Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[jbarrett]

i don't plan on breeding anything specific, so yes, they will just be in a group. as a landrace breed, they originally just bred as they wanted and the strongest adapted and survived to reproduce.

IMO that's what we should all be striving for. a strong line with good vigor and fertility. they're all pretty, regardless of color. the only thing i would NOT use in my sfh pen are solid (non-mottled) birds, and anything other than yellow legs. tho i am having misgivings about breeding crested to crested. we'll see what happens once the girls start laying and go from there.

100% agree! We all should be leving it go as it does naturally!

 

[Dahlisgrams]

Who on this thread got their original SFH from Greenfire?

 

[Dahlisgrams]

Quote: Same here.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Good. That is what I wanted to hear.

But...on the crested to crested...I know the issues with that. However, in the wild, they would have bred with no intervention, right?

Quote: Did you have them ship chicks, adults, or eggs? If shipped, how did they do in the shipping?

I HATE shipping chicks and like to pick up even if I have to drive a good distance but...FL is a long way from IN

(That's not going to happen.)

What part of the country are you in?

You know, it seems like with a huge forum like this we could find folks that could drive a "chain" across the country

 

[SunnySkies]

Who on this thread got their original SFH from Greenfire?

I have some. My original 3 roosters came from chickens directly from GF.

I will get photos of their legs when I have help....kids are in bed.

 

[Dahlisgrams]

Quote: Good. That is what I wanted to hear.

But...on the crested to crested...I know the issues with that. However, in the wild, they would have bred with no intervention, right?

Makes sense to me. Right now I have an uncrested rooster over crested and smooth hens, simply because he's the best conformed, largest one I have plus his disposition is great. He takes good care of the hens.

Quote: Did you have them ship chicks, adults, or eggs? If shipped, how did they do in the shipping?

I HATE shipping chicks and like to pick up even if I have to drive a good distance but...FL is a long way from IN

(That's not going to happen.)

What part of the country are you in?

You know, it seems like with a huge forum like this we could find folks that could drive a "chain" across the country

I'm in NY and had horrible luck shipping juveniles.. they arrived sick. The chicks shipped much better. I prefer not to ship at all if it can be helped... I'm sure a chain is entirely possible at this point!

 

[KYTinpusher]

Quote: Me also. I eventually want to get my flock up to 40-50 birds of many different colors. I currently have 10 in the breeding flock, with 12 more of various ages coming up. I don't believe any of my current breeding flock have split wing, but will probably remove any of the new ones if they do and put them in the laying flock. If they outgrow it as I have heard, they will go back in the breeding flock. I also have a couple of hens with side sprigs on their combs. Once I get a few more birds (I have 2 swaps pending with other breeders now), I will remove those with side sprigs also. I don't keep roos with side sprigs now because I have so many others to choose from.

However, I have been thinking about the different flocks that Greenfire sourced their birds from. I believe the first flock was primarily red/brown based and all uncrested. I think with the second flock, they not only added the crests, but also added the blues and blacks. Not sure about the new flock, but if Spifflove's new chicks are from the new source, I would be willing to guess that it was also a red/brown based flock, with maybe the citron

also that we saw in Juststruttin's bird, and probably uncrested. So as we mix all these sources together into our flocks, we are already messing with the genetics of the SFH in this country.

 

[ki4got]

i'm not planning anything that glorious. LOL my primary breed are dorkings. but i like the sfh too, so i'll have a smallish group of them. probably mostly free ranging, once i get my dork pens set up and going.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

Who on this thread got their original SFH from Greenfire?

we did

 

[MaryRuthLangdon]

Here's a pic of my black SFH... she has nice yellow legs.