Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Peep-Chicken]

My SFH Reid and her friend JJ to the right.

I love SFHs!

 

[KYTinpusher]

as was said by KTy previously, Swedish Flower hens do not have barring. Well they hadn't until this most recent group of supposedly "pure" SFH's they imported

. I know someone that bought some of their chicks a few months ago and she got one in the batch like yours. This is not correct for the breed. Maybe their new breeding stock does in fact have this, as they told you, but that doesn't change the fact that it's not correct. What they told you really is concerning. Problem is that people new to the breed don't know and greenfire's primary concern is selling chicks. Either Greenfire is having breeding "accidents" there among different breeds or the latest breeding stock they imported has some genes there that shouldn't be there. SFH's are mottled, not barred or both. Really concerns me that multiple birds like this are coming from GFF's latest import line. I had thought about purchasing some this year to add to the flock I already have establish from previous import lines but now I won't. At least I know what is correct and what isn't so I would discard any birds like this, but some of those just getting started in the breed do not know and they get something like this and then breed it, selling the offspring and thereby adding more of these bad genes to the population. You would think that if you get your stock directly from Greenfire you have something of quality. Well, there are those that would say you can't count on that and knowing this barred bird of yours was a direct GFF chick, I would agree! There is now a fair number of established breeders of SFH's throughout the US that care more about maintaining and preserving the purity and correctness of the breed than GFF does. I would say these breeders are a good choice for getting breeding stock over GFF.

I totally agree with your sentiment. I have gotten in a few heated debates for criticizing GFF's breeding hatching ethics, so I hesitate to say too much. But SFH are not the only breed from GFF where customers receive chicks that grow up and are either very poor representations of the purchased breed, or not even close. And then to claim these "accidents" are what was ordered is beyond wrong. It is really very sad.

Thank you that is very generous. I wish I lived closer, too. Do you ever sell hatching eggs?

Yes, I do. Right now, they are molting.

 

[cressrb]

TxFlower said:
I do sell eggs and ship chicks and started birds but I sure didn't want to say that in what I was saying about GFF as it might seem like I was trying to sell birds. This is not what this is about.

You know I never once had that thought. I took it that you knew I was searching for advice, so thank you.

I purchased SFH hatching eggs soon after my shipment from GFF because I didn't know but my two from them might
be from the same hatch. Only two from the hatching eggs were viable and I got a pullet and cockeral from that.
Both were such poor quality compared to my GFF SFH's. For instance, they both had split wings, and the Roo a squirrel
tail among other things that I just counted it loss and let both go as pets.

I do want to get more SFH's as my hen is such a bright spot in my flock. I want more flowers!

 

[OHfarmerswife]

Goodness slot happens while I am away.
I have some SFH cockerels that need to move.
They are from a new German line. If anyone is interested let me know.
I am in Ohio.

 

[cupofJoelene]

I'm going to have two cockerels that will need homes in a few weeks when I can decide which two of my four I'm keeping. It's VERY hard, they're all beautiful and super sweet!

In AR.

 

[cressrb]

Aww too bad everyone lives so far away from me...or rather I live so far away from everyone

 

[TxFlowers]

TxFlower said:
I do sell eggs and ship chicks and started birds but I sure didn't want to say that in what I was saying about GFF as it might seem like I was trying to sell birds. This is not what this is about.

You know I never once had that thought. I took it that you knew I was searching for advice, so thank you.

I purchased SFH hatching eggs soon after my shipment from GFF because I didn't know but my two from them might
be from the same hatch. Only two from the hatching eggs were viable and I got a pullet and cockeral from that.
Both were such poor quality compared to my GFF SFH's. For instance, they both had split wings, and the Roo a squirrel
tail among other things that I just counted it loss and let both go as pets.

I do want to get more SFH's as my hen is such a bright spot in my flock. I want more flowers!

I can see from your comments that you are going to be "picky". That is GOOD! All of us that know, will cull for split wing however a juvenile cockerel may appear to have split wing for a while while he is still in his "gawky" period. I have seen this can be around 3 to 8 months. They are molting and regrowing feathers and this is not a good time to make calls on split wing. It seems to me in my experience that if they have perfect wings at around 2 months or so and they go through that "split wing" stage, they will typically "come back" at some point. My chicks that at 6- 8 wks that appear to have split wing are the ones I am more skeptical about being true split wings. If you have a really nice boy in that gawky teenage stage, or even pullet, that looks split, you really should give them a little time to be sure they are in fact split.

 

[cressrb]

That is a good thing to know. I didn't know if it would improve or not so I waited until they were 4 months old before letting them go. Since they both had it, I thought it may
be a problem in that line

 

[TxFlowers]

That is a good thing to know. I didn't know if it would improve or not so I waited until they were 4 months old before letting them go. Since they both had it, I thought it may
be a problem in that line

For some of mine, 4/5 mo is when they looked their worst! lol So sometimes you just to be patient on the wing thing however if the bird isn't otherwise nice enough to want to keep, of course no need to bother but if you end up with a boy ( and the boys seem especially prone to having those sticking out wings) that you really like in all other respects and they look terrible at 4/5 mo, you might want to give them a few more months to make final decision. At least that way if you end up culling them, you can feel pretty sure they weren't going to improve.

 

[KYTinpusher]

I agree with TxFlowers... again!

If I have the room, I usually wait until they are at least a year old to make any determination about split wing. I don't think split wing is nearly as common in SFH as the reports of it would suggest. I think too many people make the determination before the birds are fully grown.

@cressrb - I am sorry you felt you had to re-home your beautiful cockerel.

I think that the big fuss that some make about split wing and sprigs and such often make those new to this breed overly cautious, not wanting to get a bad reputation from the start. You are certainly not alone in making that kind of determination too early. Then their reports perpetuate the problem. One attribute that most of the best breeders have is patience (I'm still working on that one, too!

)

Take these boys. They are about 5.5 (top) and 5 (bottom) months old in this picture taken 8-9-15. At that point, the top one was missing a primary feather or two in his wings. The bottom one was missing 3-4 primary feathers on each wing. I have been waiting to re-home the bottom one to make sure all his feathers had come in. I re-checked them today and I am happy to say he is now ready for a new home with a complete set of flight feathers.

The top one also has a full set and will be staying with my flock.


For those new to this breed, and new to breeding chickens in general, you would be wise to seek the counsel of more experienced breeders before choosing your breeders. We are always happy to help and it could save you a lot of time, trouble and heartache in the long run. We love looking at pictures of other people's birds!