Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Sunshine0235]

Alright my SFH that I was 100% sure was a pullet is starting to worry me. You guys said she was a pullet at 7 weeks, shes on the left

And now at 13 weeks, she grew into this overnight.


'She' has about 4-5 copper feathers on her wings, but not the shoulder area which is the typical spot for copper feathers with roosters, and low on the back of the neck 'she' has some copper 'lacing' on 3-4 feathers. 'She's' also has wattles coming in. This has all happened in the last week, week and a half.

Is she a fast developing pullet, or slow developing cockerel? I've never had a pullet this age with this much comb before with all the different breeds I have had.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Alright my SFH that I was 100% sure was a pullet is starting to worry me. You guys said she was a pullet at 7 weeks, shes on the left

And now at 13 weeks, she grew into this overnight.


'She' has about 4-5 copper feathers on her wings, but not the shoulder area which is the typical spot for copper feathers with roosters, and low on the back of the neck 'she' has some copper 'lacing' on 3-4 feathers. 'She's' also has wattles coming in. This has all happened in the last week, week and a half.

Is she a fast developing pullet, or slow developing cockerel? I've never had a pullet this age with this much comb before with all the different breeds I have had.

While it is possible that she is actually a very late developing cockerel, I am still thinking pullet. I can't really see the wattles well in that picture, but they still look very small. While the comb is pink, it is not red. The comb on a pullet can turn pink from excitement or stress or various other reasons. Here are a couple pictures of 2 of my cockerels at 14 weeks:




ETA - Have you looked for saddle feathers yet? If that is a cockerel, you should start seeing saddle feathers coming in under the feathers on the back in front of the tail. They will be shiny and pointed.

 

[KYTinpusher]

I just went out and took some pics of a couple of boys about the same age. The one on the left hatched 2/19, so just over 12 weeks. The one on the right hatched 3/5, so just over 10 weeks old.


Wasn't it great of them to pose so nicely for this pic?

 

[Sunshine0235]

I did look, but didn't see anything coming in, which is when I saw the copper feathers in the neck starting to come in. I actually just went out and got more pictures of her, and checked a little further forward for saddle feathers, there were feathers coming in that are glossy with some copper to them. Her comb looks redder than this, not red-red, but darker.


Saddle feathers?

And copper in the wings:

 

[KYTinpusher]

Saddle feathers?

Are these pointed at the ends or rounded (or flat)?

 

[Alpine Chicken]

I did look, but didn't see anything coming in, which is when I saw the copper feathers in the neck starting to come in. I actually just went out and got more pictures of her, and checked a little further forward for saddle feathers, there were feathers coming in that are glossy with some copper to them. Her comb looks redder than this, not red-red, but darker.


Saddle feathers?

And copper in the wings:

I second KYTinpusher; still looks like a pretty pullet to me. I would also expect the comb and wattles to be darker and bigger at that age. I also have a few boys around the same age. I needed to take some pics today because I´m going to try to sell them, so I took a few close-ups, too:


The saddle-feathers are already pretty long and pointy. Your girl´s feathers in this area are nice and rounded, just like a girl´s should be! Here´s a comb/wattle close-up:


I think you can go to bed tonight in peace knowing you have a nice sfh-pullet there!

On another front, I´m losing the rat-battle. They took the last chick a couple nights ago. I couldn´t believe it. I had bricks all around the broody box and on top of the tunnel the rats had dug under it. One of the rats actually LIFTED the brick out of the way! It wasn´t a standard-sized brick, either, but a big one, I´d say about 10 lbs. I hate those stinking rats, hate them, hate them, HATE THEM. So my girl is childless now and running around with the roo again. Next girl in that coop due to become a mom in 2 days, so I dug out an old rabbit-cage with it´s own little run and made it (hopefully) rat-proof with some hard-wire fencing at the bottom. I´m going to move her into there when the chicks have hatched, and probably keep her locked up with her babies for a few days. It will open out into the coop, so I´ll probably keep it open during the day and lock it up again when they return to sleep there at night. The poison keeps on disappearing, so there has to be an end to this sometime.
The babies in the second coop are doing great, already jumping out onto the ladder and going out with Mom:

 

[ChicwannaB]

I just set a dozen SFH eggs plus 3 of my own girls....First time for this variety. Due date: April 29th.

Well, I got 10 out of 12 on the Flowers, and 2 out of 3 on my own mutt eggs. I may be posting some photos of close-ups later, unable to tell sex of these babys at all, unlike other chicks I've done.

 

[ChicwannaB]

VERY CUTE

 

[ChicwannaB]

Some shots of my SFH chix:
first one I truly believe is a cockerel, very long and heavy legs. Stands very upright and alert like Roos do.



Next is one I hope is pullet, she was hatched covered in soft gray fluff looks to be keeping her gray as feathers:
Isn't she sweet??

Any another Swedish Flower people in Michigan??

 

[ChicwannaB]

Couple more shot of my flock. The solid yellow one is obviously one of my mutts, Mother is a Leghorn X Dominique, as is Daddy.