Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[GNRMorgans]

GFF didn't say the SFH eggs were particularly large but that there was plenty being layed by them so I took that to mean the SFH eggs were plentiful but smaller. Do I understand that you have mixed your breeds into one flock or are your breeds separated? You mentioned your Marans were easily bossed is why I wondered if you had a mixed flock? Our one Cuckoo Marans was a mean one and we had to re-home her - she was easily put in her place by the alpha White Leghorn female but then the Marans next decided to viciously attack the gentle Silkies so we re-homed her. Our friends re-homed their BCMs for the same reason - they were too obnoxious toward the gentle breeds - from nipping at passers-by to downright full attacks on smaller Silkies. Eventually the White Leg and a Buff Leg had to be re-homed because they became too assertive also. Which brings me back to ask how SFHs behave around smaller gentler chicken breeds in the flock? We can't have LF that have tendencies to bully gentle breeds which our Silkies, Ameraucana, and Breda are gentle souls. I have researched and asked enough questions about SFH behavior toward humans and their own SFH flockmates to know they are mellower as a LF breed but I wonder how SFH would do if placed in a situation where all the other flockmates are gentle and non-combative. I'm on the fence about the gentleness of a SFH female placed with 2 gentle Silkie hens, a non-combative Ameraucana hen, and a small lightweight Breda pullet. You said the SFHs stick up for themselves but "don't go crazy about" - do you mean they're non-aggressive but will combat if confronted by others? My Ameraucana will choose to flee rather than engage in any combat - even if cornered. I suppose I am looking for a docile breed and SFH so far doesn't sound like it - what say you?

We have a couple of SFH in with our Silkies, EEs, Sussex, etc...I have not found them to be bullies in any way. I have yet to see them go after the Silkies, who are completely at the bottom of the pecking order.

 

[Sylvester017]

We have a couple of SFH in with our Silkies, EEs, Sussex, etc...I have not found them to be bullies in any way. I have yet to see them go after the Silkies, who are completely at the bottom of the pecking order.

That is reassuring hearing that your breeds are mixed together. Are they all in a large pen together or are they open yard ranged? Are they still in the pullet stage or are they matured adults? Are they all mixed with roos or do you have just hens together? I hesitated considering a Coronation Sussex hen - even though reportedly a mellow breed - because Sussex are so big reaching up to 7+ lbs and Silkies are roughly only 2 lbs. If a Sussex decided to push her weight around I feared the Silkies would get the short end of the stick, especially since we've already re-homed 3 LF breeds too aggressive for Silkies. That's why I'm trying to get as much input as I can about SFH females before adding one to our little flock. Breed temperament is our primary focus with production not as important. I mean chickens will be chickens and there will always be an alpha hen when there's no roo but we definitely don't want the more assertive natures of general dual-purpose LFs. From experience we've eliminated the RIRs, BRs, Marans, NHRs, and Legs including all of the Mediterranean class too. From our friend's experience we have eliminated Orps, OEs (Marans based), Javas, Red Sexlinks, and Leg hybrids. Some ppl experienced sporadic incidences with Wyans so we decided not to risk such a large hen with smaller lightweight gentles. I personally adore the smaller Dominique LF yet have been advised they may be too spunky with Silkies. My Ameraucana will flee to avoid conflict and the little Breda pretty much stays out of everyone's face, but sometimes my Silkies don't back down from a challenge and obviously will get throttled if a LF is too aggressive towards them. I'm trying to keep flock additions with gentle temperaments at approx 5-lbs-or-under. SFH owners have given me some nice feedback. Sometimes the pullets of any breed are mellow but when they reach maturity anywhere from 18 months to 3 years they start employing their aggressive behavior. So far we haven't seen aggressive tendencies in the Silkie, Ameraucana, or Breda and our friends have had extremely good EE adult hens. I know Araucana, Brahma, Cochin, Crevecoeur, Dorking, Faverolles, Houdan, Pavlovskaja, Polish, Russian Orloff, and Sultans are reportedly gentle or docile but I was trying to get away from any more crested, bearded, muffed, feather-footed, vulture-hocked, 5-toed breeds and just get one "normal" looking non-assertive chicken breed - LOL. Thank you so much for your generous and kind input!

