Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[KYTinpusher]

So Leigh... what are you seeing here... this is not what I was guessing... What should I be looking for?
Larger comb on the bottom one and a hint of the wattles already coming down.

 

[minihorse927]

KYTinpusher, out of all those eggs I got from you there was only one cracked one. it was minor enough that I nail polished out and set anyway. I appreciate you meeting me so we could get those!

 

[Bulldogma]

Leigh... thoughts on these three?

Yellow - cockerel
Pink - Hard to tell from the angle, but my first thought is that pink would be a good color for her.
Purple - pullet

That said, sometimes they can surprise you, but with the two I pick out as cockerels, the comb is larger and more pronounced. Watch for reddening - those that redden first are most often cockerels. In just a couple more weeks you can pretty much be sure as the boys will have larger, redder combs than the girls.

Also - look for dark red/mahogany feathers coming in on the wing areas. Only boys get the really dark red/mahogany feathering.

How cool would it be to have 4 girls and 2 boys? Two trios! LOL.

 

[Bulldogma]

Here are the two lightest color chicks... I really like the coloring on the bottom one.

They are both beautiful! I'll bet they are both Elinor's chicks.

 

[RedRidge]

Quote: Well that worked out nicely... the top one is "yellow", the bottom is "purple"... so one of each sex.

You may have noticed I put up only 6 pictures. The 7th is an obvious cockerel who is mille fleur.
He is growing nicely - surprisingly... he hurt his leg mysteriously when he was about 2 weeks old and has held it up ever since. Happened in the brooder, so I have no idea what he did. When we've examined it (which we've done repeatedly), we could find no evidence of a break or we would have set it. It's gotten to the point now where it is atrophied some and is smaller than the other leg. I really didn't expect him to be able to keep up with the others and survive this long, but he's a trooper and gets in there for food and it doesn't slow him down. Just what I need... another pet...

So... he will likely have to go in the "cockerels for freezer" group at some group.

 

[RedRidge]

Can someone post a picture of a SFH with a split wing. I don't think I have any, but I'm curious what one looks like.
I'm very visual and would like to know what to look for should I run across one.

 

[ki4got]

Can someone post a picture of a SFH with a split wing. I don't think I have any, but I'm curious what one looks like.
I'm very visual and would like to know what to look for should I run across one.

I don't have any pics, but when you spread the wing, there's a definite gap between the primary and secondary feathers... you really can't judge growing chicks tho, since their feathers are continually moulting/growing until about 3 months old.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Can someone post a picture of a SFH with a split wing.  I don't think I have any, but I'm curious what one looks like.
I'm very visual and would like to know what to look for should I run across one.

As Ki4got stated, birds starting to feather in and birds molting can give the appearance of split wing. Make sure if you cull that the birds are almost fully grown and, of course, not molting.

 

[Bulldogma]

Well that worked out nicely... the top one is "yellow", the bottom is "purple"... so one of each sex.

You may have noticed I put up only 6 pictures. The 7th is an obvious cockerel who is mille fleur.
He is growing nicely - surprisingly... he hurt his leg mysteriously when he was about 2 weeks old and has held it up ever since. Happened in the brooder, so I have no idea what he did. When we've examined it (which we've done repeatedly), we could find no evidence of a break or we would have set it. It's gotten to the point now where it is atrophied some and is smaller than the other leg. I really didn't expect him to be able to keep up with the others and survive this long, but he's a trooper and gets in there for food and it doesn't slow him down. Just what I need... another pet...

So... he will likely have to go in the "cockerels for freezer" group at some group.

Aww - poor thing. Is the chick using the foot (does the foot lay flat when he places it down) or does he walk on the knuckles? If they use the foot, there is usually still hope they could heal, but once they start knuckling over on the foot with the foot remaining curled up... not so much, unfortunately. That's what happened with my beautiful Tula so I put her down. (She was tasty, though.)

Can someone post a picture of a SFH with a split wing. I don't think I have any, but I'm curious what one looks like.
I'm very visual and would like to know what to look for should I run across one.

Always count the primaries before culling, too. It is possible to pull a wing so far that they give the appearance of split wing, but they may not actually have it.





If you count 10 primaries on a mature bird that is NOT moulting, you're good to go! With split wing, it is always the first primary that is permanently missing.

And none of the parents of your chicks have split wing.

 

[Wynette]

Here's an oldie but goodie to show an example of split wing: