Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[chiques chicks]

I have a question or 2 on the "breeding crested to crested" issue.

If these birds were "in the wild" surviving on their own, it seems to me that they'd breed crested to crested on their own as I don't think that would be a criteria to a rooster (!) 

-So...is the thought that if they were in the wild that the crested to crested offspring would have been removed by predation and only the others would survive? 

-I know nothing about genetics thus this question:  Does it ALWAYS follow that a crested to crested breeding results in over-sized crests?

My guess would be yes, predators would eliminate those with very large crests.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: crested to crested usually won't produce 100% crested, since most only carry 1 copy of the gene, I think... most people, if they do breed crested, beed crested to normal, resulting in about 50/50 (crested is a dominant gene). and crest x crest breeding is kind of self-limiting, since homozygous chicks have a higher incidence of vaulted skulls (often dying early or in shell) and larger crests (bullseye for a predator).

 

[chiques chicks]

My newest baby! I only have one hen of laying age, but had to try.

 

[ChickNmamma]

agreed I just wanted to be able to show them nationaly and be able to get them before the public so more people can have a truely amazing breed of poultry!

I agree and applaud your goals and have already signed up for the conservancy effort.

Great Job!

I would just like to keep the original intentions at forefront and not have them become another cute pet chicken like the Silkies did. I do have Silkies, and I enjoy their antics and personality, but that is not why I chose the SFH. I have one Polish bird too and I won't be getting any more like her.

I would like to keep their heartiness, free-ranging and self sufficiency as well as their beautiful random patterning. I love the look on the crested birds, but don't want to mess them up until they can't see just because it is cute. I would like to have options of trading eggs with other breeders to widen the gene pool - but not if they are going to breed homozygous crested birds.

While reading this thread from the beginning while researching these birds I noticed the hatch rate going from 90-100% down to 20% or less on shipped eggs. It may be the post office, but it might also be due to the homozygous crested birds that were created intentionally or unintentionally that are causing problems as well. Since this hadn't been addressed since early in this thread I thought I would bring it up again.

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

I have a broody swede!! She's only 8 months old and just started laying a month ago..

I'm going to try and move her tonight so hopefully all goes well. She's been on and off for about 5 days but she's been sitting 100% now for probably 2 days. She's spent maybe 5 nights on the nest so far and got up whenever someone wanted to lay an egg, but now thats HER nest!

Here's Boo on her eggs!

Its nice to hear others have had expirience with 8 month old broodies! I was going to move her a few nights ago and told dbf the plan. He thought moving her wasn't a good idea if I wanted her to keep sitting so we moved the rest of the flock to a different coop. His idea! haha The rooster, 3 swede hens, and a blue egger hen all got booted so Boo can sit where she's at. She's sitting strong though. After I moved them I gave Boo some treats on the nest and pet her and stole some eggs cause she had way too many. I'm not sure how many she's got now but she's on at least 8 swede eggs and an araucanaX egg(thinking about taking the last blue egg so all her chicks are pure swedes!). She also has not a single feather on her belly. Is this normal?? Its like she plucked it to keep her eggs warm.. This is only my second broody ever and I dont remember the cochin plucking herself..

Here's a couple more pics of her at POL. She's such a pretty girl and the friendliest chicken I have!






A few younger pics if you want to see. They go youngest to oldest. A couple weeks after I got her the other ones wouldn't let her eat and she came in the house for a few days to recover. She got wayy to comfortable in the house and I moved her outside with my EE chicks.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6427.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6634.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6648.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6642.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6787.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6794.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_7170.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_7579.jpg

 

[jeremy]

Regarding Leg Color, the amount of green grass they have access to has a huge impact on leg color. Notice the color of this boys legs. He was put on grass at 8 weeks and it shows. He si now older and in a breeding pen with limited greens and I expect his leg color to fade. I will take pictures in a couple of month to show the difference.

The chicks I raise in the winter always have better leg color than the chicks I raise in the summer when the green grass is gone. If your birds have yellow legs, the genes are there and you can make that yellow pop with more greens.

Is he a SFH? He looks a lot like a Mille Leghorn... shape/type, white earlobes? I'd love to see some updated pictures to see how he has changed colorwise though.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: crested to crested usually won't produce 100% crested, since most only carry 1 copy of the gene, I think... most people, if they do breed crested, beed crested to normal, resulting in about 50/50 (crested is a dominant gene). and crest x crest breeding is kind of self-limiting, since homozygous chicks have a higher incidence of vaulted skulls (often dying early or in shell) and larger crests (bullseye for a predator).

Thanks for all the replies on the crested to crested. Interesting the speculation that many of them never even make it past the few couple weeks.

My little rooster is crested and my favorite hen (blue) is also. I'd love to get some uncrested blacks and blues. I tend to like the non-crested birds best but those crest are kind-of pretty in moderation

.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote: Beautiful girl

Yes, broodies do loose all their feathers on their bellies. Maybe your cochin was so fluffy you didn't notice, but both of my recent broodies I had to reach under to remove new eggs (I didn't separate them) and both times their bellies were bare. I think they do this because they can transfer the heat better to the eggs.

 

[Leahs Mom]

She also has not a single feather on her belly. Is this normal?? Its like she plucked it to keep her eggs warm.. This is only my second broody ever and I dont remember the cochin plucking herself..

Here's a couple more pics of her at POL. She's such a pretty girl and the friendliest chicken I have!






A few younger pics if you want to see. They go youngest to oldest. A couple weeks after I got her the other ones wouldn't let her eat and she came in the house for a few days to recover. She got wayy to comfortable in the house and I moved her outside with my EE chicks.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6427.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6634.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6648.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6642.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6787.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_6794.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_7170.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/StArZ-N-MoOnz/Chickens/IMG_7579.jpg

I LOVE THE COLOR ON BOO!!!!! Where did you get her?

I know that KY has some like this that I hope to get someday!

I have read that they pull the feathers on their bellies to keep the eggs warm. My 8 mo old hatchery rir didn't do the totally bare belly but I did see quite a few feathers in that nest!

 

[PugBug]

I have a question or 2 on the "breeding crested to crested" issue.

If these birds were "in the wild" surviving on their own, it seems to me that they'd breed crested to crested on their own as I don't think that would be a criteria to a rooster

(!)

-So...is the thought that if they were in the wild that the crested to crested offspring would have been removed by predation and only the others would survive?

-I know nothing about genetics thus this question: Does it ALWAYS follow that a crested to crested breeding results in over-sized crests?

I'm not an expert either, but I agree with you about this. My husband is from Sweden, he said most of the flocks he saw were crested, or mostly crested. The birds I have now are all crested, but I am incubating eggs right now from a crested & non crested flock. I do see where if the crest were too large it would pose a prob with free ranging/predators- but with all my birds none of their crests seem to inhibit their vision. I'm going to breed both, if it becomes a prob with over large crests I will adjust the breeding...