Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[ChicwannaB]

My pullets chest bump each other and young Cockerels of other breeds too.

Oh good, thanks. Then there's still a chance it's a girl.....

 

[cutipatooti]

[COLOR=008000]I'm just wondering, if breeders cull OUT the sprigged roosters isn't that tampering with the natural "variety" of the breed??  Not trying to pass judgement on the SOP or anyone who breeds for showing, but isn't the nature of this breed the fact that is CAN produce a  nice variety?? [/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]another question, do pullets ever exhibit chest bumping behavior??  I've been watching one of my SFH hoping it to be a pullet, but today  I saw it doing this with another chick.  I KNOW the boys do this but do the girls ever do it too?? [/COLOR]

I have seen girls of many different breeds do the chest bump thing and even spar with males. I was wondering the same thing about the "natural" way to breed them. Iwas thinking more of the crests though. I don't have SFH yet but soon ( hopefully) and I have to look it up but shouldn't you not breed 2 crested birds together? In the wild wouldn't they breed?

 

[minihorse927]

I have seen girls of many different breeds do the chest bump thing and even spar with males. I was wondering the same thing about the "natural" way to breed them. Iwas thinking more of the crests though. I don't have SFH yet but soon ( hopefully) and I have to look it up but shouldn't you not breed 2 crested birds together? In the wild wouldn't they breed?

no, it's not desired to breed 2 crested birds together. Yes in the wild they would breed BUT the offspring of these would probably get picked off quickly as the crest is so large they cannot see aerial predators. We want a good free ranging breed and a bird with a giant crest does not free range well.

 

[cutipatooti]

Minihorse, thanks for the clarification. It makes sence. I have eggs in the bator now and have not read the whole thread yet.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

[COLOR=008000]I'm just wondering, if breeders cull OUT the sprigged roosters isn't that tampering with the natural "variety" of the breed??  Not trying to pass judgement on the SOP or anyone who breeds for showing, but isn't the nature of this breed the fact that is CAN produce a  nice variety?? [/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]another question, do pullets ever exhibit chest bumping behavior??  I've been watching one of my SFH hoping it to be a pullet, but today  I saw it doing this with another chick.  I KNOW the boys do this but do the girls ever do it too?? [/COLOR]

Some breeders do cull for side sprigs. I think if someone has several nice looking birds in a hatch they'll pick the one without the side sprig to use as their main roo. However, if I had a hatch and the best looking bird had a side sprig I wouldn't necessarily cull it, especially if it was from a different bloodline and I was looking to diversify my flock. I'm more interested in keeping my flock diversified. I just got a hen from a friend and she has a huge side sprig. It's the first time I've personally seen it on a hen. I won't use her for breeding because she has a crooked toe. However, she's an excellent broody. I'll just pull her out when I'm collecting eggs.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

I don't know yet for sure what I might have.  Looks like I MAY have a lot of roos, and if you're asking if I'd part with any , sure. 

Okay cool!

 

[schimmers]

How can you tell the difference in gender as early as 7 wks? Are there any feather clues? I have two, the same age, and one definitely is getting it's comb and wattles faster. The other, who is smaller,has a bit of red in it's comb, too. I always thought that it was a hen. They don't chest bump or anything, either. I am hesitant to judge by their combs/wattles, as I had sussex hens before that had huge combs/wattles that would make a rooster envious.

 

[KYTinpusher]

How can you tell the difference in gender as early as 7 wks? Are there any feather clues? I have two, the same age, and one definitely is getting it's comb and wattles faster. The other, who is smaller,has a bit of red in it's comb, too. I always thought that it was a hen. They don't chest bump or anything, either. I am hesitant to judge by their combs/wattles, as I had sussex hens before that had huge combs/wattles that would make a rooster envious.

The uncrested ones you can usually tell by 6-7 weeks by the comb/wattles. The crested ones may take a few more weeks. If you would like to post some pictures, we would be happy to help you figure it out.

 

[myfivegirls]

Quote:
I had a crested rooster who bred with two crested and two uncrested hens. Out of that, I ended up with two vaulted skull ones.
I have since removed that rooster & replaced him with a non-crested rooster from a different bloodline.

This is the chick that hatched with a vaulted skull - reminds me of a Polish chick!


Here it is the beginning of May, and it's crest has gotten even bigger since then.


This was its dad, and one of the crested hens (on the left; blue hen on right is a Catskill Homesteader).
Its mother may have been the other crested hen, who was the daughter of this same rooster.


This is the rooster whom I'm using now, and his chicks look
to have more variety, and not all of them will be crested.
I'd prefer him to have more "flowers", but he was the better of the two roosters,
as he's very gentle, larger size, not crested & has no "sprigs".

 

[cree57i]

I think I may have 4 roos.



This is my only possibility for a pullet.

Big guy of the group. They are about 4 wks. old. I am going to wait another week to put them outside.