Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Sebrightsrock]

I don't think anybody said that swedish flower hens are not a "breed" or a "real breed"....The only thing they are NOT is a "breed" that can be put into a "breed standard" of perfection like other "breeds" of chicken, as they come in a variety of types. There is no need to change anything or act like omg we have to establish breed standards and start showing them (even though it would be nice for some to do), but I think this breed is as awesome and perfect just the way it is.

and as far as your "getting new blood" goes, here is a very good article on that, as I personally was wondering what you need new blood for at this time....


"The novice in breeding is accustomed to refer to this as going outside for "new blood," but that is not the real object, and the term is misleading. An expert breeder does not go outside of his own stock to get new blood. He goes to get a particular quality or character that some other breeder is getting a little better than he is, or to get something that will give him a particular development or blend of characters that is not so readily made in his own stock. The poultry keeper who knows how to breed is not in the least interested in any "new blood" except as it may be expected to give such results when combined with his own. He would much rather not have the new blood at all if he could get the characters wanted without it, for bringing in new blood has a tendency sometimes to bring out again in both lines old faults that had been suppressed.
The novice who buys new blood usually mixes it fully at once with that of his entire breeding stock. The expert breeder uses new blood only in special matings, and eventually mingles it with that of his general stock only if he finds that doing so will give the results desired. As a rule, it is much diluted before he does so, and it may be that out of all the offspring in several generations from the mixture only one or two birds are ever used for breeding. It is not uncommon for breeders to work for several years with small lines made up in part from outside stock, and then discard them."

There is a way of correcting people with out being so stuck up.

 

[sevierchickens]

ok it's enough now...we do not have to make a discussion about this, please...besides this was a post between me and someone else...let's keep this thread enjoyable and about this wonderful breed the Swedish Flower Hens!

There is a way of correcting people with out being so stuck up.

 

[Cynthia12]

As I said earlier...my eggs are coming along! I have quite a few that are very active. I am so excited to see this breed. I've never owned a SF before. I will enjoy these very much I am sure of it! Love the different colors. Will be eye candy in my flock for sure! And, I understand they lay nice size eggs. Most of the eggs in my bator are med. sized..nice size..a couple are a bit smaller..wondering if they are probably from pullets..but still nice.

 

[sevierchickens]

As I said earlier...my eggs are coming along! I have quite a few that are very active. I am so excited to see this breed. I've never owned a SF before. I will enjoy these very much I am sure of it! Love the different colors. Will be eye candy in my flock for sure! And, I understand they lay nice size eggs. Most of the eggs in my bator are med. sized..nice size..a couple are a bit smaller..wondering if they are probably from pullets..but still nice.

they definitely are eye candy...and so freakin friendly...I LOVE MY SFHs...I love the different colors...at the moment I have 6 little chicks as well (they are like 3 weeks or so old now) and I'm absolutely loving the colors they are getting, so purrdy....

 

[Bulldogma]

Breed standard?
there is no breed standard for swedish flower hens. the perfect swedish flower hen is just that, a swedish flower hen.
Establishing a breed standard would just ruin this breed, ruin its variety and different types it comes in.
The swedes have done an awesome job keeping this chicken the way it is, perfect as it is, do not try to come in with establishing a breed standard, for whatever purposes you might find that to be necessary.
I could compare it to the Jack Russell Terrier (www.therealjackrussell.com), which does not have a specific breed standard, but rather comes in different types, there is short legged ones there is longer legged ones, what matters more is character, hunting ability, certain features, but not an overall conformation to one specific type.
Same with SFHs, they come in different colors, etc. the only thing that could be put as a breed standard, is character, maybe combs, etc. but overall the SFH comes in a lot of different types, colors, none of them better than the other or one to be the breed standard the others to be less breed standard conform, no!

sevierchickens - I'm afraid you did not fully read the postings prior before jumping in on this one. Here are copies of a few posts in successive order:

Ok - with more and more people becoming interested in Swedish Flower Hens, how do we as breeders of these lovely birds go about defining the Standard of Perfection for this breed in the US?

In response to Bulldogma
Since this isn't a "breed" I think people look more for type than anything else. It can be easy to take standards from breeds and apply them to SFH's, but is that appropriate?
For example, a side spur on the comb is a big no-no on most all breeds. Does that apply to this land race fowl? These birds were chosen for personality traits over appearance, to be good foragers over leg color. I would bet that egg production was important as well as the birds being dual purpose. The ability to withstand cold temperatures likely led to mother nature thinning out the flock and birds more disease resistant made it through those harsh winters.
My point here is that, while we absolutely want to preserve this fowl just as it is, I think it's best to just let them be as wonderfully diverse as they are. I chose my rooster out of the five I had for three reasons: 1) His wonderful personality 2) he was not crested and that's what my personal preference was 3) He was nice and upright, had a full breast, nice sharp color patterns, just overall pleasing to the eye.
I have a variety of hens/pullets. My goal is to keep my flock as diverse as possible to resemble a flock on a small farm in Sweden. If I have to cull I'll choose to keep the friendliest of birds while also making sure that colors and patterns are evenly represented to the best of my ability with what I have. Now, I'm sure that the farmer in Sweden wasn't counting to make sure that he/she had an equal number of colors represented...BUT, since it's harder most of us to keep a huge flock and have lots of birds to choose from it's what I've decided to do.
I'm in no way telling anyone what I think that they should do. This is what I think and what I'm doing and just want to give others my perspective.
edited to fix all the chopped up sentences

Originally Posted by Bulldogma

Knock Kneed Hen -

I really like your take on this question! Thank you for your well thought out and clearly expressed response!

