Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[cathiesue]

Cap'n Jack. Love this boy.

 

[HaplessRunner]

If any of your herding breeds... sheltie's, bc's, tervs, etc... have any herding instinct, then while they can be great for "working" the livestock, they are not good guardians.
I have all three... they have various herding titles... and I can tell you that if left alone with the livestock they would never quit working them.

Herding breeds and livestock guardian breeds (if they retain their respective natural instinct) are two totally different kinds of dogs.

I agree. My BC is in almost continuous motion going around and around the fenced chicken area. She does get along well and the chickens do not mind her at all. That said, she is not an LGD. While she will kill mice, rabbits, and chase deer (& I am sure other critters), I would not rely on her to guard the chickens.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Cap'n Jack. Love this boy.

Very handsome!

 

[PugBug]

I have a feeling my broody is going to abandon the rest of the eggs. We'll see.

I don't have an incubator so I can't put them in to continue brooding if any are still viable. Any ideas?

Do you know anyone you can borrow an incubator from? Or if you really want to continue the eggs you could get one.
I had to finish some in the incubator after my SFH had hatched 1 chick, she then abandoned the rest. I hatched out the other 3. Then 2 hens in my bantam pen were sharing a nest & apparently were stealing everyone else's eggs in the pen after they were laid. They hatched 5 chicks then abandoned the rest. I put them in the bator & for the past wk I've been getting 1 or 2 chicks a day hatching from those eggs! One is hatching now & I've got 9 more to go- I'll be over run with these little buggers! If I lived close to you I'd hatch them for you- hope you figure something out...

 

[ki4got]

ok, i'm contemplating lgd's... but would prefer something on the smaller size- ok that's a relative thing... smaller being about the same as my spoo (standard poodle) who stands 25-26" tall and weighs about 65 pounds.

ideally i'd like something that doesn't shed too... (komondor come to mind...) I have issues with hair on my clothing and everything else the dog (cat, horse, etc) touches. LOL call it mental, whatever. shed hair on my clothing makes me itch. especially longer finer hair like my maine coon cross cats have. short coarse hairs aren't as much an issue (like my DSH tabby cat)

anyone have any thoughts? Sunny does great as a part-time lgd, but being my service dog is more important at times than guarding the chicken coops at night.

 

[HaplessRunner]

I did some research into the various breeds of LGDs. I was looking for temperament and size. I was looking to find the smallest one. The Maremma is probably the best bet for size since they get to the 65 pound range. Most of the others get to 80 to 100+ pounds. If I were to get one, I would look at the Maremma. There are some interesting crosses of LGDs out there too.

 

[RedRidge]

Italian maremma. 6 days old. Born and being raised with poultry and sheep.

 

[ki4got]

I did some research into the various breeds of LGDs. I was looking for temperament and size. I was looking to find the smallest one. The Maremma is probably the best bet for size since they get to the 65 pound range. Most of the others get to 80 to 100+ pounds. If I were to get one, I would look at the Maremma. There are some interesting crosses of LGDs out there too.

I wonder what a maremma-doodle would be like... i'm against 'designer breeds' but still wonder.

 

[jmarie]

I agree. My BC is in almost continuous motion going around and around the fenced chicken area. She does get along well and the chickens do not mind her at all. That said, she is not an LGD. While she will kill mice, rabbits, and chase deer (& I am sure other critters), I would not rely on her to guard the chickens.

That is the problem with mine. Obsessive about herding the chickens and when one does not go back with the group....as soon as he grabs one then they turn into a squeaky toy for him.

 

[TxFlowers]

well, i don't think that is really lacing, since lacing would show up on the breast and wings first, rump last... that's like the coloring my ee roo has. he's 1/4 silkie and 3/4 bbs Ameraucana... no laced in his background at all.

it seems that a lot of mixed color birds with splash in place of blue or black, the splash seems to wash out the base color...
also, a lot of birds, the mottling seems to wrap around the bottom half of the feather too.

He is really pretty!!