Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[SunnySkies]

I think Kramer is a lot of fun!

My SFH were out foraging in the snow yesterday. I left them in today until they lay eggs...the dogs have figured out they can steal eggs from that coop, and I haven't made up a few eggs with a surprise inside yet to deter that behavioir. So the flock has to stay in until I can collect all the eggs.

 

[DCchicken]

I thought SFH were supposed to be raised as a landrace to maintain genetic diversity? In my flock, I do not intend to breed for certain characteristics and will let the crested and non-crested do their thing.

 

[ki4got]

they evolved as a landrace breed, but unless you intend to let them range at will 24x7, making no decisions on who lives or dies, then some selections will have to be made. most people at the very least limit their flock to 2 or 3 roos. that in itself counts as interference.

as a landrace breed, yes double crested birds probably happened, and they probably also were the first ones eaten because they didn't see the predators. that's called 'Clorox for the gene pool'...

as the modern caretakers of this wonderful breed, we need to keep their original purposes in mind now that they are no longer 100% free ranging and self supporting and make decisions based on what the breed has become in order to maintain what it is now.

 

[Laingcroft]

tnow that they are no longer 100% free ranging and self supporting and make decisions based on what the breed has become in order to maintain what it is now.

Err, mine are 100% free ranging. I am maintaining one crested and one non-crested cock bird and 3 crested hens along with their offspring. I may change up the males for their sons as time progresses, but otherwise I'm not going to select for color/type, crests, etc. I don't plan to standardize this breed or move toward a show standard. I will cull for defects like twisted toes or split wings (so far none of those!) This breed satisfies my need for variety in a flock so I'm going to leave them as is. They, with a few EE and OE hens will be my new layer flock. The OE, EE and SFH eggs will be kitchen eggs with a few SFH hatches to maintain stock levels.

The other breeds will be maintained differently beginning in 2014 as soon as the new chicken house is completed. Langshans, CCL, Basques, RIR and Dorkings will be cooped in quads or trios and tractored during nice weather for benefits of free range.

 

[DCchicken]

Raising SFH as a landrace has nothing to do with free range or pen (unless of course you only keep 2 SFH per pen). It has to do with breeding towards a standard or just letting all of the birds do their thing. I know plenty of breeders that breed using landrace as opposed as breeding towards a standard. For example, Ton-Marie Astin's line of Ayam Cemani are landrace. Obvious defects are culled just for quality control. But breeding landrace usually means that nature gets to take its course and usually results in very hardy birds.

My SFHs will definitely be a mix of colors, crested, and non-crested. I breed my Hedemora the same way. With the Hedemora, I would not want to accidentally loose their cold-hardiness while trying to isolate the "cute and fuzzy" silky type.

Edit: Here is a link to a very relevant blog post by GFF: http://greenfirefarms.com/2011/08/playing-the-landrace-card/ .

 

[Bernie56]

they evolved as a landrace breed, but unless you intend to let them range at will 24x7, making no decisions on who lives or dies, then some selections will have to be made. most people at the very least limit their flock to 2 or 3 roos. that in itself counts as interference.

as a landrace breed, yes double crested birds probably happened, and they probably also were the first ones eaten because they didn't see the predators. that's called 'Clorox for the gene pool'...

as the modern caretakers of this wonderful breed, we need to keep their original purposes in mind now that they are no longer 100% free ranging and self supporting and make decisions based on what the breed has become in order to maintain what it is now.

Well put! I would argue that SFHs never existed without the influence, or "interference" of humans. They were farm chickens. While its true that they were not SELECTIVELY bred per se, as in someone setting out to create a new breed, but they definitely lived under the influence of a human caretaker. If you "free range" a "select" group of birds you ARE selectively breeding. It doesn't mean that you are breeding toward a standard you're just choosing who has access to who. How can that be a bad thing? I believe we ARE "caretakers" of this breed, and I take that very seriously! I don't want a breed standard, but I don't want the breed mixed and matched until we loose what is special about the breed. Therefore it is essential that we make wise choices in our breeding practices. Obviously everyone has personal preferences, and I for one don't necessarily see that as a bad thing, but I will definitely take very seriously what I CHOOSE to introduce into my flock.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
and with a breed that is fairly uncommon, that is, IMO, the correct way to approach breeding these wonderful birds... I free range as much as possible, having given up on keeping them penned and unhappy and will just isolate different roos at different times during the year of my free range bunch, to assure purebred eggs from my sfh girls.

 

[Bulldogma]

I'm back! And I have goodies!

This was Mace today during the last of our ice storm here in VA:



This is his Zoolander look -

 

[ki4got]

I'm back! And I have goodies!

This was Mace today during the last of our ice storm here in VA:

This is his Zoolander look -

YAY! welcome back.

missed ya.

Mace is beautiful, but what's a zoolander?

 

[puglady]

Zoolander