 

[GNRMorgans]

That is reassuring hearing that your breeds are mixed together. Are they all in a large pen together or are they open yard ranged? Are they still in the pullet stage or are they matured adults? Are they all mixed with roos or do you have just hens together? I hesitated considering a Coronation Sussex hen - even though reportedly a mellow breed - because Sussex are so big reaching up to 7+ lbs and Silkies are roughly only 2 lbs. If a Sussex decided to push her weight around I feared the Silkies would get the short end of the stick, especially since we've already re-homed 3 LF breeds too aggressive for Silkies. That's why I'm trying to get as much input as I can about SFH females before adding one to our little flock. Breed temperament is our primary focus with production not as important. I mean chickens will be chickens and there will always be an alpha hen when there's no roo but we definitely don't want the more assertive natures of general dual-purpose LFs. From experience we've eliminated the RIRs, BRs, Marans, NHRs, and Legs including all of the Mediterranean class too. From our friend's experience we have eliminated Orps, OEs (Marans based), Javas, Red Sexlinks, and Leg hybrids. Some ppl experienced sporadic incidences with Wyans so we decided not to risk such a large hen with smaller lightweight gentles. I personally adore the smaller Dominique LF yet have been advised they may be too spunky with Silkies. My Ameraucana will flee to avoid conflict and the little Breda pretty much stays out of everyone's face, but sometimes my Silkies don't back down from a challenge and obviously will get throttled if a LF is too aggressive towards them. I'm trying to keep flock additions with gentle temperaments at approx 5-lbs-or-under. SFH owners have given me some nice feedback. Sometimes the pullets of any breed are mellow but when they reach maturity anywhere from 18 months to 3 years they start employing their aggressive behavior. So far we haven't seen aggressive tendencies in the Silkie, Ameraucana, or Breda and our friends have had extremely good EE adult hens. I know Araucana, Brahma, Cochin, Crevecoeur, Dorking, Faverolles, Houdan, Pavlovskaja, Polish, Russian Orloff, and Sultans are reportedly gentle or docile but I was trying to get away from any more crested, bearded, muffed, feather-footed, vulture-hocked, 5-toed breeds and just get one "normal" looking non-assertive chicken breed - LOL. Thank you so much for your generous and kind input!

Our two Silkies are in with 18 other chickens - a completely mixed flock with one mixed breed rooster. 3 of the hens are Bielefelders and are probably 4x their size! I keep them cooped for the most part - but they get range time in the late afternoon/evening. In the winter they were cooped up 24/7. They get the occasional peck, but seem to know who to stay away from and how to deal. I have 2 separate feeders - so there isn't a limited source of feed to argue over. The one Silkie actually roosts up high with the other hens. Our Silkies heads are not completely feather covered...they have good vision open to them, which might make a difference. Even when they go Broody - there doesn't seem to be a problem. One is broody right now with a black copper marans - and they are both squished into the same nest box. Here is my flock:

3 Andalusians
2 EE's
1 BSL
2 Rhodebars
2 Black Copper Marans
3 Bielefelders
2 Cream Legbars
1 SFH
1 Birchen Sussex
1 Mixed Roo
2 Silkies.

In our grow out pen, we have 2 small Silkies in with BLR Wyandottes, Marans, Ameraucanas and a SFH. These little Silkies do get a bit more of a run around by the larger chicks. But again, they are not pecked or have any injuries, and I do put feed in a variety of areas. Even with this group, I noticed that the SFH gives them less hassle than the other breeds. The Silkies are like little dervishes - they are so fast that the other chicks just can't get them. It's like watching the flight of the bumble bee. However, that being said - they don't look overly stressed. These little ones are cooped up all the time (coop plus run) - they are about 9/10 weeks old and are not yet free ranging.

This afternoon, I will try to get a picture for you.

 

[GNRMorgans]

First Egg! Marigold came through - she's about 22 weeks!

 

[GNRMorgans]

That is reassuring hearing that your breeds are mixed together. Are they all in a large pen together or are they open yard ranged? Are they still in the pullet stage or are they matured adults? Are they all mixed with roos or do you have just hens together?

I took some pictures this afternoon while the flock was ranging together - you'll see the silkies with the SFH. In the one picture, Heidi (Silkie) is sharing the waterbowl with Marigold (SFH).

