Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Leahs Mom]

Does anyone have a crested SF that seems to have trouble seeing? My crested SF is always behind the pack...always the last one to seek a treat...and has a lot of trouble finding a treat in my hand. He 'whiffs' when trying to get a treat.

Well....I have never posted this here because I wasn't sure how y'all would respond

but....

I just gave my large-crested girl a "haircut". She is currently 25 weeks old and it was getting so excessive that I was concerned about the issues you state and also about over-head predator vision for whenever they can get back out on range again.

She is also, unfortunately, a crest-to-crest breeding. No vault. Just a pretty large crest.
So...

I had first started with a very conservative cut but then went out and did "the whole 9 yards". But I did leave her a little "tail" of feathers. She has been seeing much better.


BEFORE:







AFTER:

 

[Leahs Mom]

On the haircut..

One of the main things that was concerning me is that she wasn't "standing up for herself" with the others her age. It was almost as though she couldn't see well enough to defend herself.

When she was a bit younger - before the crest was at it's full - she would chest bump with the hatch-mates just like the others. Then at some point she would just lower her head and take a submissive squat no matter what.

Someone with silkies told me that when they had cut back the crest on some of theirs they became more assertive and would stand up for themselves more. I was hoping for that result.

 

[ked0835]

That is so interesting to me! That's how our girl is acting. So timid. We gave her/him a little haircut a few weeks ago and have noticed a little chest bumping with the others recently... taking that as a good sign. May go ahead and give her/him another, more aggressive haircut tonight. No bleeding or anything to worry about when you cut that low?

 

[wildhorseannie]

Thanks to everyone that has posted so far saying they have a SFH that lays white eggs. I have one myself. So I know that some SFH DO in fact lay white eggs. What I needed was some others to say they also had a white egg laying SFH. A friend knows a lady that doesn't believe that it's possible if it's a "pure" SFH and supposedly was even told by Jennifer at GFF that they only lay tan eggs. My own white egg layers are direct GFF birds. Most are a very light tan however but there are these few exceptions that are a chalky white. Anyway, if anyone else has a white layer(s), please let me know as I plan to pass this information along.

just to chime in...
when I got my first SFH eggs they were what I would call white. Then I was really thrown for a loop when the pullets I hatched from those eggs began laying light tan eggs.
From all that I've read I have to say that just about anything could be possible with these birds, since we don't know the origin of this landrace. We don't even have an idea what breeds were involved in their creation.

 

[Leahs Mom]

No problem cutting that low but I did leave a good amount of fluffies on her. I think it may be like finger nails - meaning that if you get too close you would get the "quick" but I was very careful not to go too short.

I tried to look at how a non-crested looks and leave enough there. Didn't want a cold head in this weather either

 

[Leahs Mom]

I've been trying to get hold of KYTinpusher (Walli) through PM but haven't had any luck. I had her phone number in a notebook and can't find it

I should have put it in my phone...

If anyone has her phone and would be willing to PM me with it I'd sure appreciate it! My daughter is going through their way this weekend and I wanted to find out if she may have any kiddos they could pick up!

 

[TRUE5]

I am hoping someone on here or maybe some of you might be able to shed some light on this subject and help me and a few others I know out. I have just hatched some SFH eggs a few weeks ago. Only 6 out of 10 eggs hatched. I have two others on the BYC who have a bit of a problem with their hatch rates with this breed. Is there anything different that you do to increase the hatch numbers for them or are you all doing what you normally do? Of course we have the crummy line of bators. I use a Little Giant and they use Hova Bators. So were not working with the top of the line but I normally get pretty good hatches out of mine. Just not with SFH eggs. I have some in the bator just starting today so any advice would be appreciated. Thank you all! And LOVE this breed!!!

 

[Bulldogma]

I am hoping someone on here or maybe some of you might be able to shed some light on this subject and help me and a few others I know out. I have just hatched some SFH eggs a few weeks ago. Only 6 out of 10 eggs hatched. I have two others on the BYC who have a bit of a problem with their hatch rates with this breed. Is there anything different that you do to increase the hatch numbers for them or are you all doing what you normally do? Of course we have the crummy line of bators. I use a Little Giant and they use Hova Bators. So were not working with the top of the line but I normally get pretty good hatches out of mine. Just not with SFH eggs. I have some in the bator just starting today so any advice would be appreciated. Thank you all! And LOVE this breed!!!

It is VERY hard to hatch these eggs in a Little Giant. Hovabators do a lot better with them, but most folks have found that dry incubating works best up until lockdown. I'm sure Ki4got will chime in soon - she has lots of success hatching my SFH eggs in her Hovabators.

 

[HaplessRunner]

I am hoping someone on here or maybe some of you might be able to shed some light on this subject and help me and a few others I know out. I have just hatched some SFH eggs a few weeks ago. Only 6 out of 10 eggs hatched. I have two others on the BYC who have a bit of a problem with their hatch rates with this breed. Is there anything different that you do to increase the hatch numbers for them or are you all doing what you normally do? Of course we have the crummy line of bators. I use a Little Giant and they use Hova Bators. So were not working with the top of the line but I normally get pretty good hatches out of mine. Just not with SFH eggs. I have some in the bator just starting today so any advice would be appreciated. Thank you all! And LOVE this breed!!!

I will second Bulldogma's input. You really need to use dry hatching methods with SFH. While my incubator is not the best, Farm Innovations 4200, my results have greatly improved with dry hatching and subsequent jacking up the humidity to the 55-60% range at lock down.

 

[TxFlowers]

just to chime in...
when I got my first SFH eggs they were what I would call white. Then I was really thrown for a loop when the pullets I hatched from those eggs began laying light tan eggs.
From all that I've read I have to say that just about anything could be possible with these birds, since we don't know the origin of this landrace. We don't even have an idea what breeds were involved in their creation.

Some of what we are calling white may not be an absolute pure white but it's so close that sitting beside a tan egg or out in the sun it looks pretty white. What I believe happened is that my friend sold some eggs to this person and the person concluded that she wasn't getting pure SFH eggs because some eggs were tan and others were "white". Apparently she was pretty upset about it. At some point I understand this lady even called Jennifer at GFF and Jenny said SFH only lay tan eggs so that made things even worse. Maybe Jennifer is thinking that even an extremely light egg is still "tan" but all I know is that some of our birds DO lay white eggs and some of these hens are direct GFF birds.