Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[KYTinpusher]

Beautiful birds, Jeremy! Thanks for sharing. It never ceases to amaze me the many different, beautiful colors of these birds.

It's been a while since I have posted pictures of my flock, so here goes!

 

[lcatty]

KYTinpusher: I wanted to thank you for posting these successive pictures of your chicks- it is so fun to look at them and especially interesting to see the development of color schemes.

Your birds do look beautiful!

 

[rancher hicks]

This is my theory on the toes but I am no expert so don’t take this to heart; it is just a hypothesis,
they probably have a genetic deposition to get crooked toes since they are a rapid growing chicken and they do have long toes to begin with.. That being said they are also probably not getting the proper vitamins/nutrition this breed need during their period of rapid growth. It would be interesting to find out if this breed had this issue before they where imported and investigate more on the feeding habits.

This breed is a beautiful and unique breed like many others out there and they do have there issues. we just need to be responsible breeder and select the strongest for our breeding programs. Also greenfire does an excellent job in importing rare breeds into our country. however there is know way they can predict what will happen generations down the road, also you need to consider there must be a reason why they are so rare. Ok I done rambling.

I might agree with this hypothesis, but I feed all my chicks the same medicated feed and these are not the first chicks I've hatched. What's more they are with marans chicks and they have no problem with toes so it can't be nutritional.
I'm not blaming the breeder for anything other than not revealing this fault. Whether GF or private it is unscrupulous to not let the buyer know this is in the line. I only have eight to work with and that is not alot.
I also have been told privately that GF is not in the "breeding" business and I can deal with that if I'm informed before hand that I will be working to improve this fault and make an informed decision if I choose to buy anyway.

I sell Delaware chicks and do not misrepresent them as show or up to the SOP. Reading the new Practical Poultry on show Orpingtons I will not be breeding for show birds. I am breeding for "Utility". If I want to see "eye candy" I'll look at DW and she doesn't run around the back yard.

Rancher

 

[anniesmom]

I might agree with this hypothesis, but I feed all my chicks the same medicated feed and these are not the first chicks I've hatched. What's more they are with marans chicks and they have no problem with toes so it can't be nutritional.

Rancher

Excellent point. Seems we have eliminated average incubator settings and average food. That leaves genetics or the possibility that these guys need something non-standard by way of incubation or feed. Maybe in the wild the humidity is higher during incubation due to damp ground or maybe it's a little colder? Maybe bugs/grasses/water in Sweden are higher in some vitamins or minerals that's not in the commercial food here? We need to try different things and keep records to see if something might work.

 

[Phage]

I am sure the crooked toes is a genetic disposition with possible environmental elements involved in if it is displayed or not.
We have 30 something sfh chicks from 3 different sources (including directly from GFF) and so far, as far as I can tell, have not had any problems.

 

[rancher hicks]

One thing I have been told in all the years I've had chickens is that genetics can play a role in crooked toes. However it was also suggested that chicks who get stuck in the shell may suffer from an oxygen loss to the feet and this could be the problem.

My other info is that hatching eggs from hens too young is also a problem. It's been suggested to wait until they are at least two years. But what I don't understand is why they sometimes go broody in the first year.

Also nutrition and health of the egg. This is why you don't want to hatch eggs from hens who have been sick and recovered. You also want to make sure everyone is 100% healthy and up on proper nutrition. I like to give the girls a dose of vitamins in the water once a month. I don't know that it's necessary but it give me peace of mind.

Shell density and shape can be an indicator of a healthy egg.

Mind you this is all stuff I've read and I'm sure we've all heard already. Sometimes I think it's "such is life".

Take care everyone,

Rancher

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

KYT,beautiful birds! Really like the feathering on Kajsa

jeremy and KYT, thanks for sharing pictures! It's so much fun to open up this thread to find pictures. I never seem to get enough!

 

[Phage]

Rancher I think that all makes common sense.
Small pullet eggs do hatch but the genetics is to produce a larger chick (just egg contents small too). Having said that lots of pullet eggs hatch out just fine with no issues. Also healthy chicks come from healthy eggs and hens. That is why it is so important to get eggs from "good" sources, which may well be small private sellers. I think most people I have bought eggs from own chickens not to make money, and look after their chickens/pets extremely well, and are private sellers.

Then there is incubation. I think poor incubation condition CAN causes foot issues. If chicks fail to hatch on time, they continue to grow in the egg but in an "egg-fetal" position, not with hocks and toes extended. This may be worse for pullet eggs. But this is apparent immediately on hatch, not weeks later. Since I got a totally idiot-proof bator I have not had any leg issues and I hatch A LOT

. However if some of our SFH developed crooked toes I would not be surprised at all.

 

[warbirds]

Looking carefully at the posted pictures of the crooked toe chicks...............in the younger shots, the toes are just very barely noticeable as crooked to my eyes; it does not appear as prevalent as the later photos.
In my 40+ years with birds, I've had this issue "genetically" very few times, with many different breeds of many different kinds of birds. All the rest of the cases turned out to be nutritional/environmental.
Changing feed/feed supplements and then hatching from the very same parents showed that it was not genetic in nearly every case.

I find that most breeds of poultry, most especially those being imported, benefit a great deal from having a higher protein content while laying, as well as additional nutrients. I provide that by adding fish meal and alfalfa meal to the feeds I use, as well as adding kelp meal to the food rations twice per week. That change has made a huge difference in my very large breeds of poultry, as well as some of the more mid-sized breeds, such as these Swedish.
I also add fish and alfalfa meals to my chick starter (non-medicated!) 4 times weekly until they reach 10 weeks of age.

Most of these imported breeds have never been exposed to the types of commercial feed mixes usually provided by American breeders...........and I theorize, based on the results in my own birds, that this has an overall effect as we have ingredients that are not used in other countries.

I have a trio, a quad, and a couple of couples of Swedish Flower Hens that came directly from Greenfire as juveniles. No crooked toes on any of them upon arrival, nor as they continued to grow. I also hatched out a few from some purchased eggs, and do not have any crooked toes on those, either. All of my pullets are now laying, and I'll be incubating several batches starting next month................so that will tell the tale further, I hope.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Here are some pics taken this evening.
"Sorrel" 14 wks old / cockerel

"Clary" 14 wks old / cockerel

"Linnea" 9 wks old / pullet

"Aven" 9 wks old / pullet

"Darnell" 9 wks old / cockerel Has minor crooked toe. Won't be keeping him. It's killing me!

"Bay" 9 wks old /cockerel

"Clover" 9 wks old / cockerel

"Blossom" 9 wks old / not determined. Please give me hope that it's a pullet!