Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Alpine Chicken]

Here´s an update on these 4 chicks I hatched in November:


Now they´re 2 1/2 months old:
One blue-based boy:

One red boy:

One black-based boy:


And one snoleopard-looking pullet:

Definitely going to keep the pullet. Thinking of keeping one of the boys; tending towards the blue one. Not going to keep the black-based one because he´s smaller than the other two and I need to breed for more size in my flock. I´d be happy to hear any opinions on the other two.
Melabella- thanks for the pics of Nero, he´s always gorgeous to look at. Love his daughters too!

 

[Alpine Chicken]

And since we had a warm spell in December and my girls decided to lay again for awhile, I put some eggs in the bator and got these babies. Got a better hatch rate this time (the last few times I used the dry-incubation method and it didn´t work out too well for me. This time I had them at 30-40% humidity until day 18 and then upped to around 70%, and got 12 chicks out of 14 eggs:



This one has a really blue-looking spot on its back and head (hard to see in the picture, though), curious to see how he turns out:

 

[feathersaloft]

I'm not overly impressed with the flock protection capabilities of my SFH cockerel, who just turned 9 months old. I've lost 2 pullets and 1 hen over the past month to a Coopers hawk while the flock of 13 (now 10) hens and pullets have been under his charge. I've kept a free-ranging flock since 2011, and have never lost more than 1 hen per year until now. This is the first year I've had a rooster in the flock, and the losses to hawks have been higher than in the past when the flock lacked a rooster. It doesn't make sense. Are SFH cockerels/roosters more likely to run or take cover than protect the flock? Will his skills improve over time? Anyway, the flock is now confined to the coop and run for a couple of weeks in hopes the hawk will move to another neighborhood for take-out chicken.

I personally think the hawks are more abundant and more agressive than in past years.
I also fly racing pigeons, and each year lose more of them to the hawks as well.
Darn things are protected, so my hands are tied!

 

[Diamantine]

My current roo, Coolio, impressing one of his henny pennies, May

 

[LisaLouHoo]

My current roo, Coolio, impressing one of his henny pennies, May

Go tell it on the mountain, Coolio! Good pic taking, too.

 

[justdishy]

Hello, I'm succumbing to the temptation of the SFH birds. Are any of you in Washington state? Would love to get a few chicks this spring. Currently I have Australorp, Welsummer, Wyandottes, and Easter Eggers.

 

[morgan85]

Have any of you gotten any Swedish Flower Hens from Blue House Farm in NC? I have an order in and was just curious if anyone had any from them. Thanks!!

 

[Raven625]

Blue House Farms has nice birds, at least the ones I've received were. I got Swedish Flower, And Barnevelders from her. I only have one Swede from there, as that's all I got to hatch, and she's a really nice bird, she rates among one of the best SFH hens that I have. The Barnevelders were very nice too.

 

[morgan85]

Blue House Farms has nice birds, at least the ones I've received were. I got Swedish Flower, And Barnevelders from her. I only have one Swede from there, as that's all I got to hatch, and she's a really nice bird, she rates among one of the best SFH hens that I have. The Barnevelders were very nice too.

I am glad to hear this. I am also getting some barnevelders and Wheaton/blue Wheaton americauna from them.

 

[cutipatooti]

I am glad to hear this. I am also getting some barnevelders and Wheaton/blue Wheaton americauna from them.

I got barnevelders, SFH, and ameraucanas from bluehouse. They were all great quality. I will be working with bluehouse again.