Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[KYTinpusher]

I dunno why I can't seems I get shipped eggs to hatch. Local eggs are fine.

I am PRAYING I have at least 1 of each gender, even though the three I have are at least half sibs and could be 100% sibs. The only variation is the shipping. I even let some sit and some went right to the turner of another batch, and none of those made it either, even though I got some local eggs at the same time, and they were nice babies.

I live very near DC, and they are security-mad around here. Radiation during the early stages of gestation is a known risk for miscarriage and birth defects; I'm very careful at work, especially after I had a baby with a birth defect that could have been caused by radiation exposure. But it doesn't explain why it's just me, because packages are radiographed all the time.

Could these be super sensitive to humidity? That is the other thing I am wondering about. Maybe they would do better if I tried 50-55% instead of 60-62%.

It's been a little while since I hatched, but if I remember correctly, I ran the humidity at about 40% initially and then 65-70% during lockdown. I will not incubate SFH and BCM together because they seem to need different humidity levels - the marans being lower (about 35%) initially.

 

[Bernie56]

I tried an interesting experiment this weekend that may interest some of you. I had four eggs that were supposed to hatch on Friday, the 28th. By Saturday evening there was still no activity, and I was planning to discard them. I candled them, just to see what they looked like, and saw movement in two of them. I decided to give them one more day, but didn't really expect much. On Sunday morning there were two perfect little chicks, and one that was pipped. We had a church activity and didn't get home until late afternoon and the pipped one had made no progress so I decided to assist (I don't usually recommend this, but it was already two days late) The chick was fine but had REALLY crooked toes on both feet. On both feet the toes were totally turned toward each other. After several hours it was evident that they were not going to straiten, and I didn't think that it would be able to function with its feet like that. I decided to try something to straiten them. I had some surgical tape (the white cloth tape that they use for wound dressing) I took a piece of tape about 1 inch by 1/2 inch and spread the toes and stuck them to the tape (kind of like doing a newborn hand print in a baby book) and then took a second piece of tape and stuck it over the top of the toes. Then I trimmed the tape so it looked like a little duck with webbed feet. He looked like my grandson trying to walk in his swim fins, but he managed to get around. By this morning (Tuesday) the tape had come off and the toes are perfectly strait. Now its probably another rooster that I DON'T need, but it worked!

 

[srslychickning]

Hi there - long-time lurker, possibly first-time poster, although I might have posted a few pics months ago. I just picked up 4 chicks a few days ago - about 4 weeks old. All born on the same day, but check out how much bigger Stanley is than the rest! I love everyone's pics.

Sorry it's sideways. Here are some individual pics:








Stella, Blanche, Stanley and Mitch, respectively.

Here is a shot of three others I have. They were born July 4th, so about 3 months old. Hard to see the black on in the back:




And, finally, my almost-all white SFH. I would doubt it myself if I didn't know this girl's parents!



Again, sorry they are all sideways. Hope you enjoy. Looking forward to seeing others' pics. Oh, also, I'm on Day 3 of 2 SFH eggs so I'm excited to see how they turn out.

 

[Bulldogma]

Hi there - long-time lurker, possibly first-time poster, although I might have posted a few pics months ago. I just picked up 4 chicks a few days ago - about 4 weeks old. All born on the same day, but check out how much bigger Stanley is than the rest! I love everyone's pics.

Sorry it's sideways. Here are some individual pics:








Stella, Blanche, Stanley and Mitch, respectively.

Here is a shot of three others I have. They were born July 4th, so about 3 months old. Hard to see the black on in the back:




And, finally, my almost-all white SFH. I would doubt it myself if I didn't know this girl's parents!



Again, sorry they are all sideways. Hope you enjoy. Looking forward to seeing others' pics. Oh, also, I'm on Day 3 of 2 SFH eggs so I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Welcome out of lurker-dom! Glad to have you aboard... and your chicks are lovely!! Yes - SFH can be almost entirely white... think it has something to do with Splash in the genetics. If ki4got checks in, I'm sure she could shed some light

Best of luck with your eggs! Please keep us updated!

 

[Cynthia12]

I tried an interesting experiment this weekend that may interest some of you. I had four eggs that were supposed to hatch on Friday, the 28th. By Saturday evening there was still no activity, and I was planning to discard them. I candled them, just to see what they looked like, and saw movement in two of them. I decided to give them one more day, but didn't really expect much. On Sunday morning there were two perfect little chicks, and one that was pipped. We had a church activity and didn't get home until late afternoon and the pipped one had made no progress so I decided to assist (I don't usually recommend this, but it was already two days late) The chick was fine but had REALLY crooked toes on both feet. On both feet the toes were totally turned toward each other. After several hours it was evident that they were not going to straiten, and I didn't think that it would be able to function with its feet like that. I decided to try something to straiten them. I had some surgical tape (the white cloth tape that they use for wound dressing) I took a piece of tape about 1 inch by 1/2 inch and spread the toes and stuck them to the tape (kind of like doing a newborn hand print in a baby book) and then took a second piece of tape and stuck it over the top of the toes. Then I trimmed the tape so it looked like a little duck with webbed feet. He looked like my grandson trying to walk in his swim fins, but he managed to get around. By this morning (Tuesday) the tape had come off and the toes are perfectly strait. Now its probably another rooster that I DON'T need, but it worked!

This is how I do mine, only with electrical tape. People think/say...what? It is so easy to use, and comes off very easily. I just had a baby Faverolle in one this last hatch, and after one day, it has nice straight toes. I love the little boots for straightening toes.. Sometimes, if it's just one toe, I will just put tape along that one toe, but you have to make sure that the tape goes beyond the toe. Works great.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Welcome! Stanley is going to give you lots of speckled babies. You're off to a great start! I thought that my red splash hen would give me a mostly white baby but I ended up with a very colorful chick. You just never know with these birds!

 

[Cynthia12]

Big Jim - So glad the box arrived in a timely manner with only one escapee egg. If that one hatches, expect it to be the wildly independent chick and the coop instigator - LOL.
Keep us posted on how they do! I have 3 chicks from BHep eggs... they're the little buggers that got me hooked on this breed! Here's a shot of Gunnar from yesterday. He may be a cockerel, but he's a sweet guy!

Love this coloring..what color was he as a chick, do you remember? Looks like he could have been mostly blue?

 

[Sebrightsrock]

Here are a few pics of my swedish flower hens.

 

[SunnySkies]

That is very kind of you to be thinking about me. I truly appreciate it.

Maybe I will try going up on humidity next time. The chicks didn't seem too dry or too wet at hatching (the ones that made it out of the shell), and the eggtopsies didn't make me think of drowning or shrinkwrapping. I have two incubators, so I could try wetter and drier.

 

[Bulldogma]

Love this coloring..what color was he as a chick, do you remember? Looks like he could have been mostly blue?

Cynthia12 - Gunner seems to be primarily black-based. Here are some shots as he grew: