Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[jlynnet]

Anybody around SE Michigan need some Swedes? I have one crested female and about 5 males I need to unload. I have some beautiful birds!! just too many. My pictures won't load today. PM me if you have any questions!

 

[Bulldogma]

I lost my black mottled roo overnight. not sure what's up, sunny found him this morning for me, hanging out in a carrier (without door) and just dead. no signs of anything going on, and looks like he just died in his sleep. still have my blue mottled guy and his 2 girls and 2 pullets. so i'm not done with that variety by any means, I just like to keep a backup roo.

Oh no! I'm so sorry!! I have 3 Mille Fleur roos with no blue that I'm growing out, so no worries about a back-up roo! I have plenty of roos for both of us now! Consider one yours for the asking.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:

I lost my black mottled roo overnight. not sure what's up, sunny found him this morning for me, hanging out in a carrier (without door) and just dead. no signs of anything going on, and looks like he just died in his sleep. still have my blue mottled guy and his 2 girls and 2 pullets. so i'm not done with that variety by any means, I just like to keep a backup roo.

Oh no! I'm so sorry!! I have 3 Mille Fleur roos with no blue that I'm growing out, so no worries about a back-up roo! I have plenty of roos for both of us now! Consider one yours for the asking.

oh I should have mentioned... COCHIN... black mottled bantam cochin... but I've still got my blue mottled boy. I was referring to the teeny cochin chick, hoping it's mottled. and if it's a nice roo I wouldn't be disappointed...

this is the guy I lost...


this is the boy I have left...

 

[redwood]

Have any of you had problems hatching sfh chicks in an incubator. I have been hatching out black and blue copper marans with no issues but have yet to have any sfh chicks hatch. They've been at various stages of development when I open the eggs up. Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[ki4got]

Have any of you had problems hatching sfh chicks in an incubator. I have been hatching out black and blue copper marans with no issues but have yet to have any sfh chicks hatch. They've been at various stages of development when I open the eggs up. Any advice would be much appreciated!

First and foremost, I've found that DRY incubation seems essential. otherwise they end up sticky/gooey and often very wet at hatch. many have also gotten stuck because they can't turn properly, whether because of the goo or because of being too bloated from excess fluids.

with SFH I've taken to not putting them in lockdown until day 19, and that seems to have helped some as well.

but then again I dry incubate EVERYTHING, so haven't had as many problems as I've heard about from others.

I haven't had problems with early quitters tho, usually just wet hatches, even when dry incubation.

 

[SunnySkies]

I have had a terrible time hatching SFH eggs, no matter what I do. My local eggs do great. Shipped eggs, which, currently, SFH eggs are for me, have all done badly. Out of probably 5 dozen eggs, I got 5 SFH. Even with a broody, I got less than 50% hatch. Mine usually die at lockdown. They can be very difficult to hatch, so IMHO, it might not be that you are doing anything wrong.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Have any of you had problems hatching sfh chicks in an incubator. I have been hatching out black and blue copper marans with no issues but have yet to have any sfh chicks hatch. They've been at various stages of development when I open the eggs up. Any advice would be much appreciated!

I generally rely on broody hens to incubate for me. I bought an incubator and had a terrible hatch. Out of 20, 1 early quitter and 4 made it. One I helped out, and she has curled toes. The rest were all shrink wrapped. I was sick...I sold my incubator. I'm going to leave hatching out chicks to friends that know what they're doing and to the hens that have proven themselves. I just don't like learning on living creatures.

 

[SunnySkies]

oh I should have mentioned...  COCHIN...  black mottled bantam cochin...  but I've still got my blue mottled boy.  I was referring to the teeny cochin chick, hoping it's mottled. and if it's a nice roo I wouldn't be disappointed...

Lovely boys! So sorry for your loss

 

[KYTinpusher]

The chicks that hatched this weekend were a little bit of a pleasant surprise to me - I hadn't expected all of them to hatch because my humidity had been between 40-50% during most of the incubation. With all the rain we have had lately, the humidity has been horrible. I even put rice in the incubator and it didn't help much. Some of the eggs looked like they had too much fluid in them when I put them in lockdown, so I didn't raise the humidity until the day before they were scheduled to hatch, and then only raised it to 60%, instead of 65% like I normally do. All 10 of the eggs that went into lockdown hatched!

No sticky chicks either and none needed to be helped.

Go figure.

 

[KYTinpusher]

oh I should have mentioned... COCHIN... black mottled bantam cochin... but I've still got my blue mottled boy. I was referring to the teeny cochin chick, hoping it's mottled. and if it's a nice roo I wouldn't be disappointed...

this is the guy I lost...


this is the boy I have left...

Those are beautiful birds!

So sorry you lost your roo.