The rooster is right next to Edelweiss - the white silkie. Heidi is next to the BCM


EE, Bielefelder and roo


At the water cooler....hehehe...I wonder if there is gossip?

Hope this helps! Best of luck choosing a SFH or two to mix in with your Silkies!

 

[Sylvester017]

I took some pictures this afternoon while the flock was ranging together - you'll see the silkies with the SFH. In the one picture, Heidi (Silkie) is sharing the waterbowl with Marigold (SFH).

The rooster is right next to Edelweiss - the white silkie. Heidi is next to the BCM


EE, Bielefelder and roo


At the water cooler....hehehe...I wonder if there is gossip?

Hope this helps! Best of luck choosing a SFH or two to mix in with your Silkies!

That is too precious for words! A nice open range for the flock! Our cottage yard is much smaller and sometimes not enough for 4 hens since we have half of it partitioned off as patio and vegetable garden for the humans' side and the other half for the chickens' free-range side.

We get a new pullet once every 2-3 years so that we are never without at least one good layer at different seasons. The older girls still give eggs but not as often - they are still good as soil tillers and bug chasers though. When we add a new pullet next time we had these smaller docile breeds in mind to choose from: SFH, Pavlovskaja, Orloff, Dominique, possibly a Faverolles. There I go again with most of the docile breeds being crested, bearded, feather-footed, or 5-toed! Pavies and Orloffs don't do well in heat which is us most of the year and they really are not too good at eggs. Favies are docile but are a heavy and fluffy breed and not that great as layers. I like the small Hamburg but it may be a bit too flighty and spunky in our small yard. I know Bielies, Sussex, and EEs are gentle-natured but they are larger than I think our little yard can handle and as for an EE we already have an Ameraucana in our flock.

The SFH and Dom seems like what we've narrowed our choice down to. We've got 4 feather-legged or crested/bearded chickens now and it would be nice to add another lightweight but "normal" looking breed for a change - LOL - and wouldn't it be funny if the SFH we got was not "normal" but one with a crest?

 

[Sylvester017]

First Egg! Marigold came through - she's about 22 weeks!

That's pretty large for a first egg! We had a Buff Leghorn who's first egg was only the size of a Silkie's!

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

GFF didn't say the SFH eggs were particularly large but that there was plenty being layed by them so I took that to mean the SFH eggs were plentiful but smaller. With my other breeds I've found that by the third laying cycle the eggs are dependably large or extra large. This has not been the case with my SFH, but my oldest ones are in the midst of their second full laying cycle so we'll see.

Do I understand that you have mixed your breeds into one flock or are your breeds separated? If I'm not hatching eggs, I keep two different mixed flocks. I have one flock that is mostly SFH with two EEs thrown in because they hatched together. I have a second flock that is Marans, EE, and my remaining Jersey Giant crosses. If I have pullets that are at point of lay, I tend to introduce them into the second flock because there's only ever one cock in that group and that coop has more nest boxes so they can figure things out. As I mentioned, I keep the SFH flock as a two-cock flock because they get along well that way.

You mentioned your Marans were easily bossed is why I wondered if you had a mixed flock? I have Wheaten Marans. They're very sedate and sweet.

Our one Cuckoo Marans was a mean one and we had to re-home her - she was easily put in her place by the alpha White Leghorn female but then the Marans next decided to viciously attack the gentle Silkies so we re-homed her. Our friends re-homed their BCMs for the same reason - they were too obnoxious toward the gentle breeds - from nipping at passers-by to downright full attacks on smaller Silkies. Eventually the White Leg and a Buff Leg had to be re-homed because they became too assertive also. Which brings me back to ask how SFHs behave around smaller gentler chicken breeds in the flock? I only have large fowl so I don't know how they'd do with bantams, but when my SFH are in a mixed-flock situation, they're with my EEs. Usually the dust-ups take place when I let EVERYONE out at the same time- both of the mixed flocks. When that happens, the SFH will go umbrella-necked and stand their ground, but they don't go after any strangers who cross paths. I think they're well-behaved and calm on the whole. I have a few Jersey Giant cross hens still about and though they're about 50% larger than all the others, they never pick fights. I guess they don't feel they need to so they just go about their merry way. I do think people seem to have more trouble with hen on hen aggression when they do not have a male in the flock. Chickens are going to work out a flock hierarchy and every once in a while they're going to come to blows sorting things out if there's not a clearly dominant leader in the group.

