Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[ki4got]

Do sfh do well in mixed breed flocks..?

mine have so far, but the predators have caused me to pen nearly everyone now... especially since I've lost 4 young sfh that i'd intended on breeding... the older birds don't seem to be an issue unless it's a roo protecting his hens.

 

[Laingcroft]

WOW... this is amazing to me how they continue to change.
Does anyone know at what point they quit changing? age?

To clarify, the blue chick on the bottom started out as a black downed chick. I re-read my post and didn't make clear that the reference to bird above, meant the bird in the post above, not the photo immediately above in the same post. That light non-crested hen was a lavender down chick.

But yes, they do change alot. Even chicks that look almost identical can mature to totally different colors. It's such fun!

 

[rinehart63]

I have a question about crested birds and risk for predation. I have a SF with a huge crest and the vaulted skull but the rest of my crested birds have the smaller crest. I have no doubt that the one with the big crest would be an easy risk for hawks and owls but I am wondering if the smaller crested birds would be at high risk as well. I am working on my foundation flock and I do have a lot of hawks in my area. My birds free range for the most part but so far I have not lost any to hawks in over a year. Most of my birds are crested with the smaller crest and I am wondering about the risk to these birds compared to non crested. Thanks!

 

[KYTinpusher]

I have a question about crested birds and risk for predation. I have a SF with a huge crest and the vaulted skull but the rest of my crested birds have the smaller crest. I have no doubt that the one with the big crest would be an easy risk for hawks and owls but I am wondering if the smaller crested birds would be at high risk as well. I am working on my foundation flock and I do have a lot of hawks in my area. My birds free range for the most part but so far I have not lost any to hawks in over a year. Most of my birds are crested with the smaller crest and I am wondering about the risk to these birds compared to non crested. Thanks!

I don't worry so much about my hens who are crested. But 2 of my roos are uncrested and the third, and most recent addition, has a very small crest. The roos are usually very watchful for predators and give the alarm, so it is important that nothing blocks their view. I figure when the roo alarms the girls are going to run for cover whether they see the predator or not. Just my $.02

 

[ki4got]

I have a question about crested birds and risk for predation. I have a SF with a huge crest and the vaulted skull but the rest of my crested birds have the smaller crest. I have no doubt that the one with the big crest would be an easy risk for hawks and owls but I am wondering if the smaller crested birds would be at high risk as well. I am working on my foundation flock and I do have a lot of hawks in my area. My birds free range for the most part but so far I have not lost any to hawks in over a year. Most of my birds are crested with the smaller crest and I am wondering about the risk to these birds compared to non crested. Thanks!

my normally crested (ie heterozygous, not homozygous) do just fine free ranging, but with recent problems with predation they're penned now. it's my uncrested ones I've lost so far.

if you intend to breed, I would definitely not breed crest to crest, or you will end up with more vaulted skulls and larger crests... so if most of your crested are hens, find a good uncrested roo to use.

 

[SunnySkies]

Sigh. Wasp may end up processed too. I don't want to do it -- I'm tired of killing gorgeous SFH roos for aggression -- but I do have 2 almost identical red/black crested roosters that seem to be perfectly gentle (5.5 months and 3 months), a red and white like Bulldogma's Sorenson that is randy and slightly stupid but not aggressive to humans (he did attempt to fight another rooster and got his butt whipped), a black roo (!!) and a blue roo (these two uncrested are quite young still). So I have plenty of roosters, despite the raccoons' best efforts. But hubby suggested it just might be easier to process him when I told him about today's antics. I will be processing a lot of chickens in about a month anyway. I am not saving any hatching eggs yet anyway, so I don't have any of his genetics.

My other thought was to sell him on CL with full disclosure. He might do better in a situation with older hens -- I don't have any older than 12 months except for some bantam hens -- or not free ranging. Meanwhile, he is penned with his boss roo and the hen they share, which might be part of the problem...just not enough girls. I have 6 up and coming pullets, but they all hate him, lol, and run as fast as they can to get away from him. But I might get a few bucks for him, because he is quite lovely despite the less than ideal personality.

A funny thing I noticed....if the rooster he lives with sees Wasp beginning to threaten a child, he runs Wasp off. That guy has a home for life after he chased Wasp away from my littlest, who snuck outside while I was feeding this evening (he now can open the sliding glass doors. Ugh) He is just a plain black rooster of undetermined breeding, but that is the sort of disposition I want here.

 

[SunnySkies]

Regarding predation...I have lost too many, and they were about 50:50 as far as crested, although the night a racoon ripped the side off a coop and took a bird, it was a pullet with the most beautiful rounded crest It didn't block her vision as far as I could tell, but....

The ones lost during free ranging were both crested and non crested. I now limit all free ranging until they are adult size, except for the four pullets who basically fly over anything to get loose. None of them are crested.

 

[rinehart63]

I figure when the roo alarms the girls are going to run for cover whether they see the predator or not. Just my $.02

Yep, I have seen that many times, the roo gives a little alarm call and everyone runs even if they have no idea what they are running from! The other day it was a dove that was trying to land in their pen that caused the mad dash for cover. Another time, the neighbors were releasing balloons at a party. Those balloons caused the quite panic attack! lol For something like that it's pretty funny and hopefully that's as serious as it gets!

my normally crested (ie heterozygous, not homozygous) do just fine free ranging, but with recent problems with predation they're penned now. it's my uncrested ones I've lost so far.

if you intend to breed, I would definitely not breed crest to crest, or you will end up with more vaulted skulls and larger crests... so if most of your crested are hens, find a good uncrested roo to use.

My 3 month old roo with the vaulted skull came from eggs I bought where the hens and roo were all crested. After I hatched those eggs I had been told that it was something that could happen in breeding crested to crested. Luckily of the 5 that hatched in that batch, all crested, it was just this one with the big crest and vaulted skull. I was going to do just what you suggested here and not breed crested to crested. The big crested one is super cute but I don't want to have a bunch of birds that have to be penned all the time because they can't see!

Thanks for the replies!

 

[PugBug]

None of my SFH roos are aggressive to people, just each other & the hens. I have 2 that are headed to freezer camp in a few weeks that are out free ranging with 6 other freezer camp bound roos & the SFH are the only ones who are aggressive to the other roos. DH says it's the Viking coming out in them LOL he also calls them 'small terrorists'

 

[Leahs Mom]

Regarding predation...I have lost too many, and they were about 50:50 as far as crested, although the night a racoon ripped the side off a coop and took a bird, it was a pullet with the most beautiful rounded crest

It didn't block her vision as far as I could tell, but....

The ones lost during free ranging were both crested and non crested. I now limit all free ranging until they are adult size, except for the four pullets who basically fly over anything to get loose. None of them are crested.

On the wall that the coon got in, was it regular chicken wire, half inch "hardware cloth" wire, or something else? Asking because I want to be proactive with my own coop setup.