Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[trailrider330]

Just curious, what color roosters you most of you using over your SFH? I know SFH are a landrace, but if one wants to maintain a diversity of colors within their flock, is there a certain color rooster that will do that better than others? For example, with some breeds, using a black rooster will generally produces mostly, or all, black chicks because black is often a dominant gene. Does the same hold true for SFH? Are there colors of SFH that tend to be more dominant than others? Are there colors of SFH that tend to be more recessive than others? What has your experience been?

 

[jamilynn]

Finally picked up my 2 chicks out of 32 eggs. I'm going to buy live chicks later this summer. So I'm really hoping at least one of these two is a rooster so I can have a breeding flock.

 

[LisaLouHoo]

Just curious, what color roosters you most of you using over your SFH?  I know SFH are a landrace, but if one wants to maintain a diversity of colors within their flock, is there a certain color rooster that will do that better than others?  For example, with some breeds, using a black rooster will generally produces mostly, or all, black chicks because black is often a dominant gene.  Does the same hold true for SFH? Are there colors of SFH that tend to be more dominant than others?  Are there colors of SFH that tend to be more recessive than others?  What has your experience been?

Good questions. The SFH follow the blue/black/splash breeding chart. Blue based, black based, and splash (red/white). This would include the Mille fluer patterning, which is seen in blue based and black based. There is also a new rare color called the snoleopard coloring which still comes in blue based and black based. The mahogany color is replaced by a cream or yellow color. I currently have two SFH pens. One has a black-based Roo over diff colored hens. My other pen has a splash Roo over diff colored hens. I hatch all colors of chicks. Here's the chart:

 

[Alpine Chicken]

awesome! Congrats! About a month roughly to start seeing a crest.

Their little crests start at 3-4 weeks. Just like little sprouts. So cute. Your chicks are beautiful!

Thank-you for the congratulations, and thank-you for the answers. I can´t wait to see if I get any crested. It´s already very exciting to see what colors they turn out to be, with a few crested in my flock it will add another dimension of surprise.

 

[Alpine Chicken]

Just curious, what color roosters you most of you using over your SFH? I know SFH are a landrace, but if one wants to maintain a diversity of colors within their flock, is there a certain color rooster that will do that better than others? For example, with some breeds, using a black rooster will generally produces mostly, or all, black chicks because black is often a dominant gene. Does the same hold true for SFH? Are there colors of SFH that tend to be more dominant than others? Are there colors of SFH that tend to be more recessive than others? What has your experience been

Hello!
I have 2 pens with one black-based-roo each, and one larger pen with a blue-based roo and a snoleopard roo. LisaLouHoo already sent you the chart, which is very good to go by. I find the splash roos very pretty, and used to have one. The problem was that I was getting a lot of almost completely white chicks from my splash and blue girls, and nobody really wanted to buy them because they wanted the "colorful" ones. For this reason I would recommend a black- or bluebased roo. If you have a variety of colors in your girls you will still get a nice mix of chicks. The splash roo didn´t end up as soup, though. I found an 80 year-old Lady that was looking for a friendly nice-looking roo and she was very happy to take him in!

 

[LisaLouHoo]

If anyone is interested, I have SFH hatching eggs right now. $45 a doz and $15 to ship. I've gotten excellent feedback on my packing. The consensus with other SFH breeders is that this breed does better with the dry hatch method or under a broody. If you want to give it a try, please pm me.

 

[cutipatooti]

Wanted to know what you all think about my SFH roo. He is the only mature one I have at the moment. He is 21 weeks old from GFF. I want to breed him to some hens I have from TOFH. I think he is handsome and was really impressed with his overall size and growth rate. He is in with various Roos of different breeds and they fight and pick at each other. I will be separating them soon, but they already got his longer tail feathers and some of his hackle feathers.

Is he considered blue based because of his tail feathers or splash? Sorry I'm not good with genetics or up on my colors. Any and all info on him would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[bluejean55girl]

Wanted to know what you all think about my SFH roo. He is the only mature one I have at the moment. He is 21 weeks old from GFF. I want to breed him to some hens I have from TOFH. I think he is handsome and was really impressed with his overall size and growth rate. He is in with various Roos of different breeds and they fight and pick at each other. I will be separating them soon, but they already got his longer tail feathers and some of his hackle feathers.

Is he considered blue based because of his tail feathers or splash? Sorry I'm not good with genetics or up on my colors. Any and all info on him would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

he is a blue. But not a splash. You will get black, blue or splash from him depending on the colors of your hens.

 

[trailrider330]

Any tips for sexing SFHs?

With some of my other breeds, combs start to get pink on the cockerels by 3-4 weeks, and there are even other characteristics that give me good indications before then (dark vs. light chests, wing and tail development, feather development, etc.), but my 6 week old SFHs still have me stumped.

 

[LisaLouHoo]

Any tips for sexing SFHs? 

With some of my other breeds, combs start to get pink on the cockerels by 3-4 weeks, and there are even other characteristics that give me good indications before then (dark vs. light chests, wing and tail development, feather development, etc.), but my 6 week old SFHs still have me stumped.  

They are tricky and some can keep you guessing. The manly cockerels will start revealing their wattles and pink comb close to your 6-week age and sometimes a little sooner. Some people say the rusty color on the wings is an indicator of boy, too. Around 6-8 weeks you'll just see the classic pink combs and wattle forming. I hope you get lots of girls