Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[jeremy]

My eggs are now on day 12...

I'm having to sit on my hands to keep from candling them. Only 6 more days until lockdown and then I'll see how many babies I should expect!
I'm a nervous wreck!

 

[Wimberleytexaschick]

So it's been mentioned here before regarding the Swedish roosters attitude, a few have had some that were not so nice as with any breed of course. Now that we have more of us with maturing birds, how are the roosters? My handsome guy is now mature, mating the hens and gave me a little challenge this morning when I let him out. Nothing much, but clearly he is testing me out. I want to keep him sweet so he can free-range and not bother my kids. Deciding if the 'boot method' or being nice to him while being the boss is better? What has worked for you? Thanks!

 

[srslychickning]

Hi everyone, first time posting on the SFH thread, but I thought I would share some pictures of my pair. I got them at 3 days old from Duemig10 (I'm VERY lucky to live only a few miles away from her and got to see her setup first hand - it's amazing). They are growing like weeds and doing great. Although I think both chickens and humans are ready to have them go outside and peck around. They will stay in until after the holidays, then start to go out on supervised field trips. Poppy (red cockeral, so maybe Pappy is better) and Buttercup (grey/yellow pullet).

I can't really get away with having cockerals or roos in my neighborhood, but depending on how Poppy/Pappy turns out, I might just have to risk it. He is already very handsome (but I'm biased, I know).

 

[enggass]

Just curious, are there any sources of SFH in this country that don't originate from GFF? Beautiful birds...!

 

[rancher hicks]

I got mine on Rarebreeds Auctions , from Burtonjon in NC.. I'm going to be real disappointed if mine don't have any poofs on their heads.

I got one that looks like it might.

I'm waiting til they get older to send pics.


Rancher

 

[enggass]

Quote:
Hatching eggs or chicks? Do you know where they got theirs?

 

[Wimberleytexaschick]

Greenfire Farms was the original importer of all the Swedish Flower Hens in June 2010. All or most people now selling chicks or hatching eggs purchased from Greenfire originally.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

BrianKahlShannonClark, nice pair of chicks there! I hope you can keep the cockerel. Is it my imagination or do there seem to be more than 50% cockerels out there!

Thanks for sharing the pics. Love seeing these birds. We're the first in this country to have them so I think we have a lot to learn and that's exciting!!

enggass, to my knowledge, GFF is the only importer of SFH so all birds originated from the birds they imported. I believe they imported 15 last year. I've heard that they plan
on importing more again in 2012.

rancher hicks, I have 8 birds and thus far 5 are crested. My second set of chicks are 5+ weeks and one is only now just starting to develop a crest. Some I could tell from day
one that they were crested, then this one surprises me by developing a crest much later. Only 1 cockerel (and I believe I have 5 or 6 cockerels) is not crested. Sure is cute!

Wimberleytexaschick, my birds aren't mature. However, of my two older cockerels one definitely has a lot more testosterone than the other. I'm hoping he behaves as he's the
only non-crested cockerel I have. He's really turning into a beauty too.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
Yeah these are GF line. I expect they import more to keep the gene pool as deep as possible, right? I will keep all I have roo or hen and breed to my hearts content.

 

[Craig'sHens]

I've enjoyed this thread and watching the progress of the breed in the US. However, I wonder if anybody have any idea how many mature birds are now being breeding in the US?