Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[HaplessRunner]

Wow I love him

Thank you and welcome to BYC!

 

[TurnipTruck]

Not the greatest pictures, but here are the two I have.

Those two look just like the boys I lost!

Let me know what you think. 

Beautiful bird for sure.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Pardon if this has been asked but it is hard to wade through 700 pages in one night. I saw it mentioned that breeders generally breed like colored sfh together; what are the results if you mix the colors?

 

[Bulldogma]

Pardon if this has been asked but it is hard to wade through 700 pages in one night. I saw it mentioned that breeders generally breed like colored sfh together; what are the results if you mix the colors?

A lot of us do free range and mix the colors. Currently in my yard, my SFH breed with whoever they want to breed with. And as a result, I get a huge array of colors in each hatch.

These are chicks from my eggs and hatched by Ki4got:

 

[HaplessRunner]

Hi Rinda,

SFH have multiple colors in their background. These include black, blue, & white-based colors. Their is no color strain as such. Any colors can come from a pairing. The predominant patterns are mille fleur, mottled, and some specimens my be almost a single color. GF has a good write up on them.

They will never be APA approved because the colors will never breed true. SFH breed true but the colors do not.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Thanks that was my assumption. I just wondered if they were like blue/black/splash pairings where you could predict the next generation's coloring with certain pairings. I have a very young quad, I believe the cockerel and two of the pullets are red based, and one more pullet is much darker more like a mille fluer pattern.

Eta: I guess my real question is, with predominantly reds in my little flock will the other colors appear in their offspring? Does it depend on the particular bird's genetics?

 

[HaplessRunner]

Thanks that was my assumption. I just wondered if they were like blue/black/splash pairings where you could predict the next generation's coloring with certain pairings. I have a very young quad, I believe the cockerel and two of the pullets are red based, and one more pullet is much darker more like a mille fluer pattern.

Eta: I guess my real question is, with predominantly reds in my little flock will the other colors appear in their offspring? Does it depend on the particular bird's genetics?

Sounds like you may want to find a black,blue/gray, & white birds as well. The roosters come in three bases. The black-based is a classic MF pattern. The blue-based is MF on chest but much lighter, and the white base. Check some of the following pictures.

White-based uncrested cockerel: Black-based crested pullet:



MF black-based uncrested cockerel: Red/white-based crested pullet:



4 youngsters: two red/white- based cockerels, one MF black-based Blue-based cockerel:
cockerel, and one white based pullet



MF black-based pullet:

 

[Bernie56]

Thanks that was my assumption. I just wondered if they were like blue/black/splash pairings where you could predict the next generation's coloring with certain pairings. I have a very young quad, I believe the cockerel and two of the pullets are red based, and one more pullet is much darker more like a mille fluer pattern.

Eta: I guess my real question is, with predominantly reds in my little flock will the other colors appear in their offspring? Does it depend on the particular bird's genetics?

I'm no geneticist, but speaking from my own personal experience, the "splash" gene can be a little problematic. If a lot of your birds carry it your flock will pretty white. Of my original 7 chicks, 4 roosters and 3 pullets, 3 of the roosters and 2 of the pullets were splash. The 3rd pullet was red with white mottling, and the 4th rooster was blue based. I hatched out close to 50 chicks from those birds, and all but 1 was red/white or splash. I got one beautiful blue pullet from those chicks. After picking up some dark colored chicks from another breeder and adding the colored roosters to my flock I am having a much better range of color. I have been in discussions with another breeder who believes that the red/white color, as in the following hen, is actually splash with red that is not affected by the splash gene. This is one of the offspring of the original birds. (I think they are beautiful BTW. I just didn't a whole flock of them!)


I am working on a trial this spring to test that theory. I have paired all of my red/white, and splash hens with a black based rooster. If the red/white hens are indeed actually splash with red then all chicks from that pen will be blue. While its not necessarily a breeding strategy that I would recommend as a rule. I think that a better understanding of how SFH genetics works would be helpful, even if it is only for my personal benefit. In general though I think the blue/black/splash genetic concept works in SFH the same as in other breeds. Right now in my personal flock, I am trying not to breed any blue based birds to blue or splash (red/white?) birds to minimize the occurrence of splash individuals. A lot of SFH folks really disagree with my thinking, and breeding practices, which is their right. Hopefully, in the end, I will gain a better understanding of SFH genetics and not the destruction of the breed.... as some seem to think that I am working on.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Interesting. Some of those were hard for me to pick out- it looks like chest and tail color are the best places to look for the base? Here are my birds:






I have the option of a backup rooster from a friend. Can't figure out how to get it off the text she sent me. I can't see his chest but his tail is very black.

 

[Bernie56]

Interesting. Some of those were hard for me to pick out- it looks like chest and tail color are the best places to look for the base? Here are my birds:






I have the option of a backup rooster from a friend. Can't figure out how to get it off the text she sent me. I can't see his chest but his tail is very black.

Its hard to say for certain what colors you will get because of the genetic diversity of the breed. That being said, you have a blue based cockerel, and blue and black based pullets in these photos. I would think that you should get a pretty good selection of colors, and probably some splash from this trio. I'm not sure that you will have much luck with black. That has been rather illusive here. I did recently purchase some blacks so hope to increase the number of those in my flock.

Best of luck to you!