Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Country Squire]

Hi, everyone. I posted on this thread almost a month ago, trying to figure out if one of my SFH's is a pullet or cockerel. Well, I'm checking in again for your updated opinions. Both of my SFH's are now almost 4-months old. Clearly, the one in the foreground, "Olaf," is a cockerel. How about the one in the background, "Anna"? Since I posted several weeks ago, "she" has started to stand up a bit taller, her wattles are just a wee bit bigger, and she has sprouted longer tail feathers that hang down. However, Anna is much smaller than Olaf, much less colorful, and has much smaller comb, wattles, and tail. Anna also tends to hide behind Olaf. Thoughts?

 

[TurnipTruck]

Sort of a pay it forward type thing here:

By odd happenstance my Mother-in-law has some fertile, pure SFH eggs on her hands. She baby sat my Roo for a few days (she doesn't have one) and she has 1 SFH in her flock. She is collecting the eggs until Monday or Tuesday (1 week worth of eggs).

She is giving them to me, but since I just set a clutch under a broodie and don't own an incubator I want to share the wealth. PM me if you are interested in 5-6 eggs from the pairing of the 2 birds below. I would prefer not to ship, largely because I never have before. The only cost to the person who gets them will be shipping or gas to Waldorf, MD (DC area) for a pick up and a promise to help someone else in the future.

People here have been good to me and I want to pass on the good turn. Let me know.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Hi, everyone. I posted on this thread almost a month ago, trying to figure out if one of my SFH's is a pullet or cockerel. Well, I'm checking in again for your updated opinions. Both of my SFH's are now almost 4-months old. Clearly, the one in the foreground, "Olaf," is a cockerel. How about the one in the background, "Anna"? Since I posted several weeks ago, "she" has started to stand up a bit taller, her wattles are just a wee bit bigger, and she has sprouted longer tail feathers that hang down. However, Anna is much smaller than Olaf, much less colorful, and has much smaller comb, wattles, and tail. Anna also tends to hide behind Olaf. Thoughts?

That's a tough one. Could be a pullet coloring up early, but my gut say it's a cockerel. Though by 4 months (are you sure they are 4 months and not 3?), an uncrested cockerel should have a larger comb and wattles. By the tail (seems long for a pullet) and the dark mahogany on the wings, I would say cockerel. Look under the feathers in front of the tail. If you see shiny pointed saddle feathers coming in, it's a boy. Here are my 2 of similar coloring at that age (1 cockerel and 1 pullet):

 

[Country Squire]

Wow! Your Astolf at four months was MUCH further along than either of my SFH's, even Olaf. Astolf looks fully grown.

Actually, other than slightly larger and redder wattles and comb, Anna looks very much like your Kjerstin in body, neck, and tail shape (and color). Interesting.

As for age, it is possible they are three-months old. The person I bought them from said in the CraigsList posting that she "waited 6 months on a wait list for the Swedish Flower Hen day-old chicks, which arrived in early February.": However, in a later email she said the two SFH's were "Same age. Hatched March 5." So, I guess I don't know.

 

[KYTinpusher]

I would say the March 5 hatch day is correct. Did you look for the saddle feathers?

 

[Country Squire]

Not yet. I will.

 

[KYTinpusher]

This is Astolf when he was a little older than your Anna.

 

[CackleJoy]

let me rephrase that for her... MOST styrobators suck IN INEXPERIENCED HANDS... I've hatched hundreds of sfh in my styrobators, but I also had well over 1000 other chicks hatch in them before I started with the sfh.

how was the incubator damaged, what brand and model was it? those are things that would tell us a lot about what you're working with too. I'm also guessing it was probably a still air, which will cause temperature fluctuations from different areas of the incubator, but also it depends on the location in your home too. was one side toward a window, fan or a/c vent? there are a LOT of factors that go into successful hatching. not just having an incubator and fertile eggs.

I will only use Hovabators for my styro ones. the LG and FI ones are cheap and the thermostats twitchy at best. (my opinion, and yes, I've used them and hated them). I've got 4 Hovabators of various model #s, all using a wafer style thermostat, all with computer case fans for air circulation. all the vent plugs were removed and thrown away the day I got them, and 3 of them have automatic turners installed. the 4th is a dedicated hatcher. I may someday graduate to a cabinet style incubator but I will always use a separate hatcher.

I have a hovabator that I like. It is the Genesis 1588. I've only been incubating and hatching since the NYD HAL. It has seen pretty constant use and I am happy with the hatches. After the first one, they've averaged 80+%. At one point I was up to 3 styro bators in the house. So I've hatched a few hundred chicks this year. That makes me just educated enough to be dangerous. Dangerous enough to kill a bunch of chicks

My best hatch was 100%. I only count what makes it to lockdown in the percentage because with every hatch I've had a new breed that I'm doing a fertility test with. You just can't hatch an infertile egg. The 100% hatch happened to be in a borrowed farmall or some weird brand of stryo bator!

The injured bator was a small Genesis, with a fan. The bottom styro piece was crunched (looked punched with a forklift) and destroyed. The entire top piece with the heater was undamaged and looked perfect. So we bought a new bottom and expected results similar to the 1588.

I use a thermometer on a lead that has a small reader. I place the reader in an egg spot so it is sitting just where an egg would sit. The other thermometer sits on the wire tray. Usually I have a third on top of the eggs but I had both bators going and divided up the thermometers. I may try this incubator again, using 4 thermometers and NOT SFH eggs. If it works for the EE's, Basque, and CLB, that is fine with me. Basque are the easiest to hatch. Even my shipped eggs of Basque popped out like corn. I loved hatching them!

I don't know what happened. We had good development all the way through. My candler (a SUPER bright led flashlight, bulbs went kaput) quit and I couldn't candle at lock down but the regular flashlight showed full eggs. As evidenced by my one eggtopsy, they were full and still breathing. One did hatch upside down. It had shell stuck to its head like a helmet.

I was using books and tilting the entire bator in absence of a turner. Maybe that was the real problem.

We are on day 3 of trying to calibrate the new (used, but new to me) wooden cabinet incubator. I intend to use the Genesis 1588 as a hatcher so the increased humidity doesn't bother the SFH. If I get comfortable with this other styrafoam bator (it is also a hova bator just a smaller - simpler model than the 1588) then I will use it as a hatcher too. Just probably not for the SFH.

I WILL LEARN HOW TO HATCH SFH! We have a brand new broody hen. She is untried but on day 4 of being in a bucket and refusing the food calls. That's looking pretty stubborn. I might put some SFH eggs under her just to see what happens.

 

[CackleJoy]

This is Astolf when he was a little older than your Anna.

SO PRETTY!

 

[KYTinpusher]

Quote: Thank you! This is him last summer before he lost all the points on his comb to frostbite: