Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Kimbroe1981]

Ahhhh, Why does USPS not update their shipment status after they leave the main facility?!? I have a box of eggs says expected delivery date TODAY! and the shipping status is still Departed from sort facility in PA. The replacement eggs from TX (which is only 5-6 hours away) has no delivery date on it yet! Has anyone else shipped eggs through UPS or FedEx? How'd it go and was it outrageously expensive?

 

[muddyhorse]

Take a deep breath. When I ship live birds they never get scanned. I think the workers get distracted by the crowing. A few days before I am expecting eggs or birds I take my post office workers some chocolate chip cookies. Bribery goes along way. They call me before the truck gets there so I can pick up right away. Also check the routes in your area. I got a po box at the festus po because if the shipment comes to bloomsdale the birds have to travel for an extra day. I drive fifteen minutes and get my birds a day sooner.

 

[Kimbroe1981]

I'll have to try bribing them. In the past when I've had eggs shipped, I would call the post office for them to hold the package and for some reason nobody could find them - surprise surprise, they showed up on my porch later that day or the next day. I did have 1 shipment that my driver forgot to deliver, so they sat in her car all night long and she delivered them the next day - not many of those hatched.

 

[Bulldogma]

Ok - with more and more people becoming interested in Swedish Flower Hens, how do we as breeders of these lovely birds go about defining the Standard of Perfection for this breed in the US?

It's obviously a good thing to cull one's flock of crooked toed birds, split wings and other negative genetic traits, but what positive traits should we look for in these birds to perpetuate strong flocks?

I'd love to hear what everyone who owns/breeds these birds has to say!!

What do you look for, or what do you believe we should expect in the Swedish Flower Hen:

Comb: (Rooster / Hen)
Wattles:
Beak:
Hackles:
Cape:
Breast:
Wings:
Saddle:
Tail: (Rooster / Hen)
Thigh:
Shank:
Leg Color:
Feathering:

I look forward to seeing everyone's opinions and thoughts!

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

In response to Bulldogma

Since this isn't a "breed" I think people look more for type than anything else. It can be easy to take standards from breeds and apply them to SFH's, but is that appropriate?

For example, a side spur on the comb is a big no-no on most all breeds. Does that apply to this land race fowl? These birds were chosen for personality traits over appearance, to be good foragers over leg color. I would bet that egg production was important as well as the birds being dual purpose. The ability to withstand cold temperatures likely led to mother nature thinning out the flock and birds more disease resistant made it through those harsh winters.

My point here is that, while we absolutely want to preserve this fowl just as it is, I think it's best to just let them be as wonderfully diverse as they are. I chose my rooster out of the five I had for three reasons: 1) His wonderful personality 2) he was not crested and that's what my personal preference was 3) He was nice and upright, had a full breast, nice sharp color patterns, just overall pleasing to the eye.

I have a variety of hens/pullets. My goal is to keep my flock as diverse as possible to resemble a flock on a small farm in Sweden. If I have to cull I'll choose to keep the friendliest of birds while also making sure that colors and patterns are evenly represented to the best of my ability with what I have. Now, I'm sure that the farmer in Sweden wasn't counting to make sure that he/she had an equal number of colors represented...BUT, since it's harder most of us to keep a huge flock and have lots of birds to choose from it's what I've decided to do.

I'm in no way telling anyone what I think that they should do. This is what I think and what I'm doing and just want to give others my perspective.

edited to fix all the chopped up sentences

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

She's gorgeous! She looks like she has lacing.

 

[Bulldogma]

In response to Bulldogma
Since this isn't a "breed" I think people look more for type than anything else. It can be easy to take standards from breeds and apply them to SFH's, but is that appropriate?
For example, a side spur on the comb is a big no-no on most all breeds. Does that apply to this land race fowl? These birds were chosen for personality traits over appearance, to be good foragers over leg color. I would bet that egg production was important as well as the birds being dual purpose. The ability to withstand cold temperatures likely led to mother nature thinning out the flock and birds more disease resistant made it through those harsh winters.
My point here is that, while we absolutely want to preserve this fowl just as it is, I think it's best to just let them be as wonderfully diverse as they are. I chose my rooster out of the five I had for three reasons: 1) His wonderful personality 2) he was not crested and that's what my personal preference was 3) He was nice and upright, had a full breast, nice sharp color patterns, just overall pleasing to the eye.
I have a variety of hens/pullets. My goal is to keep my flock as diverse as possible to resemble a flock on a small farm in Sweden. If I have to cull I'll choose to keep the friendliest of birds while also making sure that colors and patterns are evenly represented to the best of my ability with what I have. Now, I'm sure that the farmer in Sweden wasn't counting to make sure that he/she had an equal number of colors represented...BUT, since it's harder most of us to keep a huge flock and have lots of birds to choose from it's what I've decided to do.
I'm in no way telling anyone what I think that they should do. This is what I think and what I'm doing and just want to give others my perspective.
edited to fix all the chopped up sentences

Knock Kneed Hen -

I really like your take on this question! Thank you for your well thought out and clearly expressed response!

 

[Wulfandwyn]

Here is a new pic of Pip my only SFH chick that hatched. He is 2.5 weeks old, I don't really know that Pip is a he.








Here he is when he was newly hatched.

 

[cathiesue]

Ok - with more and more people becoming interested in Swedish Flower Hens, how do we as breeders of these lovely birds go about defining the Standard of Perfection for this breed in the US?

It's obviously a good thing to cull one's flock of crooked toed birds, split wings and other negative genetic traits, but what positive traits should we look for in these birds to perpetuate strong flocks?

I'd love to hear what everyone who owns/breeds these birds has to say!!

What do you look for, or what do you believe we should expect in the Swedish Flower Hen:

Comb: (Rooster / Hen)
Wattles:
Beak:
Hackles:
Cape:
Breast:
Wings:
Saddle:
Tail: (Rooster / Hen)
Thigh:
Shank:
Leg Color:
Feathering:

I look forward to seeing everyone's opinions and thoughts!

I think they should have all those things. sorry, just my little joke.
I was wonder that too. I'm hoping that the birds themselves are unusual enough to be recognized as Flowers. Meaning that if their is crossbreeding that they birds will not look enought like Flowers to be passed off as flowers.
So, really, what makes a Flower? Mine all are different colors. My roo is crested. One has grey legs. They all carry their tails really high. They seem smaller that some of my heritage breed, except for the roo. They are very upright in their stance.
I would love not to have the whole snafu that has occurred around the Aracauna/Ameracana/EE. Would really like to keep these birds whole.
Knock Kneed Hen, i don't know what "not a breed means" Can you explain it to this noobie?

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Knock Kneed Hen -

I really like your take on this question! Thank you for your well thought out and clearly expressed response!

I also feel that with such a small genetic gene pool that culling for only certain traits will REALLY limit the gene pool even further. Maybe some time down the road, when there are many thousands it can be addressed. Right now, I think preserving this bird and it's diversity is the key.