Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[ki4got]

Here's little black today @ 10 weeks. Those legs are pretty gray.

honestly, i'd say she's not sfh, if the others were from the same parents... she's got pink skin under the black/grey, while most sfh would have yellow legs sometimes showing a bit of grey/mottling. pink is NOT a desired trait, since it's a dominant one. it would soon overtake an average flock in a matter of a couple generations IMO..

even her posture in the pics doesn't look like the sfh i've seen (or her sibs). now that might just be the photos, but i'd dare say she's going to be solid black with no mottling. most blacks i'v ehad did have some white as chicks but the next moult they're gone. if she IS sfh, she should moult out with more white feathers.

but personally, with those pink feet, i wouldn't breed her with sfh... if she's pure white skin (pink) then 100% of her offspring bred with a yellow legged roo, would give you pink feet... if she's NOT pure, then you get 50/50... if you breed heterozygous pink skinned birds to each other, you'll get roughly 75% pink skin, 25% yellow...

so you see the tendency of pink skin to head toward overtaking a whole flock quite easily. IMO any pink legs/feet need to be left out and concentrate on yellow legs, with or without the grey shading/mottling, but YELLOW based.

 

[nipper75]

nope just the standard!

TY jbarrett!

 

[jbarrett]

TY jbarrett!

no problem! are you going to think about getting some??? We would love to have you!

 

[SunnySkies]

I have a Silkie that seems to want to go broody. One final experiment would be to get eggs and try them under her, to eliminate the incubator entirely as my source of hatching issues, but she would be a first time mom. Do I dare try with SFH eggs? She is pretty determined. She steals eggs and sits on them, and I rob her nest every day and she sits there anyway. I push her off to go eat, and she comes right back a minute later. I'm actually worried she isn't eating enough, but she is ignoring food near her even. Her sister turned into an awesome mom without sitting on eggs; I hatched some Silkie babes 5 weeks ago and decided to try fostering them instead of raising them myself, and the sister adopted them immediately. Hrm.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Okay. Update on little black.

I have wondered if he/she was a sfh since week 2. I had a suspicion that it was not. I just contacted the people I got her from.

At the time I got them, she was hatching sfh from Kytinpusher and BHep. However, she was also hatching a couple other breeds.

As soon as she saw the photo she knew it was not sfh but it IS NOT A MIX and NOT A SFH. So I know that now for sure. The others are good, but this one got in my group quite by mistake.

So...now we all know he/she isn't a Swede but I'm working on confirming what it really is.

The rooster is Bhep's that I hatched myself from her eggs (white) but he was my only hatch out of all the eggs. I got the other kiddos so he wouldn't be on his own and I'd have a start on my SFH.

 

[jbarrett]

Okay. Update on little black.

I have wondered if he/she was a sfh since week 2. I had a suspicion that it was not. I just contacted the people I got her from.

At the time I got them, she was hatching sfh from Kytinpusher and BHep. However, she was also hatching a couple other breeds.

As soon as she saw the photo she knew it was not sfh but it IS NOT A MIX and NOT A SFH. So I know that now for sure. The others are good, but this one got in my group quite by mistake.

So...now we all know he/she isn't a Swede but I'm working on confirming what it really is.

The rooster is Bhep's that I hatched myself from her eggs (white) but he was my only hatch out of all the eggs. I got the other kiddos so he wouldn't be on his own and I'd have a start on my SFH.

glad you got it cleared up! I wondered about it! Its a shame really because you were making a few of us jealous myself included because I want a black Swede!! Good luck on breed identification Justin

 

[ki4got]

I have a Silkie that seems to want to go broody. One final experiment would be to get eggs and try them under her, to eliminate the incubator entirely as my source of hatching issues, but she would be a first time mom. Do I dare try with SFH eggs? She is pretty determined. She steals eggs and sits on them, and I rob her nest every day and she sits there anyway. I push her off to go eat, and she comes right back a minute later. I'm actually worried she isn't eating enough, but she is ignoring food near her even. Her sister turned into an awesome mom without sitting on eggs; I hatched some Silkie babes 5 weeks ago and decided to try fostering them instead of raising them myself, and the sister adopted them immediately. Hrm.

i would only try, if she will submit to being moved FIRST! you do not want her to go broody and hatch babies in the main coop. she may not want to sit on the same nest, other birds may try adding eggs (also not good), and once babies hatch, the other birds may try killing the chicks.

