Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Melabella]

Hello Melabella,

The last couple batches have been from my own chickens, and they didn´t have any other breeds in with them. I got them last year as hatching eggs from a breeder here in Austria. I don´t know where he got them from, but he´s got a good reputation here as a breeder of rare breeds, and I do trust him when he says they´re purebred (I´ve gotten other breeds from him before with good results). My chicks that have been chipmunks turn out to be pretty typical-looking sfh´s, but I do love the look of them as chicks. Here are a couple of pictures of older chickens that were chipmunks after hatching:


The new babies are doing well, and are getting their first feathers already. Will post pics later when they´ve feathered out a little more. By the way, have a trip to Stockholm booked for the beginning of May, and got a list of breeders in and around Stockholm (thanks Bulldogma). Will be contacting them soon so I can take some hatching eggs home with me! I want to add to the genetic diversity of my flock. I´ll let you know if I get any chipmunks (hoping of course that customs and the trip etc. won´t make any problems and that some of the eggs will hatch, but seeing I´m traveling within the EU I hope it´ll be ok). Can´t wait!

This is SO very helpful Alpine, thank you! I would love to see pictures of your adult birds too! How exciting your news about Stockholm. Keep us posted, and yes, I hope that you carrying the eggs will give you a far better result than shipping them! Maybe you could ask about the chipmunk striping when you get to the experienced breeders in Sweden, I would love to hear their insights about this subject.


Thank you for all your help!

MB

 

[Alpine Chicken]

This is SO very helpful Alpine, thank you! I would love to see pictures of your adult birds too! How exciting your news about Stockholm. Keep us posted, and yes, I hope that you carrying the eggs will give you a far better result than shipping them! Maybe you could ask about the chipmunk striping when you get to the experienced breeders in Sweden, I would love to hear their insights about this subject.


Thank you for all your help!

MB

Here you go (please excuse my last 2 Brahma as photo-bombers):
Roo Nr. 1:

And some of his girls:


He is the father of these 3 young pullets:


Who this boy, who until now has had to live at the outskirts of the flock always being chased away by Roo Nr 1, now has all to his own in his own coop and run (please excuse the poo, but it was the only good picture I got of him):

And so he has a grown-up girl to play with until the others are bigger, he gets this one too:


My 2 favorite girls:

 

[Melabella]

Here you go (please excuse my last 2 Brahma as photo-bombers):
Roo Nr. 1:

And some of his girls:


He is the father of these 3 young pullets:


Who this boy, who until now has had to live at the outskirts of the flock always being chased away by Roo Nr 1, now has all to his own in his own coop and run (please excuse the poo, but it was the only good picture I got of him):

And so he has a grown-up girl to play with until the others are bigger, he gets this one too:


My 2 favorite girls:

Ah the inner makings of flock dynamics! Very pretty birds! That black and white hen is so beautiful, I would love to have one like her. So nice Alpine, thanks for sharing those!

MB

 

[redrooster99]

Good luck collecting anything. It is your responsibility to protect your chickens from preditors, and shame on you for even considering shooting a dog for doing what is instinctive.

I'll shoot a dog in a heartbeat for messing with my chickens.

 

[Ashdoes]

I'll shoot a dog in a heartbeat for messing with my chickens.

I've gone back and read quite a bit of this thread, and saw about the chickens being attacked and killed...I also wouldn't hesitate to take out an animal attacking my birds. With that said, where I live, we have what's called open range rules. Hope I got that right. If your property isn't fenced, you have to accept who may or may not move around your land. Dogs, horses and people. So, we fenced our first acre as a back yard, with three rail and goat wire over it...then we made a chicken run inside that, connected to the barn. I wouldn't even warn owners of animals in my fenced area. They'd have to climb or dig to get in, that makes them eagerly aggressive and I'm not going to deal with that lightly. Our back acre is unfenced and I've had my share of dogs and cats back there. I ignore them. Even when they make my dogs crazy. Our neighborhood is 175 2.5 acre lots, so it's big, but few people. Usually only when a new person moves in, is when we'll have a roaming animal. Generally because they haven't figured out how to keep them in yet. We have a neighborhood website to talk to each other, and I have absolutely warned them, "if your dog attacks my chickens (not cheap animals by any means) they will be shot, and you will pay me for them."
I'm sure people think we are crazy, but, I don't mind.

 

[gimmie birdies]

We live in a rural development area too, most lots are at least 1 acre, ours is almost 2. my fenced chicken area is about 1/4 acre. we have a deer fence. I have had flying predators get my birds, but it had been a while since 4 legged brand came about. I def want to keep out wild birds this year. I am going to feed my hens inside the coop.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
in Virginia, any animal chasing/harassing/killing livestock on private property can legally be shot.

we had 2 semi feral danes attack a miniature horse colt years ago (he's 10 now) which left him with slight vision impairment on one eye and a few scars to show for it, but fortunately he healed well and has no lasting fear of dogs. (or anything else LOL) those dogs were shot and the owner was required to pay all the vet bills plus damages. I'm sure they were nice loving dogs when in the house, but it's up to the owner to make sure his animals play by the rules or they are the ones forced to pay the price.

my own dog is never on leash or even wearing a collar unless we're in the car going somewhere. but he also doesn't wander or chase other animals (unless commanded to LOL like when it comes time to drive the turkey into the coop at night)

if I have a loose dog on my property, and IF I can catch him before anything is damaged, owners are called if he has tags, otherwise he goes to animal control. the owners are given a warning. I WILL shoot dogs bothering my livestock, whether it's horses, chickens, goats, etc.

 

[malndobe]

I picked up this rooster a couple weeks ago, excuse the "iron bars" but he's still in a quarantine cage before he goes out with the flock. The lady I got him from thought he was a SFH rooster, but really wasn't that sure on the various breeds she had, she had gotten 4 chicks from someone, 2 ended up being roosters and had been replaced by pullets, but she wasn't sure on any of the breeds (Wellsummer, Splash Orp and Splash Maran )

So, SFH Rooster, yes or no?

 

[THeelChickinKY]

@Alpine Chicken
Oh, wow! Melabella beat me to telling you how beautiful that black and white girl is, specifically in the third picture from the last where she's in the pop door. She is so striking!

 

[Melabella]

I picked up this rooster a couple weeks ago, excuse the "iron bars" but he's still in a quarantine cage before he goes out with the flock. The lady I got him from thought he was a SFH rooster, but really wasn't that sure on the various breeds she had, she had gotten 4 chicks from someone, 2 ended up being roosters and had been replaced by pullets, but she wasn't sure on any of the breeds (Wellsummer, Splash Orp and Splash Maran )

So, SFH Rooster, yes or no?

Hi!

Not an expert, have only owned SFH since last May, but yes.. he looks like a blue based SFH cockerel. I like to see yellow legs on my Swedes, but lighter legs like this one do occur, and are acceptable. From what I can see he looks like a nice boy. He has very nice flowering on his chest, which you don't see on all cockerels, and he also is growing nice gold hackle feathers. Nice broad chest, and he has a nice tight wing. There is no Standard for this landrace breed, but he seems to posses some nice qualities. Something to check for are sprigs on his comb, which are undesirable for breeding, and split wing.

Nice to see someone following good flock practices, and quarantining! Good Luck with him, send more pictures as he develops!

MB