Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[cree57i]

The main things to watch for that are defects you don't want to breed in are side sprigs (on the comb) and split wing(missing flight feather). I judge for split wing at 6 to 8 months. I judge for sprigs as early as 8 weeks and up until they are laying age and even keep an eye past that for anything that may pop up. You want yellow legs, some mottling is ok, flesh color is ok, white/black/blue/green legs are not ok.

Watch for good personalities and pics out birds that have the ability to be good layers and also be broad enough to be worth raising for meat. Narrow bodied and pinched tails are removed from my breeders here as they won't grow enough meat to be worth butchering and pinched tails usually indicate poor layers due to the duct being narrow.

Another thing I am culling for are late bloomers. I want to be able to be fairly sure of the sex by 8 weeks and not have surprises.

 

[song of joy]

The main things to watch for that are defects you don't want to breed in are side sprigs (on the comb) and split wing(missing flight feather). I judge for split wing at 6 to 8 months. I judge for sprigs as early as 8 weeks and up until they are laying age and even keep an eye past that for anything that may pop up. You want yellow legs, some mottling is ok, flesh color is ok, white/black/blue/green legs are not ok.

Watch for good personalities and pics out birds that have the ability to be good layers and also be broad enough to be worth raising for meat. Narrow bodied and pinched tails are removed from my breeders here as they won't grow enough meat to be worth butchering and pinched tails usually indicate poor layers due to the duct being narrow.

This is very helpful! Would you happen to have a good picture example of what you mean by "pinched tails" vs. "non-pinched tails". I'm not exactly sure what you mean.

Also, is there an age by which cockerels tend to manifest any people-aggressive traits?

I have a SFH that lays very pointy eggs, and that also is a trait I don't like to see.

 

[minihorse927]

good wide spread

pinched

These were just Google sourced images, not my pics

 

[song of joy]

Thanks!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

The main things to watch for that are defects you don't want to breed in are side sprigs (on the comb) and split wing(missing flight feather). I judge for split wing at 6 to 8 months. I judge for sprigs as early as 8 weeks and up until they are laying age and even keep an eye past that for anything that may pop up. You want yellow legs, some mottling is ok, flesh color is ok, white/black/blue/green legs are not ok.

Watch for good personalities and pics out birds that have the ability to be good layers and also be broad enough to be worth raising for meat. Narrow bodied and pinched tails are removed from my breeders here as they won't grow enough meat to be worth butchering and pinched tails usually indicate poor layers due to the duct being narrow.

Another thing I am culling for are late bloomers. I want to be able to be fairly sure of the sex by 8 weeks and not have surprises.

This is such great information! Thank you so much.

I am definitely gonna have to cull for late blooming! Two who I though were girls just turned into boys.... I'm pretty sure. So my current count is 5 boys and 3 girls. Two to three weeks later than everyone else before their waddles and combs reddened up and some color coming on tail feathers. Will girls EVER have the black/green tail feathers or is that a dead give away?

Any idea by what age they will have their final feather color/pattern? Will sprigs be obvious when they come up? What age do you process these for meat?

Thanks again.

 

[minihorse927]

This is such great information! Thank you so much.

I am definitely gonna have to cull for late blooming! Two who I though were girls just turned into boys.... I'm pretty sure. So my current count is 5 boys and 3 girls. Two to three weeks later than everyone else before their waddles and combs reddened up and some color coming on tail feathers. Will girls EVER have the black/green tail feathers or is that a dead give away?

Any idea by what age they will have their final feather color/pattern? Will sprigs be obvious when they come up? What age do you process these for meat?

Thanks again.

sprigs can vary from super tiny to a considerable size so you inspect closely for them. I process all rooster between 5 and 7 months of age. This is when they are consuming more feed than they are gaining weight.

Hens can have a green sheen to their feathers. Any black bird that is good and healthy will have some sort of green sheen to them. By 12 weeks rooster develop their hackle and saddle feathers and are obvious rooster at the time.

 

[Lamancha]

This is such great information! Thank you so much.