IMO, I prefer to use a large plastic doghouse (one fairly easy to open) and attach it to a smallish 4x4 pen with 1/2" hardware cloth. i would make the lid of the pen a lift-off door/access. inside the doghouse, you can put a bulk feeder and a milk crate for her nest. I cut out part of the side to allow easy access from top or side, with enough lip on the bottom to keep bedding in, and top rail intact to keep it rigid.

actually i'm planning to set up 2 broodies in the same pen, since they're nesting side by side peacefully in the horse trailer. they'll probably get the horde i'm planning on hatching this week. 44 eggs due to hatch, they won't get them all, but will get a decent number. i just need to finish modifying my burned out pen (had an electrical fire that cooked one corner of the house section). i'm just going to cut off the rest of the house off and butt the dog house up to the door in the pen.

 

[Bernie56]

I have a Silkie that seems to want to go broody. One final experiment would be to get eggs and try them under her, to eliminate the incubator entirely as my source of hatching issues, but she would be a first time mom. Do I dare try with SFH eggs? She is pretty determined. She steals eggs and sits on them, and I rob her nest every day and she sits there anyway. I push her off to go eat, and she comes right back a minute later. I'm actually worried she isn't eating enough, but she is ignoring food near her even. Her sister turned into an awesome mom without sitting on eggs; I hatched some Silkie babes 5 weeks ago and decided to try fostering them instead of raising them myself, and the sister adopted them immediately. Hrm.

I agree with ki4got that its best if a broody is separate from the flock. If its not feasible, within your setup to have them separate, you can make it work within the flock with a little extra effort. I rarely ever use broodys, but I have on occasion with great success. I usually mark the eggs that she will be keeping in a way that is easily identifiable without totally removing them from the nest. You will need to give a quick check each day to make sure that there are no extra eggs. As long as you check every day you can safely use any new eggs that are laid in the nest, otherwise I would discard any extras. I have found that the hens will generally adequately protect the chicks once they hatch, but just keep an eye out for bullying and move them if needed. I wouldn't worry about her eating that is part of being broody. If you want to break the broodiness you will probably have to move her completely (as ki4got said, they are not fond of that) I also find that penning them off the ground on a wire floor for awhile usually helps. I heard years ago that it helps to lower the body temp enough to kick them out of the broody cycle. I'm not sure if that is what breaks them, or if its the change. Maybe a combo. Anyway good luck with which ever route you decide to take. If you would like to try with SFH's, and would be interested in some eggs PM me.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: to break my broodies, i've either tossed them free range (if they were penned) or put them in a pen, if they were free ranging. LOL tossing a girl into the rooster coop works wonders too. the boys won't leave her alone on her nest. (all my houses are built with nests, regardless who's in them. just in case. 8)

 

[SunnySkies]

I could probably leave her where she is. She is in a good sized tractor with just one other hen and the two Silkie roosters I need to sell as PQ birds (although those two have such delightful personalities I hate to part with them). They spend their time in the run, and she sits in the coop, which is actually quite large (I messed up, made it bigger than I planned, but that is Ok, as there is adequate room for a big nest box in there). They don't free range as I found the hens too gentle, so they gor beat up by the rest, and not returning to the coop at night. She complained as I robbed her this morning, and she had the egg, as I robbed her yesterday, in the right place to keep it warm. It's still chilly here, and we could still get snow. Would new hatched babies be ok outside in a coop? If so, I might try.

My SFH babies from February are outside during the day now, thank goodness. I have a small coop with attached run, and it's ideal for the transition.