We can't have LF that have tendencies to bully gentle breeds which our Silkies, Ameraucana, and Breda are gentle souls. I have researched and asked enough questions about SFH behavior toward humans and their own SFH flockmates to know they are mellower as a LF breed but I wonder how SFH would do if placed in a situation where all the other flockmates are gentle and non-combative. I'm on the fence about the gentleness of a SFH female placed with 2 gentle Silkie hens, a non-combative Ameraucana hen, and a small lightweight Breda pullet. You said the SFHs stick up for themselves but "don't go crazy about" - do you mean they're non-aggressive but will combat if confronted by others? They'll puff up like I said above and will stick up for themselves, but then they leave it at that. They don't pursue other hens nor have they done any feather picking in 3 years. That can be nutritional as much as anything else, though.I've found mine to be very easygoing and they get along great with the EEs who are of similar size. It doesn't sound like you have or are interested in having a cock in your group so the SFH might turn out to be the dominant hen in your arrangement. Dominant doesn't necessarily mean "aggressive" though.

My Ameraucana will choose to flee rather than engage in any combat - even if cornered. I suppose I am looking for a docile breed and SFH so far doesn't sound like it - what say you? I said they are non-aggressive toward people (which is the most important thing as far as I'm concerned) and that they stick up for themselves but don't go crazy about it.To me that is the makings of a docile bird, but if you interpret that as too aggressive, then maybe they aren't right for your flock. I've never had silkies but it sounds like they're the bottom of the totem pole and if SFH were introduced, the silkies would probably still be at the bottom. I've been really happy with how mine behave around other birds and pleased as punch with how they act around my kids. We've culled really hard to weed out any cocks that got uppity with humans (they just get uppity onto our plates!) and that seems to correlate with chickens that get along with each other, too.

I put my replies after your questions as broken out above.

 

[cupofJoelene]

Brand new to the site but have lurked this SFH thread since first laying eyes on these flowered cuties! Today I brought home 10 chickies (varying 1-3 weeks) after FINALLY finding a flock of beautiful GFF birds within a reasonable driving distance. So excited to see how they feather out and to find out what the heck I even have. My last straight run (Doms) are predominately cockerel and it's a bummer... I need some pullet vibes, folks!

Question! I know it's been asked, but I'm DDYYIINNGG to see how black/yellow chicks have feathered out for you guys. SPAM ME WITH YOUR ADORABLE PICTURES, PLEASE!

 

[Sylvester017]

I put my replies after your questions as broken out above.

I didn't heed advice about not mixing bantams with LF and unfortunately the LF breeds we added to our original Silkies turned out way too aggressive and the LF had to be re-homed. We hated to re-home our dual purpose and egg layers but my DH wanted to keep the Silkies so we only choose breeds that play "nice" with the Silkies now. There are many LF that are good with Silkies but they are mostly crested, bearded, muffed, tufted, feather-legged, vulture-hocked, 5-toed, or no-combed breeds. I was hoping to add our 5th and final breed to our docile flock (we're zoned 5 hens and no roos) and have been researching the SFH and the lightweight Dominique as possibilities. I've got mostly fluffy, crested, and feather-legged birds and was hoping to add the last hen as a more "normal" recognizable breed LOL !

Your assessment of your birds and the mixes you have together have been helpful. Roos definitely add a different dynamic to a flock where our flock can be only hens. Since we've re-homed the dual purpose and layer bullies a Silkie for the first time in 4 years is our alpha hen. She keeps everyone respectful (Silkie, Ameraucana, Breda) but with subtle little nuances and no heavy injurious battles like the dual purpose bullies did before. I think you may be correct that - although a gentle breed by LF comparison - the SFH might tend to dominate our docile flock. I believe the SFH is also about a pound heavier than the 4.5 to 5-lb Dom breed and we're targeting to keep all birds 5-lb or under - size for the most part does seem to make a difference in keeping a flock less combative. If we had a large property there'd be no problems but we have a small cottage yard for free range.

Your replies to my questions are very generous and very helpful. Thank you very muchy for your honest assessment about not knowing how your SFH would behave around Silkies. The descriptions and behaviors of your SFH has reinforced a lot of information I've compiled - lovely birds!