Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[lovinchicks]

Here's my 4 roo's. I was thinking I would keep 2 of them. They all have things I like or don't like about them. Which 2 would you keep? I was hoping to keep roos with no crest, so I didn't have to worry if the hens had it for breeding purposes. But I don't want that to be my deciding factor and the ones that are not crested seem to have issues. Hmmmm, what would you pick?

#1 This one is crested.


#2 This one has eyes that are bulgy. Not sure why or if it's a problem. I like that he has no crest.


#3 This guy is crested. His chest is different shaped than the others. I'm guessing the others chests are better?


#4 This is the one with the wings that don't lay flat. He's not crested, but doesn't have a lot of spotting.

 

[minihorse927]

Could you do a close up of the one with the bulgy eyes? I seem to like him the best out of the group.

 

[ChickNmamma]

I agree, my favorite of the bunch was number 2 and number 4, but I would want to know what was going on with his curly feathers.

 

[lovinchicks]

Could you do a close up of the one with the bulgy eyes? I seem to like him the best out of the group.

Here's #2's eyes. His eyeballs just protrude farther from the face than the others.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
I like him. I have a few birds that I think the eyes DON'T protrude out enough, they seem to be deep set in their sockets - gives them a "mean" look even when they are not mean. I think eyes like that would allow him to see better all around him - instead of being blocked by the back of his head.

I think he does have a crest. Its just very small... so he will probably throw crested chicks with an un-crested hen. He probably won't create extra large crests with crested hens though so you would avoid that problem.

 

[minihorse927]

I like him.  I have a few birds that I think the eyes DON'T protrude out enough, they seem to be deep set in their sockets - gives them a "mean" look even when they are not mean.  I think eyes like that would allow him to see better all around him - instead of being blocked by the back of his head.

I think he does have a crest.  Its just very small... so he will probably throw crested chicks with an un-crested hen.  He probably won't create extra large crests with crested hens though so you would avoid that problem.

I agree with everything here.

 

[lovinchicks]

I like him. I have a few birds that I think the eyes DON'T protrude out enough, they seem to be deep set in their sockets - gives them a "mean" look even when they are not mean. I think eyes like that would allow him to see better all around him - instead of being blocked by the back of his head.

I think he does have a crest. Its just very small... so he will probably throw crested chicks with an un-crested hen. He probably won't create extra large crests with crested hens though so you would avoid that problem.

I figured the eyes were not right because I haven't seen any of my chickens with eyes like that. They remind me of the goldfish that have the bulging eyes, lol.

So that would be considered crested too. I just want to avoid over large crests in chicks. I had my hens in with all 4 roos. One of my hens is crested and I got a few chicks that I grew out that had very large crests. I had to trim the feathers so they could see. I would like to avoid breeding birds with such large crests. I figured the extra large crests came from the crested hen and the roos with the larger crests. Would that be an accurate guess?

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
Yes, I would say it would be. Still not up on what creates the larger crests vs the smaller crests - but I would say a bird with a large crest crossed with another bird with a large crest would create chicks with crests that are too large to see - think Polish...

The original Silkies from China had crests and no beards. People crossed them with Polish and something else (didn't say in the article) and made them bearded and highly crested. I think there is more than one crest gene - because they were crested before the Polish were crossed in - but not to the extreme that they are now. Silkies now have vaulted skulls like the Polish - and that creates health and brain problems (in my opinion) in the chicks. The SFH crests are not that pronounced, but I would guess that having one with doubled large crests can lead to problems, both for the chick with the possibility of a vaulted skull, and for the adults with limited vision.

I have a few chickens with eyes closer to your boys - and I actually prefer them.. I had some Wyandottes with very deep set eyes and I don't like that look at all.

 

[lovinchicks]

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Here's a pic of one of the chicks I grew out. GIANT crest. This was trimmed too.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

That is a large crest, we have had some big ones but not like that. It is a gorgeous bird though.