Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Cynthia12]

Can someone tell me about how well these girls lay? How often, how large, the color of the egg? Thanks, looking to buying some of these..they are darling..beautiful!

 

[Sebrightsrock]

As for size I've heard they lay xtra large eggs. For color one of my sfh pullets just started laying and she lays a light creamy beige color.Here are a few pics of my new trio.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Can someone tell me about how well these girls lay? How often, how large, the color of the egg? Thanks, looking to buying some of these..they are darling..beautiful!

Well, mine are 11 and 10 months old now, so I guess it's time to start answering some of these questions. I have 7 hens and now 5 roos from two different sources - all originated with Greenfire Farms stock, but I got eggs from two different sources who got their birds directly from GFF. GFF had imported birds from 2 different sources by that time - a non-crested flock and a flock with crested birds. I am just guessing, but I believe my 3 older hens and 1 of my non-crested roos came from the original non-crested flock. All of them are non-crested and lay a very light cream-colored egg. They have been laying for about 6 months and the eggs are now medium to large size (55 - 60g). I have 2 Barred Rock hens of the same age and their eggs are about the same size. The younger 4 hens I believe from the second line they imported with the crests. The reason I believe this is that some are crested, of course, but also because the eggs they lay are a darker light brown, not cream like my older ones. One even has a few brown speckles on hers. I am getting 4-5 eggs per day right now, and I believe 1 of my older ones is not laying again yet. They just started laying again a few weeks ago after taking a little over a month off. This was probably my fault - we moved them to their new coop in the middle of the heat wave and they had to stay cooped up inside for about 3 weeks while we completed the fencing on their pasture. The coop is rather dark inside and they were not happy!

In general, they are very friendly birds, more so than my other breeds. Most of my roos have been very docile and the kids pick them up and hold them quite often. 2 of them needed an "attitude adjustment". Both were the dominant roo in their respective pens. 1 of them learned the lesson well and is still in with my breeding flock, the other became dinner. They seem to be good flock watchers and are not too aggressive with each other, either. I have 3 in with 11 hens and they all seem content. The hens are friendly and not too flighty. When we first put them in a fenced area, one flew out. She immediately started looking for a way back in and noone has gone over the fence since. (It is a 4 foot electric poultry fence.) I recently added some younger ones to the flock and after a few minutes establishing the pecking order, they are all doing well together.

We love our SFHs! I don't think you will be disappointed with them!

ETA: pic of egg color - on the left is a fake ceramic white egg, on the left is one of my smaller BR eggs. This pic is from May, so they had been laying about 2 months and 1 month by then.

 

[Cynthia12]

Thank you! Great info. Very pretty birds, and nice eggs!

 

[Bulldogma]

Just sharing some updated pictures of my babies - now 4.5 weeks old I just adore them! The smallest one (Frida) was initially not doing well, but after adding vitamins to their water, she is now doing great!

This one is Gunnar. I just love his coloring. He is a sweet and mellow little guy.


The bluish one on the left is Inga, Little Frida in the middle and Gunnar on the right.


When Frida was doing poorly, I separated her into another brooder and put Inga in with her so she wouldn't be lonely. I left Gunnar in the other brooder with a black Orpington chick and a bantam Sizzle chick (Cleo) who has to be the meanest little bully of a chick I've ever met! Gunnar gets along with everyone, so the bully didn't mess with him too much.

In the First few days, Frida would get tipped over and couldn't get back up, so I did regular checks throughout the day and night to make sure she was OK. One night when I shone my flashlight into the brooder, all I could see was Inga! I was starting to panic when a small beak appeared out from under Inga's left wing to see why there was light at such an odd hour of the night! Since that night, I regularly find Inga with her wings around her little sister, protecting her and keeping her warm. If I take one from the brooder, the other will peep and peep, looking for her.

In the last week, they have been old enough to spend the days outside in a large chick pen. Since Frida is doing so well, I went ahead and put them in with Gunnar, the Orp and the wicked Sizzle (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Malefecent, the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty).

Am I wrong?

Of course Maleficent... uh... I mean Cleo... wasted no time in reestablishing herself as the Boss. It was amazing to see Inga rushing to Frida's side to spread her wings around her, warding off Cleo's vicious attacks. I've never seen a chick take a beating for another chick like that! Interestingly, Frida would also jump in when evil Cleo launched attacks upon Inga, spreading her small wings as wide as she could to protect her big sister.

I'm SO getting rid of Cleo!

Now at night I have the 3 Swedes in the same brooder, and Gunnar is wonderful with his girls. I'm so happy I ended up with this breed!

 

[CasieD]

Love how your Frida and Inga are taking care of each other! So sweet!

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

What a precious story Bulldogma!

 

[SunnySkies]

I thnk a fox got one of mine today I am so upset! It was there....then not. In the flower beds right next to the house! We searched, but nothing. Not a feather even.

 

[SunnySkies]

OK, this is crazy weird.

I went to do a bedtime check and popped open the rear of the coop. I noticed the feeder was low on feed and took it out. It's a hanging feeder that holds a couple pounds of feed.

Chick was stuck IN the feeder! No kidding!

She seems hurt, like a bit sore, and she has a broken toe. Lucky for her, I am a practicing veterinarian so I'm giving her some treatments and I expect she will recover.

I wonder if they sell caps for that feeder....I didn't see any at TSC, but...

I have it in there because I am still trying to make sure they return to the coop and in case of bad weather.

 

[KYTinpusher]

OK, this is crazy weird.

I went to do a bedtime check and popped open the rear of the coop. I noticed the feeder was low on feed and took it out. It's a hanging feeder that holds a couple pounds of feed.

Chick was stuck IN the feeder! No kidding!

She seems hurt, like a bit sore, and she has a broken toe. Lucky for her, I am a practicing veterinarian

so I'm giving her some treatments and I expect she will recover.

I wonder if they sell caps for that feeder....I didn't see any at TSC, but...

I have it in there because I am still trying to make sure they return to the coop and in case of bad weather.

I'm glad you found your chick! I know how you feel. A few weeks ago we were gone most of day helping some friends. It was the first time we had been gone for very long since putting up the electric poultry fence and letting them free-range. When we got home, both of my EE pullets were missing. We could find no trace of them, not even a feather. We thought it would have had to have been a hawk. I could hear bird cries in the trees across the street by the creek, but I wasn't sure if they were chicken. I had given up looking and was just praying they would show up when dusk came. Then I heard a noise from one of my SFH rooster pens. When I looked, both of my pullets were up on the roost just as happy as could be. They had found a hole. I have found them in there several times since then. I guess they like the SFH roos better than the Ameraucana and OE roos that they run with!