Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[TarheelBirdy]

First and foremost, I've found that DRY incubation seems essential. otherwise they end up sticky/gooey and often very wet at hatch. many have also gotten stuck because they can't turn properly, whether because of the goo or because of being too bloated from excess fluids.

with SFH I've taken to not putting them in lockdown until day 19, and that seems to have helped some as well.

but then again I dry incubate EVERYTHING, so haven't had as many problems as I've heard about from others.

I haven't had problems with early quitters tho, usually just wet hatches, even when dry incubation.

I dry-incubate as well, and have had good hatch rates with my SFH

 

[TarheelBirdy]

Ugg my heart just aches

We had an family emergency today and I missed an auction on SFH! I only have 6 chickens and trying to get started. I bought a bator and everything early this morning with hopes of winning. My girls were so excited and now I wish I hadn't told them

I just I will have to look for another breed because that is the first SFH I have seen. Any suggestions?

 

[ancientoaks]

I've seen pictures of hens marked like this on sites with pictures of SFH's on them. She will probably get some spots when she is mature. Not all of them are going to be perfectly marked and probably most of them won't be.

I haven't produced any of my own yet but know they all aren't going to look as nice as I hope. When we see pictures of these chickens for sale we are always going to see pictures of the most colorful birds.

she is probably not a mixed breed but not as colorful as we expect to see.

good luck with your birds

John

 

[alibra]

Can someone help me sex my Swedish flower hen juveniles? lets call them Gray baby and Brown baby. Sorry my lavender orps are photo bombers LOL!

 

[RedRidge]

Well I don't have near the experience of others here, but I'll guess before the pros do and see if I'm correct.
How old are they? I'm guessing they are both cockerels...

 

[minihorse927]

Can someone help me sex my Swedish flower hen juveniles? lets call them Gray baby and Brown baby. Sorry my lavender orps are photo bombers LOL!

If they are as young as I think they are than they are cockerels.

 

[Bulldogma]

I would love that in the Spring. I have had the worst luck with these Flower Hens. I hatched 4 out of about 3 billion eggs shipped eggs which were promised to friends. So I bought 8 from Greenfire and it looks as though 7 of those are roos too. Ugh...and they are all so pretty. I will post the ones from Greenfire later. I am in Asheville, in the Blue Ridge mountains.

You're not all that far from me then. If you want them in the spring, I'd need to do some winter hatching so they are old enough to sex . It's certainly doable!

I have an oddly marked SF pullet. She has no white on her. She is about 7 wks old. She has not a speck of white on her anywhere at this point. I know that she could develop some spotting later but I have not had any SF that didn't have spotting already. Is this unusual? Thanks!

I hate to say it, but she looks like a cross to me. ALL SFH have flowering (though it's hard to see on the white ones - LOL). My 2 black / chocolate girls started flowering by 5-6 weeks. And no, they shouldn't show any kind of consistent barring pattern. You may see one or two feathers on Mille Fleur colored SFH that seem to be barred, but there will be no consistency to it at all and the next feather may be spotted, splotched or laced.

Can someone help me sex my Swedish flower hen juveniles? lets call them Gray baby and Brown baby. Sorry my lavender orps are photo bombers LOL!

Both are lovely boys.

 

[alibra]

They're 2 or 3 months old

 

[PugBug]

Can someone help me sex my Swedish flower hen juveniles? lets call them Gray baby and Brown baby. Sorry my lavender orps are photo bombers LOL!

Both cockerels

 

[PugBug]

I have an oddly marked SF pullet. She has no white on her. She is about 7 wks old. She has not a speck of white on her anywhere at this point. I know that she could develop some spotting later but I have not had any SF that didn't have spotting already. Is this unusual? Thanks!

Sorry to tell you but looks like a mix- not only does she not have the white 'flowers' but her shape looks wrong to me too. She looks too thick & round through the body.