Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[ki4got]

Quote: but if you look closely at Ginger, she's actually blue-based (going by primary tail feather coloration). she just doesn't show a lot of the blue on the feathers, possibly because of the e-locus variety (wheaten is my guess) or she doesn't have a lot of melanizers, that intensify the expression of the blue/black markings. (or both)

to answer the question of the male equivalent of primarily black mottled hen, does she have red/gold striping or shafting in her hackles? if so, the rooster's going to look like just about every other one, but he'll lack a white wing triangle, which is hard to tell them apart because of the mottling...

these are the basic types that are found in the sfh... look at the roosters, especially. the only one that's different is the birchen. the e-locus PRIMARILY affects hen coloration. granted, the actual colors are going to vary, and my artistic skills aren't the best (I used another image found and made my own based on it)

Birchen (eR)


Partridge (eb)


Wild Type (e+)




Wheaten (eWh)

 

[ki4got]

what I posted above, about the e-locus isn't the ONLY thing that affects what they look like, but it is the primary one that controls the overall PATTERN of the hens and roos...

ALL SFH have mottling. some will show it more pronounced than others.

Blue is a very common mutation among sfh as well. when it is absent, the bird displays black pigmentation that tends to get a blue/green/purple sheen, especially visible on the roosters. one copy of the gene causes all black areas to turn blue. this can vary from a very deep nearly black shade to a very pale silvery blue. two copies dilutes the black even further to a nearly white shade, but splashes of blue or black will pop up here and there randomly. thus, it's called splash. to determine which bird you have, look at their tail feathers. they should all have some white on the ends, but blues and blacks will be a uniform shade through the whole feather (some blues will have a darker edge but the center will be uniform). a splash will show the characteristic random splotches here and there.

mahogany turns the normal orangey red to a deep mahogany or brick red, even on hens.

melanizing genes - there are two primary ones seen. Ml (melanizing) is dominant, cha (charcoal) is recessive. they both have a similar effect, that the black pigmentation is made darker, but some patterns can also be changed depending on whether one or both are present. typically they affect the head and neck feathering the most, with the least amount of effect on the tails. that's why I say look at the tail color! a melanized splash may still have very blue markings on his/her hackles, but fade out to nearly white at the tail.

these are the primary genes that will affect what the birds look like... other mutations may be present, like Columbian and the pattern gene which, when combined with melanizing may give some birds a laced-type appearance (true lacing IS possible, but the chances of getting ALL the required mutations in homozygous form at the same time on one bird is less than 0.1%. (aka less than 1 in 1000).

here's a pic I took not long ago, of 2 of my bantam cochin hens and their roo. they are all blues. two are (1 hen and the roo) mottled, the other is not. but both carry the Ml gene, the top girl also carries cha I suspect... the solid girl at the bottom also shows the darker edging to the blue feather that happens in blues sometimes (and is preferred in solid blue breeds).
this is simply to illustrate the depth of blue and to show how the melanizing can darken a bird. please excuse the odd angle on the girls... they weren't cooperating that day to get a good photo. LOL



eta: if you look at the other birds in this pic of the girls, you can see the beetle green shine mentioned, on the Columbian cochin cockerel's tail top left and the partridge girl top right shows the pattern gene and melanizing on her head and neck.

 

[CackleJoy]

Quote: He was just starting to roost so he may have been resting. He looks fine today, no sign of purple. Heart failure sounds scary! Is this a problem with the SFH? Do the cockerels just drop dead when this happens?

 

[Bulldogma]

He was just starting to roost so he may have been resting. He looks fine today, no sign of purple. Heart failure sounds scary! Is this a problem with the SFH? Do the cockerels just drop dead when this happens?

Sorenson died from heart failure. He became sluggish for a few days and his comb became increasingly purple. He died in his sleep on the 3rd night.

It's not uncommon and the SFH isn't the only breed affected.

 

[OHfarmerswife]

Tried to do a dry hatch....worst hatch ever!!!!
Set 24 eggs, only 9 made it to lockdown.
Only 3 hatched, 1 is a white legbar, 1 has a dislocated hip & severely curled toes, was stuck in the eggs over night & all day Friday. Mom in hospice &I went to spend the day with her.
1 SFH eggs piped, but died on the egg while I was gone. Last eggs I had to assist was shrink wrapped, but has a deformed wing.
Needless to say I am devistated!!!!!!

Not sure where I went wrong??????

 

[Bulldogma]

Tried to do a dry hatch....worst hatch ever!!!!
Set 24 eggs, only 9 made it to lockdown.
Only 3 hatched, 1 is a white legbar, 1 has a dislocated hip & severely curled toes, was stuck in the eggs over night & all day Friday. Mom in hospice &I went to spend the day with her.
1 SFH eggs piped, but died on the egg while I was gone. Last eggs I had to assist was shrink wrapped, but has a deformed wing.
Needless to say I am devistated!!!!!!

Not sure where I went wrong??????

So sorry to hear about your lousy hatch! What was the humidity for lockdown?

 

[BorderBrigade]

Good evening everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm just getting started with Swedish flower hens but am enjoying them greatly so far. I have bred Cochins and brahmas for the last 15 years and have sold off most of those breeder flocks as I was looking for a new breed to work with and something that eats a little less a friend of mine sent me swedish flower hatching eggs and said your going to love this breed. I am now the proud owner of 6 chicks. Not bad for 8 eggs sent through the mail they are peppy and friendly little chicks. I hope to get to know you all and share in our experiences. Wish me luck in my new adventure a few of the chicks. Seven days old.

 

[OHfarmerswife]

So sorry to hear about your lousy hatch! What was the humidity for lockdown?

thanks for asking Leigh!
Kept the humidity around 26-30%, was as low as I could get.
During lockdownI set at 63%.

 

[CountryHen19]

Good evening everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm just getting started with Swedish flower hens but am enjoying them greatly so far. I have bred Cochins and brahmas for the last 15 years and have sold off most of those breeder flocks as I was looking for a new breed to work with and something that eats a little less a friend of mine sent me swedish flower hatching eggs and said your going to love this breed. I am now the proud owner of 6 chicks. Not bad for 8 eggs sent through the mail they are peppy and friendly little chicks. I hope to get to know you all and share in our experiences. Wish me luck in my new adventure a few of the chicks. Seven days old.

Welcome! While I am relatively new to chickens (abt 1 year in) SFH are one of two breeds I started with so hard to compare to other breeds. My girls are so friendly and curious-- and definitely peppy! I think you will like them as you seem to already. DH and I love them so much we are getting more this year

It looks like you have two splashes in the picture. Do you have pictures of the other 6?

 

[OHfarmerswife]

Good evening everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm just getting started with Swedish flower hens but am enjoying them greatly so far. I have bred Cochins and brahmas for the last 15 years and have sold off most of those breeder flocks as I was looking for a new breed to work with and something that eats a little less a friend of mine sent me swedish flower hatching eggs and said your going to love this breed. I am now the proud owner of 6 chicks. Not bad for 8 eggs sent through the mail they are peppy and friendly little chicks. I hope to get to know you all and share in our experiences. Wish me luck in my new adventure a few of the chicks. Seven days old.

Welcome to the group!
Great people here.
You will love your babies!