Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Lana Del Pollo]

I'm new to chicken and decided to get Swedish Flower hens on a whim. I am very happy with them especially my rooster beau.






My poor fig tree.




She has a sprig in her comb (is that how you say it). I notice that most of the others that I had that had crest also have sprigged comb. Are these two think at all related?



I live in central Texas if you anyone wants to swap eggs or chicks with a complete amateur hmu. Once they start laying that is. They still aren't laying D: (I think). They were born on Oct 20, 2014 so any day now right?

 

[Ashdoes]

I just wondered if different chicken breeds have different sounds or "voice" tones. Basically I could tell it was her, because id never heard a squawk like hers in my brooder.

Yes Cream Legbars sound different from any other breed we've had, right from hatch. You should go to the Cream Legbar thread, they'll be helpful as well. But, you're correct that the Legbar shoudlnt have a white chest.

 

[Ashdoes]

We picked Swedish after trial and error with another breed. We fell in love with the Cream Legbars, just reading about them, and thought they would be perfect for us. They were not. I thought for such a new to this country breed they wouldn't need a lot of work, color wise, but I was wrong and I don't have enough genetic knowledge to be any help with that. Then, it turns out the roosters are not nice. The last roo left would run from an acre away just to attack my kids, and that's when we knew we couldn't work with them anymore. The hens are absolutely delightful though, and we still have five of them.
I'm hoping, with the lack of rigidity of the Swedish they'll be more fun to breed, and not so stressful. I really didn't enjoy the week long discussions about what color "cream" is for the Legbars. I just want happy, active chickens that give me eggs, and maybe I can help keep them from disappearing.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have a girlfriend who has a SFH roo and he is nice even to me a visitor, and he is all grown up too.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Some people were talking back and forth in here about purity and what not, just wanted to put in my two cents, but not about chickens. I have a German-American friend who told me a story about how he and his mother went back to Germany. They both spoke German and thought it would be fun to go there since they had never been there. When he walked into a store, the sales ladies said in German when they saw the mom said... "Here comes Miss America.." The son in German said "Hey mom, they think you are Miss America." The German ladies got all red faced about that.

So years later I meet a real German in my town, we were having a visit at our table with many people, and in conversation I wanted to tell the above story. I started to tell him... "I have a friend who is German-American...." He shut me down and said " There is no such thing. You are either German, or American." Guess who was red faced then. Also there was nothing left to say.

 

[Ashdoes]

I have a girlfriend who has a SFH roo and he is nice even to me a visitor, and he is all grown up too.

It's funny how GFF talks about how nice the Cream Legbars are, but it's totally not true. We went through three roosters, and I swear each was worse then the one before it. I'm still talking to a guy I sold eggs to, and even he is now done with them because of the roo. He has to warn visitors because the roo is so mean. You can't fix that kind of problem either, that's in their genes and will take forever to breed out.

 

[Leahs Mom]

We picked Swedish after trial and error with another breed. We fell in love with the Cream Legbars, just reading about them, and thought they would be perfect for us. They were not. I thought for such a new to this country breed they wouldn't need a lot of work, color wise, but I was wrong and I don't have enough genetic knowledge to be any help with that. Then, it turns out the roosters are not nice. The last roo left would run from an acre away just to attack my kids, and that's when we knew we couldn't work with them anymore. The hens are absolutely delightful though, and we still have five of them.
I'm hoping, with the lack of rigidity of the Swedish they'll be more fun to breed, and not so stressful. I really didn't enjoy the week long discussions about what color "cream" is for the Legbars. I just want happy, active chickens that give me eggs, and maybe I can help keep them from disappearing.

Thank you for posting that. I was considering the CLs also for the reasons you stated and also that they can be sexed at hatch. But I've held back for a couple reasons - one being that I don't like crests and the other being the "standard" as you mention....and all the stress associated with that which can become "anal".
...

So far I've loved the SFH. No stressful standard but certainly a type that is obvious, the roo I had is the only roo I've had experience with but he was a good boy and not a nightmare like I read about so many other breeds. And with a few exceptions, the girls I've had are good natured. I have to admit that I prefer no crests and black-based...even predominantly black. But the variety of color and just the beautiful body shape and feathering is also just lovely eye candy to me.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Laurissa,

I was told any mahogany colored bird will have white tips in the teenage stage. This is an EE, I believe now.

 

[Ashdoes]

I'm not even sure "anal" is the word I'd use to describe some of the discussions that come up for some of the breed standards. The creams only existed over seas for years, as soon as they get here, they're wrong? How is that possible? It's a mess.

I've also become quite fond of the blacks I'm seeing, they're just so pretty. But, I do love the bright orange ones, with blue base I believe it is. I really am looking forward to the color of the SFH.

 

[ridinshotgun]

Well I just have to vent and say I really hate people that let their dogs run free. Over the last few months I have lost over a dozen chickens usually in the late afternoon after I let them out of their electric net enclosure. I couldn't figure out what was doing it but thought it had been dogs since my dog acts all crazy in the yard after other dogs have been in it.

Well today I found the culprits in the act killing two of my good SFH. It was two neighborhood dogs. I went out with all intents to kill both of them with the shotgun but the one scooted off into the woods and saw a collar and it came up to me when a called to it. I tied it up and called the Sheriff who sent out the AC deputy who arrived a little after the neighbor did looking for his dog.

The deputy explained in no small detail I had all rights to kill the neighbor's dog and he faced a fine if I wanted to press charges. I said if I ever see them again they are dead right there. The deputy suggested he reimburse me for the chickens to avoid court and dangerous dog charges. The owner was apologetic and agreed to pay me value ($30 a head) for my chickens. He also admitted that his dogs had brought chicken bodies home before but he didn't know where they had come from. Yeah OK whatever, I am the only neighbor in about a mile with chickens and every one knows who I am because of the eggs I supply. He did agree to pay me for a total of 4 SFH, two killed today and two whose bodies he found in the yard. The AC deputy said he was getting off light but he needs to keep the dogs penned up or on a leash otherwise they are going to end up dead and him in court.

Now I get to spend the next 9 months hatching eggs and growing out some more pullets to replace the 8 I have lost this winter to the dogs. How depressing.