Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[CackleJoy]

LOL I'm guessing you mean your 'red based' chick to be splash? red/white? they're nearly ALL red-based, with varying amounts of blue or black or splash (white).

I probably used the wrong term for colors

Now that the feathers are coming in I can see that the "black" isn't really black either. Getting them in the sunshine instead of under the red brooder lamp makes a difference!

The trio - you can see the one is probably going to be a blue splash and the foremost will be more red. I don't know what the back one will be. It's the vaulted skull. (2nd photo)

 

[puglady]

A few pics of the new crew. Thank you KI4got! I'll try to get a couple of pics of my other new roo later tonight

 

[CountryHen19]

@CountryHen19 , you lucked out w/ a pretty assortment of colors in you pullets! Too bad on the no Rooster rule...any chance you could take your ladies for a visit to someone near you w/ a good sfh roo? you would get at least 10 days of fertile eggs from visit so you could hatch some chicks that way , just an idea if you really wanted to keep your girls in the sfh gene pool and fun if you wanted to raise some chicks.

Thank you! My acquaintance who we got them from wanted to give us a good color assortment- she did right by us. At the time, I was such a novice that I was like "whatever". Now I realize how nice that was of her.

I thought about doing that- DH balked when I told him earlier about what you said. So I don't know what we will do, as of right now. The woman who we got them from sent me a reply today and she is willing to "work" with us regarding roosters. Its so frustrating because only one neighbor has a problem. My other neighbor (who the other one complained to) asked us a couple weeks ago where our roosters were-- I was like "what the heck"?? small town drama for sure!

 

[FeyRaine]

Thank you! My acquaintance who we got them from wanted to give us a good color assortment- she did right by us. At the time, I was such a novice that I was like "whatever". Now I realize how nice that was of her.

I thought about doing that- DH balked when I told him earlier about what you said. So I don't know what we will do, as of right now. The woman who we got them from sent me a reply today and she is willing to "work" with us regarding roosters. Its so frustrating because only one neighbor has a problem. My other neighbor (who the other one complained to) asked us a couple weeks ago where our roosters were-- I was like "what the heck"?? small town drama for sure!

Very nice of the person you got them from

The pullets are young looking, so you have awhile to work on getting the DH to see the logic of taking the chickens on a date ;> (Shipped eggs are such a gamble, and so costly, and a nice drive in the country could be a fun day trip for ya'll, etc I'm sure others can help think of reasons this a good idea...)

As for Rooster related drama it happens out here in the country too. Half the places on our rd. have 30 acres each, the rest are divided up so one dirt side rd has about 5 places packed into maybe 2 acres, one guy there who sits on 1/4 acre and regularly gets drunk & fires a pistol at random off his porch (ie directly into other neighbor's woods, areas where kids play etc.) has the @#$% to do that and then be so anti-rooster that to "payback" his 2 rooster owning next door neighbors he has taken to leaving a speaker on feedback when he is not home, 1/2 mile away at my place it sounds like a tornado siren in the distance, all rather nutty stuff and per the local law enforcement all of it (the shooting, the roosters, and the revenge feedback noise) are completely legal and ok to continue. I hear the 3rd neighbor on the guy's other side started building a chicken coop last weekend, yep no end to the drama urban or rural...

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Well no eggs from the sfh gals today of course now that they are the only white-cream-brown layers in the pen, maybe tomorrow.

 

[CountryHen19]

yep no end to the drama urban or rural...

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That is one crazy neighbor! Can't say I am surprised though. My DH's family is from Alabama and very hillbilly (they literally live in the hills) so that pretty much jives with the stories I've heard.

The funny thing is we live in an rural city--supposedly the smallest "city" in Indiana according Wikipedia (or not) but there's only 1500 people here in the city proper.
We live just in the "city" but have decent sized lots. Definitely not big but we are a small town surrounded by fields and rivers. Our neighbor to our west is the Fire Chief and who is anti-rooster. The neighbor who is behind him and kitty-cornered from us (who is planning on getting 3 chickens this year!) is the city Treasurer. The fourth neighbor behind us and next to her is the one who asked us about the roosters is the Councilman for our area. The anti-rooster Fire Chief can't stand us so much that he put a one-sided wooden fence blocking us from their view. They also sprayed something on our brand new fence and killed our grass 1-2 feet inside our fence-- so much that the ground eroded from not having grass there. A hole appeared so our smaller mini dachshund could sneak out. All thanks to their spraying of our grass...

I know this pretty much OT and I apologize. Was talking with the Treasurer recently and she gave us some more "history" about our fellow neighbor and also that a bunch of other people are asking about chickens. I was excited to hear this because it would be cool to have others around me keep them

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

To me, there is no sound worse than a barking dog. Yet dogs are permitted in apartments and other close confines.

Back on topic: I set 5 SFH with my EE eggs back on the 13th and so far all are developing. I took some pictures yesterday of my "test hatch" from earlier this year because I'd like opinions on gender. I've got one definite splash cockerel but the other 3 are less obvious. Once I get them off of my camera I'll upload here. They got to go out in the grass inside of our little chain-link pen and they were pleased as punch to pick at the grass all afternoon. I also took a few pictures of my chicks that hatched at the beginning of this month.

 

[redhen689]

I'm just stopping in to say "Hi!"
It's been a while since I've checked in.
Currently I have 3 adult SFH, 1 is broody and sitting on fake eggs.

I wish I could give her a couple SFH chicks to raise, but I don't really have space for more than 6-8 hens in my coop and DH would kill me if i added more. The other two hens have been laying an average of 5 eggs each per week. (I got rid of the roosters in February, because DH hates roosters.)
I have 4 SFH that are 7 weeks old today. I was thinking 2 girls and 2 boys, based on comb size, but only one of them has definite wattles at this time, so maybe 3 girls and a boy? The rooster will be going away when he starts crowing.
I'll post some photos later.

 

[redhen689]

The broody hen growls at me and won't make eye contact.

A few shots of the 7 week-olds. The one with the most white is definitely a roo.

 

[Leahs Mom]

well, I sent out 4 sfh birds yesterday. first time shipping and I'm glad to say all 4 made it to their home today. hoping to hear (soon?) that they arrived in good shape.

1 boy and 3 girls...

I am very interested to read more about your shipping experience You know I avoid getting even shipped chicks...and your rooster inquiry has me thinking about shipping adult birds.... How old were these and how long did it take for them to arrive?

Oh...and some roo head shots. He was pretty young here.




This boy was from Beth's eggs; hatched December 30, 2012

 

[Bulldogma]

Tonight I went out to put the chickens to bed and as I always do, I had a few minutes to snuggle with Ali who LOVES being held. As I was holding her, there was a beating of wings and I soon found myself acting as a perch for Marta who happily settled down and went to sleep on my shoulder. Before long, Alma and Precious were eying the new perching option. I quickly put Ali down (much to her chagrin) and after a number of failed attempts at getting Marta down, squatted down and went under the actual perch, forcing her to step onto that perch to avoid being brushed onto the ground.
As I moved to make my escape from the coop, Ali, Marta, Alma and Precious were hot on my heels! Ali actually made it out the coop door with me... but I think it was simply a ploy to be held one last time before bed.
G'night all!