Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Bulldogma]

Any guesses on these 3-day old SFH chicks?

 

[Kimbroe1981]

Still have only 1 lone chick that hatched out yesterday at noon, we've decided to name him/her bear.

We got evacuated from our house due to wild fires. have more eggs in the bator, I hope everything at my house is ok.







Little Bear on his first road trip. I just couldn't leave him behind. we mad it to my mom's with kids, 2 dogs & a chicken!

 

[Bulldogma]

Still have only 1 lone chick that hatched out yesterday at noon, we've decided to name him/her bear.

We got evacuated from our house due to wild fires. have more eggs in the bator, I hope everything at my house is ok.


Little Bear on his first road trip. I just couldn't leave him behind. we mad it to my mom's with kids, 2 dogs & a chicken!

Yikes! Hope your house remains intact and you're able to get back to your incubator very soon! How frightening!

On the flip-side, I LOVE the picture of your SFH chick riding along in the car! Too cute for words.

Keep us updated on your situation -

 

[SunnySkies]

The feather sexing seems to be the more accurate to me.  The wing feathers will be different sizes if female and all the same for males.   This works on a lot of breeds.  Seems to have worked on my SFH's

From what I've read it needs to be done in the first three days after hatch. I have used the feather sexing technique several times with both Ameraucana, and Swedish Flower Hens, and it has been fairly accurate. Even for a beginner. While holding the chick, stretch the wing tip out to reveal the new feather quills. A pullet will have alternating long and short feather quills, while the cockerels will have all one length. Good luck!

Excellent information! We have the other chicks too, 5 barnyard mixes, and I wonder what they are. I pray they are all hens....my kids got attached to them and I don't want to have to give away their pets, or even worse, eat them! I'm going to go look, even though they are a bit old perhaps for the technique.
ETA: the other chicks were too old. But I think I have three little girls! Time will tell!

Stay safe from those fires!

Looks like Olympia was hatched with splay leg. I thought she/he was simply weak from hatching, but as the others were bouncing around this morning, I looked again this evening and thought I need to help out, especially as one toe on the opposite foot is now bent. So I did the bandaid thing. She/he is handling it well, and scrambling around, but I'm a bit concerned about her. These were shipped eggs from a place in FL, and I don't know anything about the parents as far as nutrition status. Of course, it's the prettiest chick. I love the light silver ones.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

From what I've read it needs to be done in the first three days after hatch. I have used the feather sexing technique several times with both Ameraucana, and Swedish Flower Hens, and it has been fairly accurate. Even for a beginner. While holding the chick, stretch the wing tip out to reveal the new feather quills. A pullet will have alternating long and short feather quills, while the cockerels will have all one length. Good luck!

Thanks! I guess I'll have to try this out with my next batch.

Kimbroe1981, We've been evacuated...but that was pre chickens. We'd be in a whole lotta trouble now if we had to evacuate. That really is a cute picture of you chick, with it's teddy, on the road. Hope you can get back home soon.

 

[Bernie56]

Any guesses on these 3-day old SFH chicks?

Its hard to tell with these pics. I should have said the PRIMARY quills. try spreading out the wing tips and checking those. The pullets should alternate one long, one short,... cockerels will be all one length.

 

[SunnySkies]

I love mine. So sweet!

Olympia got worse with the band aids, so I took them off. Her leg isn't right, but she gets around very well. It's not slipped tendon either. It seems to originate in her hip maybe.

 

[Goose and Fig]

My 4 oldest are just about 12 weeks now. I am not sure exactly how old they are because they weren't day olds like they were supposed to be when shipped. And they appear to be all different ages.

So- 3 out of the 4 suddenly got red combs this week. No sign of boy-ness up til now, and no saddle feathers or anything yet. Is this how the breed usually goes?

Kinda bummed that none of them are crested, but i did get lots of crested ones form Contrastphoto, so I guess it worked out. Such pretty little things.

 

[Contrastphoto]

My 4 oldest are just about 12 weeks now. I am not sure exactly how old they are because they weren't day olds like they were supposed to be when shipped. And they appear to be all different ages.

So- 3 out of the 4 suddenly got red combs this week. No sign of boy-ness up til now, and no saddle feathers or anything yet. Is this how the breed usually goes?

Kinda bummed that none of them are crested, but i did get lots of crested ones form Contrastphoto, so I guess it worked out. Such pretty little things.

Wow 3 out 4 boys??? That is a bummer. My first "pair" ended up being two roosters.

I think they are very hard to tell gender. Now some folks on here have said that they can tell at 4-5 weeks. I am not sure if that is the different lines showing up.

How many crested did you get from me?

 

[Goose and Fig]

I *think* I have at least 4 crested so far. Its funny how those feathers just pop up overnight.

In the ones I have outside, 2 of the roos are red, white and blue. Practically identical. Anybody have pics of those as adults? I will try and get some new ones tomorrow, but they color is pretty evenly dispersed.