Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Melabella]

How many is this for you now, @Melabella ?

Are you selling some of keeping them all?

And do you like your Brinsea?

Oh.. I forgot to answer you about the Brinsea. So far.. I love it. I purposefully bought this small one as I obviously have issues with chicken math, and the zest of learning and attempting to hatch and have success is insatiable. I have been eyeing a larger one as a gift for a combination birthday/Christmas gift as I also have had some people ask if I would hatch day olds for them. I think the small Brinsea mini is actually very good for the dry hatch method since it is such a small area to control. Then at lockdown, the humidity is easy to maintain as even if you open the bator for one reason or another, it returns to temp and humidity very quickly. It does not have a digital humidity gauge as it does for the temp, but I can see that humidity vapor on the sides maintains evenly. The most successful hatches I have had so far has been 5 out of 7 on 3 occasions, which I am happy about for shipped eggs. Two of those times have been with Leighs eggs, (3 SFH and 2 of mine). Her eggs arrive with very little issues with air cells, and obviously the fertility and quality of the eggs are wonderful. The third time were with my own eggs of EE's for a friend from my backyard. Of shipped eggs from 3 entirely different breeders of different breeds I only hatched 1, 2 and 3 of those eggs. So overall, I like the Brinsea Mini.

MB

 

[Bulldogma]

Oops I did it again, I played with Leigh's eggs, ooh baby, Baby.....

LOL!!!

And your teens are looking good too!

 

[Loriemarler]

Love it when they are getting big.. but always miss the little chicks.  LOVE that bird on the left.  Nice variance of colors there.  How many do you have, and how many cockerls vs pullets

MB

I only have the three. I am pretty sure I have 2 pullets and one cockerel The bluefish one on the left is a pullet. I got my eggs from KyTinpusher.

 

[CackleJoy]

I had 2 blue girls that were crest to crest breedings that had excessive crests that look similar to what you have there. Neither had a vaulted skull - just huge crests.

I personally don't like birds with huge crests as it makes watching overhead pretty hard when on range. I actually cut back the crest on one of them so she could see better. No vaulted skull.

My 2 that had the excessive crests were also extremely skittish. And they were both afraid of the flock. Another chicken could come walking by them and they'd run off as though they were being targeted. Always hanging on the outskirts and "afraid of their shadows".

I am of the opinion that there was some kind of "disorder" with both of them. I've never seen that personality in any other birds I've had. I'm not sure if the crest to crest breeding can result in that or not. But I finally decided that I didn't want to have any more crested birds. Even if they were normal.

The vaulted skull is evident at hatch. I ordered in some eggs and the only survivor was this vaulted skull chick. It was rather surprising!


How he looked at 3 or 4 months when getting his first hair cut.















He really isn't any good at all for protection. I plan to keep him because he is turning out to be a beauty. All his offspring will be crested. I plan to breed him to my uncrested hens so that I can have more crested hens in next years flock. Once I'm done with that I think he will go in the EE pen to make crested EE's. I may be able to sell him but he has to be in a breeding pen because he is a liability in a free range situation. In fact, prior to this hair cut he was watching the other birds hop into the coop and would hop next to them but miss the door. It looked like HOP - crash! - as he hit the side of the coop. While comical it was also very sad! His hair is blocking his vision so next I'm going to try the Polish trick and tape it up.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Here's my girl. Not a vaulted skull but excessive crest. Not as excessive as your boy, though!

Before @ about 18-20 weeks




After

 

[Kaylish]

Hi LM!

I currently have 8 SFH juveniles. The first group of 3 I hatched from Leigh's eggs are Nero, Lee the two cockerels and Ava a pullet who will be turning 16 weeks on Thursday. My second attempt with Leigh's eggs gave me 5 chicks,6 made it to lockdown but one never pipped). Of these 5, I think only 2 are def pullets but at 5 weeks it's still hard to gauge. I think I have 2 def cockerels and the 5th chick changes daily! My hopes was to have a second flock with mostly SFH and keep 2 Roos over 20 girls. Of those girls I would love as many SFH girls as I could get, but obviously it takes time. The remaining full in girls will be Easter Eggers, Ameraucana and I also have 3 Dorkings that are downright lovable. This way I will be able to tell between eggs who are the SFH. It's becoming clear to me that I will have to move some SFH boys come late Winter/Early Spring as I don't have room for too many boys. Nero is a keeper if he stays polite and proves a good roo and I will turn to all the experienced peeps here to help me figure out a good second boy. I am hopeful I won't have issues moving young SFH Roos here in my area as I haven't seen too many SFH stock available in the Hudson Valley area of NY. So yes, I will look to sell/trade some boys. I'm not looking to start a business but have some healthy fun while I learn and become more knowledgable. I belong to a few FB Farm/Hatching egg/Buy sell trade pages here in NY and all ready have 2 orders for SFH hatching eggs for local pick up as the peeps don't want to try shipped eggs. There is a pretty frequented Farm Swap in the Hudson Vally too. So hence my sending off for More eggs as I only have 3 girls so far and originally thought 8-10 females would be nice. Fingers crossed for a female heavy hatch this time!
Here are a few pics from a few minutes ago. I'm nuts.....

I love the beautiful variety you've got in this group!

He really isn't any good at all for protection. I plan to keep him because he is turning out to be a beauty. All his offspring will be crested. I plan to breed him to my uncrested hens so that I can have more crested hens in next years flock. Once I'm done with that I think he will go in the EE pen to make crested EE's. I may be able to sell him but he has to be in a breeding pen because he is a liability in a free range situation. In fact, prior to this hair cut he was watching the other birds hop into the coop and would hop next to them but miss the door. It looked like HOP - crash! - as he hit the side of the coop. While comical it was also very sad! His hair is blocking his vision so next I'm going to try the Polish trick and tape it up.

Wow! That is a crest! Almost looks polish

with all that.

 

[Melabella]

I love the beautiful variety you've got in this group!

Thank you Kaylish!

It's the whole reason that I keep filling that little incubator. I love the variety, and am looking forward to the spring, when they are all full grown, and I can maybe pass along some hatching eggs and try my hand at hatching for people who would like some SFH's in my area. I don't think there are many yet in the Northeast where I am located.

MB

 

[Kaylish]

Thank you Kaylish!

It's the whole reason that I keep filling that little incubator. I love the variety, and am looking forward to the spring, when they are all full grown, and I can maybe pass along some hatching eggs and try my hand at hatching for people who would like some SFH's in my area. I don't think there are many yet in the Northeast where I am located.

MB

The more I see of this breed; the more in love I get!

I'm currently working on a trade to get some day-old chicks...so excited!

 

[ashtree]

I think I'm gonna make this boy my main roo, I think he's gorgeous

Would you say he's black based as far as b/b/s? The white tips of his tail feathers throw me.
And this is my favorite girl (I'm not a big fan of the crest but I love her coloring)

I really love this breed and have more SFH eggs in the incubator! The color variety makes hatching pretty addictive.

 

[Bulldogma]

I think I'm gonna make this boy my main roo, I think he's gorgeous

Would you say he's black based as far as b/b/s? The white tips of his tail feathers throw me.
And this is my favorite girl (I'm not a big fan of the crest but I love her coloring)

I really love this breed and have more SFH eggs in the incubator! The color variety makes hatching pretty addictive.

Lovely birds! Both are black-based.