Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[OHfarmerswife]

The chicks are about 6-7 weeks old. OHfarmers, thanks for the feedback!

Watch them carefully as they are still a bit young to be sure of sex. You are on your way to a beautiful flock of flowers.

 

[minihorse927]

I never knew of it to be lethal (only double tufted in Araucana). In the SFH, it doesn't simply stay a nice sized unintrusive crest. So basically if it inhibits their ability to see then it's a problem for a land race breed.

You do raise a good question, if someone knows the answer, I would like to hear..... So in the CLB, crested X crested just equals crested, not poofy. But, regarding SFH.... crested X crested always equals poofy? Or is it still possible to get JUST crested?

I also am a "wanna know why" type person. 

crested on crested is possible to get a basic crest ONLY IF both parents only carry one copy for cresting. Draw out a punnet square and for example you get
C=cresting gene and c=no creating gene
Each bird gets 2 copies, one from each parent. So the parents genetically are
C,c and C,c.
SO
C,c X C,c = 25% C,C (double gene for crested), 25% c,c (no crest), and 50% C,c (single gene for crest, which usually results in a smaller crest) I have seen single gene birds with big crests though if they came from crested on crested breeding.

 

[gootziecat]

I have a friend that raised SFHs for a couple of years. She bred crested to crested and some of the resulting chicks had vaulted skulls and died within 5 days.

 

[LisaLouHoo]

I've yet to breed a single SFH or produce any birds of my own. That's why I wanted opinions here.

Your answer on the eyebrows is kind of what I was wondering about.

Thanks for your response.

Your crested boy is definitely nice looking. If you want to use him, by all means do so. But you should have separate pens for your Swedish. Keep the crested boy with only UNcrested girls. Your UNcrested boy can be with the crested girls. If you can only have one rooster, then you really should keep just an UNcrested. This way you'll never have to worry about the crested to crested issues.

Also, since you've never bred (hatched your own) the SFHs before, they can be tricky to hatch in an incubator. Under a broody works fine. In an incubator, you'll want to use the dry hatch method, which means NO water until lockdown and a lot of other breeders have noted that you can wait to add water until day 19 or when you candle and see that a chick has pipped internally or has a huge sloping air cell.

Best of luck hatching your own little flowers. I love this breed!

 

[jophus]

Your crested boy is definitely nice looking. If you want to use him, by all means do so. But you should have separate pens for your Swedish. Keep the crested boy with only UNcrested girls. Your UNcrested boy can be with the crested girls. If you can only have one rooster, then you really should keep just an UNcrested. This way you'll never have to worry about the crested to crested issues.

Also, since you've never bred (hatched your own) the SFHs before, they can be tricky to hatch in an incubator. Under a broody works fine. In an incubator, you'll want to use the dry hatch method, which means NO water until lockdown and a lot of other breeders have noted that you can wait to add water until day 19 or when you candle and see that a chick has pipped internally or has a huge sloping air cell.

Best of luck hatching your own little flowers. I love this breed!

I have room for 2 roos. My current count is 2 roos and 7 hens. Both sexes crested and uncrested. Didn't necessarily buy my crested roo for breeding, and actually had no intention of buying a roo period. Just saw him and thought he was pretty, and couldn't pass him up for $15.

I hatched a dozen SFH eggs last year. Didn't use the dry method, although I've since been converted. I hatched turkeys that way last year. Once you try it, you won't go back.

 

[LisaLouHoo]

I have room for 2 roos. My current count is 2 roos and 7 hens. Both sexes crested and uncrested. Didn't necessarily buy my crested roo for breeding, and actually had no intention of buying a roo period. Just saw him and thought he was pretty, and couldn't pass him up for $15.

I hatched a dozen SFH eggs last year. Didn't use the dry method, although I've since been converted. I hatched turkeys that way last year. Once you try it, you won't go back.

That's great! So you didn't have any trouble hatching the SFH. Did they all hatch for you? And, yes, the roosters are beautiful with this breed.

 

[jophus]

That's great! So you didn't have any trouble hatching the SFH. Did they all hatch for you? And, yes, the roosters are beautiful with this breed.

None, but I hatch a lot of eggs. If someone would pay me and take all my excess chicks I would hatch 24/7/365, lol. I love it.

I hatched 10/12, 2 were infertile.

 

[jophus]

I never knew of it to be lethal (only double tufted in Araucana). In the SFH, it doesn't simply stay a nice sized unintrusive crest. So basically if it inhibits their ability to see then it's a problem for a land race breed.

You do raise a good question, if someone knows the answer, I would like to hear..... So in the CLB, crested X crested just equals crested, not poofy. But, regarding SFH.... crested X crested always equals poofy? Or is it still possible to get JUST crested?

I also am a "wanna know why" type person. 

I know it's lethal in crested ducks and I've heard it is in "toppie" game.

 

[gapey]

I

very cute! Looks like the front one is a pullet? what are your thoughts on the black one?

The person I got them from seems convinced they are both girls but I still have my doubts. The black one's comb is clearly a bit bigger than the other but at this age it seems like it should be bigger than it is so I'm not really sure. It's more obvious which are boys in my 2 week younger svart hona chicks.

 

[gapey]

Do Swedish Flower boys develop slower than boys in other breeds? Here's a more recent pic of the one I'm not sure about. Will be 6 weeks old this weekend. Photo taken yesterday. By this age I'm usually certain which are boys. This one's comb is a bit larger than my other Swedish Flower which makes me suspicious.