually go to day 22 or 23 before they hatch. Don't give up on it. Oh, and yes, updated pictures of your older one are required.

 

[Sclark73]

Well here's what I'm left with for my SFH flock. Should I just throw in the towel and call it quits or try for some chicks with this batch. One cockerel, 4 pullets. I still have an egg order I'm waiting on to come but am not hopeful with the USPS lately as they've lost my last 2 boxes of shipped eggs, one for a day and the other for 2 days coming from St. Paul to home.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Quote:
Beautiful birds! Since your cockerel is crested, I wouldn't hatch the eggs from the crested girl, but you certainly could hatch the eggs from the uncrested girls. Although yours are similar colors, you will probably get a little more variety from their chicks. With SFH, you never know what color genes are hiding inside. If your cockerel is related to your pullets, you will want to bring in some new blood at some point to ensure the vitality of your flock. Sorry you haven't had luck with shipped eggs. I am finding that I have to keep changing how I mark the box to keep them from being delayed. I used to mark them with "Live Embryos!" which worked really well for a while, until the PO actually starting treating them as "Live" shipments and wouldn't put them on certain flights. The last one I marked "Extremely Fragile" and "Contains Liquid" and it got there a day earlier than promised! It was a 2-day Express package, though. There are some who will ship chicks and sometimes that ends up being less expensive than multiple boxes of eggs.

 

[Sclark73]

Quote: The 2 crested are related, the other 3 I just purchased a few weeks ago from entirely different flocks/locations. Those 3 do have blue in their background which is what I wanted to have. Will have to see what happens.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Sounds like you have a good start then. Maybe @ki4got will weigh in on your chances of getting any blues out of what you have now.

 

[Sclark73]

Sounds like you have a good start then. Maybe @ki4got will weigh in on your chances of getting any blues out of what you have now.

The man I purchased them from said the one in front(pic of the 3) has thrown babies with blue base. Now whether that will happen with the cock that I have, no way of knowing until I hatch some out. Cock just started attempting to breed, the one in front is the eldest of the trios I think he said she's just a year old while the other 2 just started POL, I haven't had any eggs since I purchased them but due to cold weather and moving I expected that to happen. I did have 4 other cocks in that group but recently killed by predators last week. I'll find a pic with those boys in. Maybe some assessment of color could be had with them.

These are my 2 crested as babies, thought for sure the one on right which is the pullet was a cock with those thick legs.


Kinda hard to tell but this is only pic I have of the boys that were from same flock.

 

[Chica Chick]

Hi all,

someine mentioned awhile back that SFH tend to roam far when they free range. How far would be typical? I don't want them wandering to my neighbors which is about 300' away. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Stacey

 

[minihorse927]

Mine wonder to the neighbors property almost and we are on 14 acres. I'd say mine wander a good 1000ft from the run and coops

 

[Sunshine0235]

And he is the updated picture of the chick from a few posts ago, just got home and took them.







I love the black head spots.