Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[ki4got]

happy new year sfh friends. 8)

I hadn't planned it this way, but it appears I have a new years day hatch going! the latest installment of Leigh's chicks are getting here slowly. 8)

had 5 out last night when I went to bed (midnight) and more pipped and zipping at that time.

25 made it to lockdown. we'll see what we get...

looks like my own eggs may have frozen before collection, I don't see any development at all yet and I set them 5 days ago. but i'll give it another day or 3.

 

[wildhorseannie]

I raised 5 to adulthood. I ended up keeping one, who is extremely sweet and has never come at me. Of the others, three were fiesty.
I really wanted to keep more than one free ranging on 4 acres. I found them to gang up on the hens, breeding them one after the other. I
couldn't take it and for the sake of the hens decided to just keep my one sweet boy.

While I have had few boys who showed human aggression I did, however, find that the roos were opportunistic and when one would do his job all the others would run over and I also did not like seeing my girls being treated like this. I have culled more roos for not treating the girls right than for human aggression. I now have separate yards and coops for roos that 'make the cut' and their girls.
Thinking on all the birds I have grown, and feedback from customers who have bought from me, I would estimate that 20-25% of Bazingas' sons showed any human aggression.

 

[wildhorseannie]

Wowzers!!! He's stunning! Does he have any yellowish-orange anywhere on him? I rather wonder if the same thing is at play with a gene that mutes the red like my girl (from your eggs)??





And by the way - with her unique color, she's one of my favorites!!!!

Leigh, the cockerel has a pinkish hue to his wings. I will try to get some better pictures.
So, this interesting girl hatched from eggs you got from me? Which set, the most recent?
Just curious.

 

[Bulldogma]

happy new year sfh friends. 8)

I hadn't planned it this way, but it appears I have a new years day hatch going! the latest installment of Leigh's chicks are getting here slowly. 8)

had 5 out last night when I went to bed (midnight) and more pipped and zipping at that time.

25 made it to lockdown. we'll see what we get...

looks like my own eggs may have frozen before collection, I don't see any development at all yet and I set them 5 days ago. but i'll give it another day or 3.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a great hatch!! Any of Birta's (B) hatch that you know of? Marta (the other lovely black/white girl from the same hatch as Birta, finally started laying as has Gunnar's last daughter (Mille Fleur) and that EE you gave me with the funky tail. All within the last 3 days!

Leigh, the cockerel has a pinkish hue to his wings. I will try to get some better pictures.
So, this interesting girl hatched from eggs you got from me? Which set, the most recent?
Just curious.

WHA - She is from the eggs you brought to Gilmanor - she hatched October 13th. I have Some lovely birds from that hatch and this sweet girl really stands out in a crowd! I'll bet your cockerel has the same basic color genetics going on. I also got a "dalmatian" in the same batch. A white pullet with dark feathers here and there... but I'm not sure if she was from your eggs or my eggs that hatched at the same time. LOL. She may be from my splash girl Elinor + Sorenson. This breed is just so much fun! Some really, really neat birds and colors for sure!

 

[tlmotzkus]

hens stopped laying ! this is my first winter with Swedish flower hens. I have 6 hens and 2 roosters in their own coop with a light coming on at 3 am. I was getting 2 to 4 eggs daily up until a week ago. then they just stopped laying. I only got 1 egg in the last 7 days. is this normal ??

 

[Bulldogma]

hens stopped laying ! this is my first winter with Swedish flower hens. I have 6 hens and 2 roosters in their own coop with a light coming on at 3 am. I was getting 2 to 4 eggs daily up until a week ago. then they just stopped laying. I only got 1 egg in the last 7 days. is this normal ??

Yes.

Changes in the amount of daylight, temperatures, etc. can wreak havoc with their laying. They could also be doing a late molt. Be patient, and give them plenty of meat protein like raw liver.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Karen - and anyone else with genetic knowledge...

I asked over at another place, but I'll post here too. I'm curious how this little one looks so much like her bio-mom and not at all like the bio-dad. It seems like she got all of mom's coloring and nothing from the dad. Now I know nothing about genetics so this is a totally ignorant question. (define ignorant: Uneducated.) So maybe you can educate me a bit on this.

Here is bio-mom at 16 weeks.:


And bio-dad at 8 mos:



And their kiddo at 16 weeks.

 

[ki4got]

Karen - and anyone else with genetic knowledge...

I asked over at another place, but I'll post here too. I'm curious how this little one looks so much like her bio-mom and not at all like the bio-dad. It seems like she got all of mom's coloring and nothing from the dad. Now I know nothing about genetics so this is a totally ignorant question. (define ignorant: Uneducated.) So maybe you can educate me a bit on this.

ok the sfh seems to be all over with the e-locus mutations, some seem to be partridge (eb), wheaten (eWh), extended black (E) or wild type (e+) don't think I've seen any birchen-based ones, but I may be wrong there...

the different e-locus mutations affect PRIMARILY the hens, changing the pattern and amount of pigmentation shown.

if you look closely, the first three images, the rooster is identical. the next, black replaces the red wing triangle, the last is extended black.

Wheaten (eWh) - compared to the wild type, the red breast is changed to white, the hackle striping and black stippling found on the body feathers is absent.


wild type (e+)


partridge (eb) - the same basic coloration as the wild type, but the body color is extended to the breast as well, and the stippling on the feathers is more dense, making the overall color darker.


birchen (eR) - the rooster lacks the red wing triangle (also called crow-wing in some breeds), the pigmentation on the hen's body becomes entirely black except her neck and hackles which remain a lot like the wild type, but usually with heavier black markings.


extended black (E) - in the sfh, you may see a lot of red leakage on these birds (especially roosters) most likely because the bird is only heterozygous for E, and most pure black breeds also have additional melanizers to further intensify the black pigmentation.

now... back to your question... chickens are *normally* very dimorphic - the rooster has one color pattern, the hen another. depending on the mutations involved, some breeds appear identical, but we're not working with a set single color pattern, so dimorphism will be common for us IMO. ALL sfh have mottled. I'm simply ignoring that right now. most also carry Columbian, which gives them the tri-color feather pattern (if E is involved, the Columbian pattern may be overridden). also, your hen was blue, which means that half of her offspring would also be blue - which the pullet is. that simply fades black to a grey color.

so lets just concentrate on the BASE pattern of the birds... looking at your roo, you can tell he's either wheaten, partridge or wild type-based. more likely a combination of 2 of them. if E were involved, he'd be more heavily black marked.

looking at the original hen, I would guess she's either e+ or eb (or combined) from the red/brown coloration on her breast.

the pullet looks more RED than brown on the breast, so I would pinpoint her to e+...

so I think the dimorphism is partly throwing people off, but adding blue gives one more layer of confusion...

 

[TxFlowers]

Here are pictures of two young boys I have. I am wondering if the one with more white would be a "splash" and what would the pattern on the other boy with more red would be called? Thanks

 

[ki4got]

Here are pictures of two young boys I have. I am wondering if the one with more white would be a "splash" and what would the pattern on the other boy with more red would be called? Thanks

they are both splash... tail and wing feathers often show the splash markings more than the body will.

and with the combination of mottling and Columbian, that tends to spread the color over more of the body than you'd see without it... so as far as the e-locus is concerned, it's still going to be either wheaten partridge or wild type...