Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[CackleJoy]

I've noticed the eggs are a tad small for their size, as I eye them disapprovingly. While I suspected they weren't a meat bird, some times a smaller carcassed bird will fill out very nicely in a shorter amount of time than a larger sized bird.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Interesting. Our SFH lay huge eggs. On par with the American Orpingtons and Barred Rocks (all very big eggs). They also lay almost every day. (Usually 3 eggs a day and I have 4 pullets, 10 months old).
Mine are from the GFF 2013 batch of chicks. They isolated their extra large egg layers and bred those for larger eggs. I'd say it worked as the eggs nearly reached x-tra large size within the first month of laying. They were shockingly big. Now that I say that I have one hen, the one that also went broody, that lays a medium sized egg. I will try not to gather her eggs for hatching so that I can perpetuate the big eggs. I'd like to see the SFH in backyard flocks as a main egg layer because they are such a sweet - and pretty- bird.

http://greenfirefarms.com/store/category/chickens/swedish-flower-hens/

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: @CackleJoy

Where are you located if folks would want to get hatching eggs or chicks from your flock?

 

[NM Chicks]

I'll try, Leah's Mom. I would love to hear what you and others can tell me about what you see. I know two are turkens and believe the other seven are SFHs. Are they? These are a few photos I took just now. The chicks range from 15 to 17 days old.

 

[CackleJoy]

@CackleJoy

Where are you located if folks would want to get hatching eggs or chicks from your flock?

I'm in Modesto, California (almost in the center).

I've purchased SFH eggs & had them shipped with terrible results. So I hesitate at shipping the eggs. To be fair, that was before the wooden cabinet incubator so my results would probably be different. When I do ship eggs I use the method recommended by so many that includes double boxing and individual wrapping with bubble wrap.

Sometimes I sell chicks and started birds. I list them on the local CL and my (ahem) other social media page that starts with an F. The name of our farm is Cackleberry Farm in Modesto.

 

[Melabella]

Hatch mate brother fun. "You lookin at me"

P

 

[Bulldogma]

I'm thrilled to find this thread. At 945 pages long, it will take awhile to get through, but I've learned so much just in the first several pages. About five weeks ago, two local farmers gifted me some eggs and loaned me an incubator, letting me know that it is pretty challenging at our altitude and with our lack of humidity so I would have been very content with one hatching, given the learning curve and the challenges even experienced people have here. Three weeks later, 11 chicks hatched (two struggled for a long time to hatch and didn't make it) and nine are thriving, growing so fast that I think they get larger as I'm sitting there watching. I asked the egg donors what kind of eggs they gave me and some of these are swedish flower hens. I have 36 more SFHs in the incubator. The other chicks are turkens and now that I understand not all chickens are alike, I'll be keeping the eggs separate during incubation. Anyway, I'm thrilled with them all (they are so cute!!), but am especially pleased to be contributing to the flocks of this breed in the US and particularly here in the west where hatching is a bit trickier -- or so I hear. All I did was keep a consistent humidity and temperature and watched the miracle of egg hatching 19, 20 and 21 days later. Hoping for a good hatch in ten more days. They will go to the farmers who gifted me the eggs in the first place. Ok maybe I will keep one... or two. Nice to read all of your posts and see your pictures.

Welcome! Congratulations on your hatch of Swedish Flower chicks. This particular does better with lower humidity during incubation than many other breeds, so perhaps that was a help! You're going to love these babies!

"(But I warn you - and others will back me up - this breed is dangerously ADDICTIVE! You have been warned!)"

I hear you loud and clear. I only have 3 and can already see where you're coming from.

Mwaahaahaahaahaaaaaa! 3

Hatch mate brother fun. "You lookin at me"

So cute!

 

[TxFlowers]

Interesting. Our SFH lay huge eggs. On par with the American Orpingtons and Barred Rocks (all very big eggs). They also lay almost every day. (Usually 3 eggs a day and I have 4 pullets, 10 months old).
Mine are from the GFF 2013 batch of chicks. They isolated their extra large egg layers and bred those for larger eggs. I'd say it worked as the eggs nearly reached x-tra large size within the first month of laying. They were shockingly big. Now that I say that I have one hen, the one that also went broody, that lays a medium sized egg. I will try not to gather her eggs for hatching so that I can perpetuate the big eggs. I'd like to see the SFH in backyard flocks as a main egg layer because they are such a sweet - and pretty- bird.

http://greenfirefarms.com/store/category/chickens/swedish-flower-hens/

Hi. I also got my flock started from 2013 GFF chicks and mine too are laying very large eggs. So I would have to agree that GFF was successful in breeding for larger egg size in the last year. Most of the eggs from that group are xlg eggs. I also have birds from GFF earlier imports that I got from a couple of other breeders and they lay more of a med/lg egg. I am also working on retaining the egg size by hatching only the biggest, best shaped eggs and also working towards increasing the overall average size of the birds in my flock, hoping I end up with SF that are a little better for the table than what most are.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Have you kept track of rate of lay on these...how many do you estimate you are getting per year per bird?

 

[CackleJoy]

Hi. I also got my flock started from 2013 GFF chicks and mine too are laying very large eggs. So I would have to agree that GFF was successful in breeding for larger egg size in the last year. Most of the eggs from that group are xlg eggs. I also have birds from GFF earlier imports that I got from a couple of other breeders and they lay more of a med/lg egg. I am also working on retaining the egg size by hatching only the biggest, best shaped eggs and also working towards increasing the overall average size of the birds in my flock, hoping I end up with SF that are a little better for the table than what most are.

I have one cockerel that is enormous. Larger than my Brahma (taller and wider at the chest) but not as heavy. He is young yet we'll see how big he gets. The other one is more normal sized. He's gorgeous but I might get rid of him once I have another for back up. I'd like to use the bigger - stronger genetics as well. This is my big boy at 7 months. His chest has filled out significantly. His ears have gotten more red too He stands taller than our Dark Brahma.

 

[CackleJoy]

@Bulldogma I would love to trade. It's still 100 degrees on a regular basis here so it's preferable to wait a couple more weeks before shipping. I'll PM you details. Great idea!