Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[ChickNmamma]

I have read that SFH produce very large eggs for their size? Have those of you who keep them found this to be true? About how many do you get a week?

I have heard they are calm, sweet and people oriented, has that also been everyones experience? (For reference I consider D'Uccles to have the ideal chicken personality.)

Also, how much do they weigh? I read around 5LBs but that seems low to me, but then maybe I'm just used to the heavy brown egg layers!

My experience has been that they lay a small to medium egg, if not every day then every other day. I have one girl who lays a medium egg and she is a good size too - the other is smaller and lays a smaller egg. The boy is very nice, and he is about the same size as my EE boys, but not as large as the Ameraucana or Isbar boy. The personality of mine is mostly calm, curious and good foragers. The crested ones I have do not have large crests, but it does block their vision up but they do look around and up a lot to compensate for that. I can pick any of them up at night without much fuss - but if I want them during the day I would have to go "get them". My birds aren't a year old yet - so I can't say what they will weigh in the final scale - but I would guess 5-6 lbs would be about right.

 

[lovinchicks]

Hi everyone! First time posting on the SFH thread. I wanted to see if anyone know what caused this roosters feathers to twist out at the bottom. Is it hereditary, or something else? I'm trying to decide which of my 4 roosters I want to rehome. I love his coloring but don't want to keep him if it can be passed on. I tried to do a search, and it kept coming back with info on geese and ducks.

 

[dretd]

Hi everyone! First time posting on the SFH thread. I wanted to see if anyone know what caused this roosters feathers to twist out at the bottom. Is it hereditary, or something else? I'm trying to decide which of my 4 roosters I want to rehome. I love his coloring but don't want to keep him if it can be passed on. I tried to do a search, and it kept coming back with info on geese and ducks.

In Ducks an outward bending of the wing tip is called Angel Wing. Its caused by the primaries growing in too quickly and the weight of them pulling the wing tip outward. So diet in combination with genetics for rapid feather growth--if identified early and the wing wrapped to the body it will be normal.

This doesn't exactly look like Angel Wing since his feathers individually look twisted. So perhaps more information will help--is it one or both wings, when did you first notice it, do the shafts of the feathers look like they are twisted/curling or is it the bone of the wing itself, any other feathers look abnormal??--that sort of information!

He is very handsome!

 

[lovinchicks]

In Ducks an outward bending of the wing tip is called Angel Wing. Its caused by the primaries growing in too quickly and the weight of them pulling the wing tip outward. So diet in combination with genetics for rapid feather growth--if identified early and the wing wrapped to the body it will be normal.

This doesn't exactly look like Angel Wing since his feathers individually look twisted. So perhaps more information will help--is it one or both wings, when did you first notice it, do the shafts of the feathers look like they are twisted/curling or is it the bone of the wing itself, any other feathers look abnormal??--that sort of information!

He is very handsome!

Ok, I went out and tried to look him over a bit. It's not angel wing, I've seen and treated that on my duck, and this guys wings folds up the correct way.
It seems to be his secondary feathers (the ones that stay on top when the wing folds up). When I looked at it, they didn't really look twisted. (I took the above picture about a month ago, and I looked closer at the pic and it looks like maybe just the one feather is twisted) They just seem to go away from the body instead of laying against it. But the feathers themselves look pretty straight. one feather did fall out when I was wrestling him, and the shaft on that had the slightest curve to it. His bones seem to be tight up against his body from what I could tell. I thought when I took this picture that it was only one wing, but when I looked tonight it is both wings. I know at least one wing was like that through the summer. He just turned a year old, and he is from Greenfire. I'll have to have my husband help me hold him when he is off work, and maybe I can get a few more pics of him, and look him over better.

And thank you, I think he's handsome too. I wanted to keep him because I like his coloring, and he doesn't have a crest. But I also don't want to sell people chicks that are going to have weird feathers

 

[ki4got]

Hi everyone! First time posting on the SFH thread. I wanted to see if anyone know what caused this roosters feathers to twist out at the bottom. Is it hereditary, or something else? I'm trying to decide which of my 4 roosters I want to rehome. I love his coloring but don't want to keep him if it can be passed on. I tried to do a search, and it kept coming back with info on geese and ducks.

he is nice, but personally i'd pick another roo that has better mottling. but that's just me.

as for the feathers curling, any kind of stresses while growing can cause feather changes like curling or 'stress bars' where there's a dotted line across the feather where it looks like it's been chewed or something... also, I've seen mites/lice cause feather damage to growing feathers as well, because they're feeding on the blood that's intended to nourish the growing feather, so it comes out odd. damage to blood feathers when they're growing (again parasites or physical damage) can cause oddities as well... if you are willing, hang onto him until his next moult, and see what happens.

 

[DeltaBluezTess]

I just picked up four eggs from my four hens. Two are nice, big for medium and two are just medium. The smaller ones are same size as the RIR, the larger one are equal to my Leghorns, but just a hair smaller, but not much. The hens are the same size and sibling, about 18 months old. I grabbed one to see how much she weighed and I guess about 5 lbs. She wasn't too happy but soon forgave me when I gave her some bread.

Amazing how food makes them forgive you!

 

[gardengoats11]

Found our first SFH egg when I got home from work Monday. Hopefully they all get some practice laying before the days get too short.

 

[RedRidge]

I just picked up four eggs from my four hens. Two are nice, big for medium and two are just medium. The smaller ones are same size as the RIR, the larger one are equal to my Leghorns, but just a hair smaller, but not much.

Interesting... my SFH eggs are what I would classify as medium.
The HRIR eggs are very large.
The only birds I have which lay smaller eggs than the SFH are the d'Uccles.
But my HRIR are much larger birds than my SFH.
So are my SFH eggs smaller than usual, or the HRIR larger than usual?

 

[RedRidge]

Hi everyone! First time posting on the SFH thread. I wanted to see if anyone know what caused this roosters feathers to twist out at the bottom. Is it hereditary, or something else? I'm trying to decide which of my 4 roosters I want to rehome. I love his coloring but don't want to keep him if it can be passed on. I tried to do a search, and it kept coming back with info on geese and ducks.

If he were the only SFH roo I had and I felt I had to use him, I'd make sure I bred him to a hen with lots of flowers.
I am not sure he has enough varying flowers to be classified as a SFH... but that would be for someone else to say.
Where is that line? not sure...

 

[SunnySkies]

Someone was asking about eggs.

Here is a photo. I have an AA battery for comparison.

To label the eggs, the top left is a a Silkie egg, with a Maran and an EE next to it. These hens are 14 months, 10 months and 10 months respectively. The bottom left one is also from a 10 month old Maran (I have two). I have a 13 month old Maran that normally lays a very dark brown egg of similar size, but she isn't laying right now.

The rest are all pullet eggs. The light ones are from my SFHs, that just started laying in the last month. The darker ones are ones from sex-links that just started laying in the last 3 weeks.