Quote 2:
Originally Posted by Bulldogma

OK - so back to this...

Let's not call it a SOP for now. I'd like to hear from everybody what *seems* to be this breed's general conformation. Certainly it's tail looks different from that of a Cochin and it's comb is different from that of a Silkie.

For my own purposes (and for others who may be interested) what is the basic conformation in these birds based on your own flocks??

*****************

As I am new to the breed, I had initially asked about SOP in an attempt to LEARN... and what I learned was that there is no existing SOP and that other breeders like it that way for some very good reasons. Do you not agree that when people make an attempt to learn, is generally considered a good thing?

When other breeders discussed the aspects of the SFH as a true land race type, I agreed and restated myself in saying I wanted to know how other people's flocks looked based on a set of criteria that I understand.

Your quote: "The swedes have done an awesome job keeping this chicken the way it is, perfect as it is, do not try to come in with establishing a breed standard, for whatever purposes you might find that to be necessary."

First: I might point out that as everyone here has already stated, this is a land race bird. A Darwinist creation... not something Swedes have necessarily done an awesome job on. The hardiest and most friendly birds survived and procreated because they were healthy and because the farmers preferred to eat/cull the ones who chased and pecked their children than the ones that were friendly.
In fact, the Swedes allowed the numbers of SFHs to dwindle to only 500 by 2008. Nothing against the Swedes - they were focused on higher egg production and therefore many abandoned the breeding of this bird.

Second: I am sorry if you misunderstood me when I said, "Let's not call it a SOP for now. I'd like to hear from everybody what *seems* to be this breed's general conformation...
For my own purposes (and for others who may be interested) what is the basic conformation in these birds based on your own flocks??"

What I meant by this was "Great - so lets get away from the SOP idea... but I still would like to learn what the average specimen of this bird looks like because I'm new to the breed." Did you read that post prior to order me not to "come in with establishing a breed standard, for whatever purposes you might find that to be necessary???"

In short, nobody is trying to create a SOP.

Please don't tell me what I may or may not try - especially when I stated that I was NOT interested in trying to create a SOP, but was trying to LEARN about the breed. (You might want to try reading, and perhaps even asking question before using such a caustic tone with a person who is trying to further her knowledge. Perhaps you do not understand how your typed words come across. For me, the sentence I have quoted above brought a visual to mind of Malefacent from Sleeping Beauty as she ordered people not to cross her or try to undo her curse. Is that how you really want to come across to people?? Personally, I neither respect nor answer to the Maleefacents of this world.

If you choose to single me or my questions out again in the future, please get your facts straight first, and do not take on a condescending tone with me.
Thank you.

 

[Cynthia12]

I sure would like to see more pictures of this bird. I have ordered MORE!! The more I read..on other places on the net too...I get more excited to have these birds. Not only are they eye candy, but I'm hearing that they lay very well, and from the size that I'm seeing in my bator, not a bad size.
Can anyone not only post pics of their pretty SFH's, but some of the eggs? Come on, you know you have taken pictures of the eggs at some point.

I am not only interested in the size, but also the color. I have two different colors in my bator. A light cream, and a light brown. Ha, and the shapes are different, but, that happens with all chickens. There are some that are little on the long side, but not too long too long and narrow to worry about hatching time. So, pictures anyone? Thanks!

 

[Bulldogma]

I sure would like to see more pictures of this bird. I have ordered MORE!! The more I read..on other places on the net too...I get more excited to have these birds. Not only are they eye candy, but I'm hearing that they lay very well, and from the size that I'm seeing in my bator, not a bad size.
Can anyone not only post pics of their pretty SFH's, but some of the eggs? Come on, you know you have taken pictures of the eggs at some point.

I am not only interested in the size, but also the color. I have two different colors in my bator. A light cream, and a light brown. Ha, and the shapes are different, but, that happens with all chickens. There are some that are little on the long side, but not too long too long and narrow to worry about hatching time. So, pictures anyone? Thanks!

I'm afraid I don't have any SFH egg pictures (yet) but here are some pics of my little (and young) flock of 6 SFH - 5 pullets and one sweet, friendly cockerel. (You can click the images to see the larger version.)

Gunnar


Frida & Inga


Ginger (Ingefära)


Ellinor


Astrid

 

[cathiesue]

I second the egg picture request. I thought it would be easy to tell the Flower eggs from the others light brown eggs but it's not. They are not consistently creamy white. No sure how to handle this because I'm letting the Flower roo run with everyone and was just planning to hatch Flower eggs. So i will likely segregate the Flowers when I want hatching eggs. I was really hoping not to have to do that.

 

[KYTinpusher]

This picture is from a few months ago. The eggs have gotten a little larger since it was taken. The egg on the left is a fake ceramic white egg for color comparison. The egg on the right is a BR egg (one of the smaller ones 'cause some of my older BR lay HUGE eggs) for color, size and shape comparison (my BR are more rounded on the small end). All six in the middle are from my SFH. (all the colors are a little washed out, though)

 

[KYTinpusher]

O.K. it has taken me awhile to get my young'uns to stand still in proper light long enough to snap some pictures. I kept trying to bribe them with mealworms, but my older chickens kept commandeering them.

Not the best photos, but here goes.

Guess which of these are NOT pure SFH:
Blossom:

Earthstripe:

Kaya:

Maya:

PeanutButter: