Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Spifflove]

Wow nice specific info! Of course I would be interested in all you have but what you put down is very adequate. Thanks bunches!

 

[lcatty]

I want to revisit this again (hope that's okay...?) I was asking about sex on these 4 week old photos but I now have a little more info than before. New notes in RED.

I'm still thinking it will be awhile before they're discernable. I have also had a female RIR with a HUGE comb and wattle that I wondered about until she started laying eggs

so...I know from experience that the "norm" doesn't always hold true. I am curious about the "s" shaped comb, however!

My crested girls have "s" shaped combs. But I'm no good at gender identification in chicks this young.

 

[lcatty]

So, I guess my girl has a split wing? She was a brat chicken, doesn't like to be held/touched..still a pullet. split wing, oh well, I'm not breeding, I don't think.

Need to find out about getting roosters over..or if I take the girls to them. ? Anyway, she's pretty. To me.

She wouldn't hold still. But it splits right there in the middle. I thought that was
what most chickens wings do?





Ha, she would hold her tail up so I could show the white in it
so I put it up against the coop door. She was ticked! Hoping
she will lay in March..do they start around the norm of 5 months?

Mine were six-seven months when they started laying. Very small eggs at first but they do lay large eggs after they are over a year old.

Your hen IS pretty. She does seem to have a split, but if you aren't going to breed her then heck why worry? I'm going to keep some of my lovely girls with split wings because I like their beautiful colors and I like their eggs. I just won't breed them.

 

[KYTinpusher]

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.

I would agree on the legs. And my black pullets (I don't have any black roos) both have black on their legs.

I noticed some wattles coming in on my 6 week SFH. Does this look like a boy? the comb isnt all that red or big but my other SFH the same age is slightly paler.

At six weeks with those wattles, my guess would be boy, but I would wait a couple weeks to make sure.

I have been thinking about this for some time now:

I'm afraid most, if not all, of my Swedes have something called "split wing." Very long primary feathers and there seems a distinct gap between primaries and secondaries when the wing fans out. I am trying to inspect all of them for it, although some are easier to catch than others- they come around me and are friendly but they definitely don't like me picking them up and messing with their wings.

Some don't have a gap but still have a shorter feather beginning the secondary set- not a completely even "fan."

Am I nuts and seeing things that aren't there or have others seen this too? I hear split wing is a recessive trait and rather a bear to breed out. Still, I'd like to try.

Any feedback would be appreciated, as to this or other possible problem traits you've seen that you want to breed out.

I looked at my Swedes tonight when I put them to bed. I think one or two may have been like like your MF hen, but most of them seemed to be free of the split wing. On my black hen it was difficult to tell because she had several broken feathers on the wing that I checked and she was not at all happy with my trying to look. However, I know a few of my hens have side sprigs on their combs. I don't have any more roos with side sprigs, but I don't want to rehome the hens yet. Now that I am hatching out more and have chicks from 4 different sources, I will be putting together an actual breeding group to weed this out as the young ones mature.

Thanks for the feedback, Knock Kneed Hen!

Most of my birds have wings like that.


This mille fleur hen isn't so bad:






Well, I don't know what to do because all of my Swedes have this trait, with the exception of the mille fleur above and one white/red crested hen. Some are so bad their primaries just hang down. I may have to live with it. Don't have enough coop room at the moment to get so many chickens at once, wait until they grow out and cull. Too bad because I really like Gabriel's coloring and he has a beautiful comb, decent tail carriage. He turned one year old around Thanksgiving, 2012, so probably nothing will change.

I want to revisit this again (hope that's okay...?) I was asking about sex on these 4 week old photos but I now have a little more info than before. New notes in RED.

I'm still thinking it will be awhile before they're discernable. I have also had a female RIR with a HUGE comb and wattle that I wondered about until she started laying eggs

so...I know from experience that the "norm" doesn't always hold true. I am curious about the "s" shaped comb, however!


Quote: I forgot to double check tonight when I put the birds to bed, but I believe both the roos and hens who have crests have crooked combs, so I don't think that is a determining factor. But one thing I have been noticing as I look at my new chicks and as I check back on the photos of my older ones when they were growing up, is all the males seem to have the definite white spots of feathers on the upper part of their wings at about 3-4 weeks of age. That is why I believe Little Yellow and Little Orange are roos and the other 2 are pullets. The hens may have a little white, but it is usually more muted and not so prominent. Here is a collage of my chicks that were born in Nov. 2011 (Sorry the pics are so small):

The 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th were roos. As they got older, the roos seemed to get more white feathers than the hens, which most of them lost when they molted. Has anyone else noticed this?

For the most part, my SFH started laying at about 5 months, but that could be because they hatched in Oct and Nov and so 5 months put them at Mar and Apr when spring was hitting and hens start ramping up production. Pullets maturing later in the year may take longer to start laying. My youngest layer, who is 7 months old now, laid a few eggs at about 5.5 months and then quit for a while. She just recently started laying again. They all started out laying really well, but laying has been sporadic for the last several months. I have had to change things in their environment quite a few times in that period, though. They don't seem to like change very much. My hens that are over a year old are laying mostly large and occasionally extra large eggs. All their legs have turned to a very pale yellow now. They don't eat as much as my other birds, but they are the only ones able to get out and free-range everyday right now. They go out regardless of the weather and have done well in the bitter cold as well as the 100's we had for an extended time last summer. The roos are generally non-aggressive to humans, but are very good flock watchers.

 

[Cynthia12]

Mine were six-seven months when they started laying. Very small eggs at first but they do lay large eggs after they are over a year old.

Your hen IS pretty. She does seem to have a split, but if you aren't going to breed her then heck why worry? I'm going to keep some of my lovely girls with split wings because I like their beautiful colors and I like their eggs. I just won't breed them.

Thank you so much for responding. So, a bit longer than the 5 month period. That is good to know. I won't be disappointed when I don't see an egg from her around then.

 

[Dahlisgrams]

Mine started at around 25 weeks on the dot. All on the same day!

 

[TarheelBirdy]

Melabella....is that a little Cavalier in your avatar?? So cute. I have a Cavalier!

 

[TarheelBirdy]

This thread has taken an interesting turn, especially considering why I came here tonight to post!

I came to post that I FINALLY got my FIRST EGG from one of my two SFH hens (and it is fertile)! My SFH were hatched here (eggs from Duemig in Garner, NC) Easter weekend last year. So, neither of my girls have laid until today....ten months. I know this is unusual, and I just wonder why it has taken so long. These are incredibly healthy, vibrant birds. Each of my two hens are paired off with a rooster.

I'm curious about the split-wing trait, and at what point in their development can this trait be determined?

 

[Frizzled Pink]

My newest little girl-about 4 mo's , i know she needs more "flowers" but can you give me any other feedback, i am just starting in this breed

 

[Cynthia12]

My newest little girl-about 4 mo's , i know she needs more "flowers" but can you give me any other feedback, i am just starting in this breed

Oh now see...this is the color I would love to have..even without more flowers..look at that cap,and the white on her chest. Maybe someone else can say whether or not a molt could bring in more flowers later on. ? This is a pretty girl!