Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[minihorse927]

[COLOR=800080]Close ups of the 5 I "thought" were my Flower boys: [/COLOR]

all of those appear to be Swedish flower hens except for the barred boy. All SFH should have a single comb

 

[ChicwannaB]

well, I thank you folks for your quick replies and I must say I'm totally BUMMED and embarrassed.

I do NOT want to become a breeder of something that isn't what it's supposed to be. And I also don't want to get a bad reputation. So I will NOT sell any more of these birds or their offspring. I will contact the lady I just sold 2 of them to and tell her what I've discovered. And I will call the lady I got my eggs from so she knows as well. Im sure she wasn't trying to pull a sly one, but still I don't want to name names and get her in any trouble.

Goodness ME, is there anything else I should do??

 

[ChicwannaB]

well, I thank you folks for your quick replies and I must say I'm totally BUMMED and embarrassed.

I do NOT want to become a breeder of something that isn't what it's supposed to be. And I also don't want to get a bad reputation. So I will NOT sell any more of these birds or their offspring. I will contact the lady I just sold 2 of them to and tell her what I've discovered. And I will call the lady I got my eggs from so she knows as well. Im sure she wasn't trying to pull a sly one, but still I don't want to name names and get her in any trouble.

Goodness ME, is there anything else I should do??

I have just now called the lady I sold to and offered all her money back on the birds I sold her, will have to wait till she replies to see what she wants to do. She can certainly keep the birds since she liked them so much, but I want her to know they may not be pure, I hope she can find time to come on and post some photos of the ones she bought from me.
As for the one I purchased my eggs from, I don't have her phone number, only her address, but I have written her a letter and if I hurry I can get it out in the mail today. I want to send her a photo also of the 5 boys so she can see what you are talking about with the barring and the rose comb. And I promise I will not sell these as Flower Hens even if I d o sell off a couple more of the boys.
I do not want to become a bad breeder or get a bad rep. I didn't necessarily boy these to start breeding and make money anyway, just wanted a pretty chicken in the yard. I'm so embarrassed that I already sold off 2 not knowing they
weren't pure, but I'm doing my level best to inform people and at least keep my name clean.
I sincerely thank everyone who's posted a reply and taught me.
I do have a question now that I'm thinking about it: if these birds lived over 500 years all inter-breeding how's come there aren't ANY other combs except single?? Or was that just not a factor to begin with?? thanks.

 

[KYTinpusher]

well, I thank you folks for your quick replies and I must say I'm totally BUMMED and embarrassed.

I do NOT want to become a breeder of something that isn't what it's supposed to be. And I also don't want to get a bad reputation. So I will NOT sell any more of these birds or their offspring. I will contact the lady I just sold 2 of them to and tell her what I've discovered. And I will call the lady I got my eggs from so she knows as well. Im sure she wasn't trying to pull a sly one, but still I don't want to name names and get her in any trouble.

Goodness ME, is there anything else I should do??

You are doing the right thing in passing on the information to both your buyer and the seller you got the eggs from. The seller may be able to clear things up for you. Since Dominiques lay brown eggs, it is entirely possible that a wrong egg just got mixed up with your SFH eggs. It happens to the best of us. I know I am VERY careful to keep my SFH, Bresse, Rhodebar, Svart Hona and SFHx eggs (all light brown) all marked and separate, but when DH "helps" me by collecting eggs, I am never really sure he gets them right (neither is he

) which automatically makes them eating eggs. I have 2 eggs in my kitchen right now with "???" on them because I got distracted collecting them and am only 99% positive on which is which. To the fridge with them!

Therefore, the two birds you sold could very well be pure. The pictures of them below DO look like SFH to me. Current, full body pictures would help to confirm that if the person you sold them to would like to post some pictures here for reassurance. However, your Cindy is not a SFH as she has a muff and beard, looks like a pea comb, and no flowers. She is very beautiful, though.

The BEST thing you can do for this breed is educate yourself about the breed so you will know if any oddball characteristics show up in your birds' offspring. Cull any that are not good examples (like the barred boy) and do test breeding to make sure they breed true before selling any of their offspring. If you have any questions about which ones to use for breeding, just ask. There are plenty of knowledgeable folks here who would be happy to help.