I am definitely gonna have to cull for late blooming! Two who I though were girls just turned into boys.... I'm pretty sure. So my current count is 5 boys and 3 girls. Two to three weeks later than everyone else before their waddles and combs reddened up and some color coming on tail feathers. Will girls EVER have the black/green tail feathers or is that a dead give away?

Any idea by what age they will have their final feather color/pattern? Will sprigs be obvious when they come up? What age do you process these for meat?

Thanks again.

I think you might have got your chicks from me. Did you and your daughter come get them?

Sorry about all the boys. If it makes you feel any better, I ended up with 4 pullets and 8 cockerels. Sigh.... The good news is that I believe two of them are snoleopards. I've never hatched that color before so I'm really excited. One blue based girl and one black based boy. Maybe you got some too?

None of the non-crested chicks that I have ever hatched male and female have had sprigs. None of the crested pullets have had them either. All, yes EVERY SINGLE crested male I have ever hatched has comb sprigs. It has never bothered me because I don't keep crested roos, although I would like to breed that out of my birds over time. I'm not sure if other people out there have better luck with the crested males???

 

[Melabella]

I think you might have got your chicks from me. Did you and your daughter come get them?

Sorry about all the boys. If it makes you feel any better, I ended up with 4 pullets and 8 cockerels. Sigh.... The good news is that I believe two of them are snoleopards. I've never hatched that color before so I'm really excited. One blue based girl and one black based boy. Maybe you got some too?

None of the non-crested chicks that I have ever hatched male and female have had sprigs. None of the crested pullets have had them either. All, yes EVERY SINGLE crested male I have ever hatched has comb sprigs. It has never bothered me because I don't keep crested roos, although I would like to breed that out of my birds over time. I'm not sure if other people out there have better luck with the crested males???

Hi Lamancha!

I have heard this very same thing. I never keep crested Roo's either because I don't want the crested frequency to take over my flocks with all the chicks they sire, but I just saw some pictures of some crested roos on the FB SFH USA group, and they had sprigs too! I personally don't breed birds with sprigs, and we are all trying to understand how they pop up. I was able to identify three hens that were passing them on to their chicks even tho they themselves weren't sprigged girls. I did move them to a friends layer flock, and since have not had any pop up that I know of as I do sell hatching eggs and chicks.

MB

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I think you might have got your chicks from me. Did you and your daughter come get them?

Sorry about all the boys. If it makes you feel any better, I ended up with 4 pullets and 8 cockerels. Sigh.... The good news is that I believe two of them are snoleopards. I've never hatched that color before so I'm really excited. One blue based girl and one black based boy. Maybe you got some too?

None of the non-crested chicks that I have ever hatched male and female have had sprigs. None of the crested pullets have had them either. All, yes EVERY SINGLE crested male I have ever hatched has comb sprigs. It has never bothered me because I don't keep crested roos, although I would like to breed that out of my birds over time. I'm not sure if other people out there have better luck with the crested males???

I love these birds!

Yes it was me and my daughter.

I think of you often, wondering about you helping choose my keepers sometimes. Or even if I ended up with any males of different colors you wanted for your program. Plus I've wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying them!

I have no problems with roos, we are going to eat the extras. My crested male is my fave!

Might have to keep him in my egg house or just separate out during breeding like you do. I was wanting to keep a crested female instead of male to keep the cresting to a minimum. And the one I got she is a pretty LITTLE thing.

I am not sure what snowleopard is. There is definitely a variety of colors going on and actually still coming in.

I didn't plan it or expect it, but sometimes things were meant to be. If it took getting ripped off by those jerks in Gold Beach when I was just wanting a rare breed, to meet you and consequently end up with an unexpected wonderful breed that I enjoy raising and looking at that is good dual purpose as well... then I would do it again. And your price was beyond reasonable! When I told my family you use your goats for hunting in the back country... My daughter said "wow, they are hard core!" It is a compliment. Wish we had the commitment to do that kind of stuff. I could tell you cared about what you are breeding.

Thanks again!

 

[freepebs2016]

These look like beautiful chickens! Do they lay well?