Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[TNBEARCHICK]

We r so happy we now have 4 sfh laying eggs 3 to go yipee

 

[KYTinpusher]

We r so happy we now have 4 sfh laying eggs 3 to go yipee

(that's what I've been saying for 6 months

, though they all started out really well.)

 

[ki4got]

I put this out for some other folks but I'm thinking those of you w/experience w/SFH may have an opinion...

I'm posting to get the opinions of those of you that are good at figuring out sexes. They may be too young at 4 weeks (?)

These are my 4 Swedish Flower Hen chicks that are with the RIR broody. They are 4 weeks old this weekend. Any guesses as to sex? I apologize that some of the photos aren't the best. Trying to get these photos was like trying to herd cats. Little Black is especially hard to photograph.

well, the first two (yellow and grey) look possibly crested to me, but IMO grey may be the only pullet. hope i'm wrong.

and are you sure little black's sfh? the others have yellow legs but his aren't...

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Strange you should ask about little black. He/she is the smallest and may have hatched a day our 2 later than the others. But...looks way behind in development compared to the others. No real tail feathers and mostly still fluff rather than feathers in general.

I hatched yellow here - from Bhep; the other 3 I got from a gal within driving distance that had eggs from KYTin... and Bhep. However...they also had other breeds at the same time and I wondered if one of them got mixed in by mistake since there is such a difference!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Here's another question I'm interested to hear from you SFH folks.

If you have multiple roosters and you are only going to keep 1:

What do each of you do with your excess roosters?

I know what I'd do with them if they were other more common breeds

, but when they are a more, - "rare" - breed like the SFH, do you handle that differently? I'm just curious to hear your practice - not saying any one way is right, just want to hear from all sides!

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Here's another question I'm interested to hear from you SFH folks.

If you have multiple roosters and you are only going to keep 1:

What do each of you do with your excess roosters? 

I know what I'd do with them if they were other more common breeds

, but when they are a more, - "rare" - breed like the SFH, do you handle that differently?  I'm just curious to hear your practice - not saying any one way is right, just want to hear from all sides!

When I'm able to find them homes I do. I have given them to locals with the stipulation that I get to borrow them (should something happen to my boys). So far I've placed more than half of the roos. Sadly, the others are eaten.

It wasn't too hard picking which roosters to keep. The ones I kept don't have any physical faults and they are sweet as can be.

 

[ki4got]

Here's another question I'm interested to hear from you SFH folks.

If you have multiple roosters and you are only going to keep 1:

What do each of you do with your excess roosters?

I know what I'd do with them if they were other more common breeds

, but when they are a more, - "rare" - breed like the SFH, do you handle that differently? I'm just curious to hear your practice - not saying any one way is right, just want to hear from all sides!

with all my roosters, i typically take them to the poultry swaps with me... we've got a rooster guy who'll buy all lf roosters for $5 each, feed them up a week or 2 and sell them back to some ethnic groups he caters to... or else they go in the freezer... dorkings are an exceptional meat breed.

for the sfh, i'd post that you have them available first, then take them to a swap and see if anyone else is interested in buying them (for meat or otherwise). or if you don't want to do that, you can always eat em. but i'd keep 1 roo as backup if you possibly can. something happens to one, you've got another. if you only have one and lose him, you've got eating eggs.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

s we got ours from a good friend and they laced 6 eggs out of 2 hens and 6 juvies then quit then one hen died and a dog got a rooster. coyote got four 2 month olds. ugh

 

[Bulldogma]

well, the first two (yellow and grey) look possibly crested to me, but IMO grey may be the only pullet. hope i'm wrong.

and are you sure little black's sfh? the others have yellow legs but his aren't...

All of mine from BHep started out with pink/tan legs and then all their legs turned yellow as they got closer to maturity. The Swedish description of the breed states they can have pink, tan and yellow legs - so I wouldn't worry just yet about the little black one. He looks a lot like my Frederic did.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

All of mine from BHep started out with pink/tan legs and then all their legs turned yellow as they got closer to maturity. The Swedish description of the breed states they can have pink, tan and yellow legs - so I wouldn't worry just yet about the little black one. He looks a lot like my Frederic did.

x2

Here are a couple of birds from the same hatch. Both of ended up being boys. The one on the right was very obvious from the start because of his size and personality. I was sure the the one on the left was a pullet as it was much smaller. I wasn't really 100% sure until is was more than 6 months old. He remained much smaller than the others. I don't know if he ever caught up. He was very sweet. I gifted him to a friend.