Hi, I'm just popping on here to leave a post for the nice young lady from Unionville Michigan who I sold a breeding pair of SFH's to this evening. This is just so you know who I am and can find me on BYC whenever you need to. I know this don't look like me but it is, my hair was longer and I had my silly chicken hat on. It was taken right in front of my garage door.
I hope you'll post some pics of any babies you have from those two.
I was reading the beginning of this thread and WOW, these birds were only imported to the US in 2008!!! I had a few Icelandics but they were SO flighty I got rid of them, these Flower girls are so much nicer.

Here's a couple baby photos of the two you bought from me when they were a lot younger.


little "Beep Beep" in the foreground. A crested male.


Little "Cindy" setting in the doorway of the coop.

 

[minihorse927]

@KYTinpusher I'll get some pictures when i get home but this trio i hatched from you is gorgeous. I don't know for sure if I'll keep the Cockerel or not as I'm still partial to my black chested rooster.

 

[KYTinpusher]

@KYTinpusher I'll get some pictures when i get home but this trio i hatched from you is gorgeous. I don't know for sure if I'll keep the Cockerel or not as I'm still partial to my black chested rooster.

I look forward to seeing the pics!

 

[minihorse927]

[COLOR=0000FF]You are doing the right thing in passing on the information to both your buyer and the seller you got the eggs from. The seller may be able to clear things up for you. Since Dominiques lay brown eggs, it is entirely possible that a wrong egg just got mixed up with your SFH eggs. It happens to the best of us. I know I am VERY careful to keep my SFH, Bresse, Rhodebar, Svart Hona and SFHx eggs (all light brown) all marked and separate, but when DH "helps" me by collecting eggs, I am never really sure he gets them right (neither is he[/COLOR] [COLOR=0000FF] [/COLOR][COLOR=0000FF])  which automatically makes them eating eggs.  I have 2 eggs in my kitchen right now with "???" on them because I got distracted collecting them and am only 99% positive on which is which. To the fridge with them! [/COLOR] [COLOR=0000FF] Therefore, the two birds you sold could very well be pure. The pictures of them below DO look like SFH to me. Current, full body pictures would help to confirm that if the person you sold them to would like to post some pictures here for reassurance. However, your Cindy is not a SFH as she has a muff and beard, looks like a pea comb, and no flowers. She is very beautiful, though.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]The BEST thing you can do for this breed is educate yourself about the breed so you will know if any oddball characteristics show up in your birds' offspring. Cull any that are not good examples (like the barred boy) and do test breeding to make sure they breed true before selling any of their offspring. If you have any questions about which ones to use for breeding, just ask. There are plenty of knowledgeable folks here who would be happy to help. [/COLOR]

Cindy looks like she might be a crested cream leg bar crossed to a ameraucana or easter egger, doesn't she Walli?

 

[KYTinpusher]

Cindy looks like she might be a crested cream leg bar crossed to a ameraucana or easter egger, doesn't she Walli?

Could be.

Looking again, I am curious about the feathers sticking out on the left side. I wonder if she has feathered legs? She is gorgeous, but is definitely a mix.

 

[minihorse927]

Could be.   Looking again, I am curious about the feathers sticking out on the left side. I wonder if she has feathered legs? She is gorgeous, but is definitely a mix.

I didn't even think about that possibly being feathered legs. I just thought misplaced feathers. We'll see when she returns.

 

[ChicwannaB]

oh goodness goodness goodness. Perhaps I should just scrap ALL these birds.
I know enough about genetics just to make me dangerous, but that's also enough to know when I'm being duped.
Seeing I got all the eggs from ONE source and her (the seller to me) birds were completely caged, not even a sparrow was getting in there, I have to assume either she lets them out to free-range once in awhile, she's in some nice wooded area, perhaps a hen was caught by a neighbors chicken somewhere and she didn't notice, or she just completely got bad stock.
I also know that genotype and phenotype are two completely different things. Just because a bird LOOKS pure on the outside doesn't mean it isn't also carrying impure genes that can be passed on. For instance, The hen could have had a straight single comb as well as the rooster, but if one of them was impure and carried the gene for a rose comb and passed it on, no one would be the wiser, without a lot of breeding to find out where it was coming from and culling out the bad source. So that being said, even tho some of my boys may look alright, I realize they could be carrying something that isn't Swedish Flower now and I will not breed any of them.