Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[stoneunhenged]

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I imported birds from one large flock where the breeder had selected against the feather crests that are seen in some individuals of this breed. So, I found four crested birds from another flock that will be imported in October. As a practical matter, even within the same flock breeders will mate like-colored birds with each other --red to red, blue to blue, etc.-- and so you can have sub-lines within a large flock.

 

[stoneunhenged]

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Here are some pics of some young crested birds:

 

[stoneunhenged]

Quote:
My birds are five months old so they haven't reached their full adult size. I've been told flower hens are the largest native Swedish breed with the males topping out at about 8 lbs. So, if that's true they would be about the size of a marans when full grown.

 

[BC_Farms]

They are beautiful!

 

[usschicago1]

Yayyy! Love this thread

 

[usschicago1]

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Theres Less than 1,000 Swedish flower hens.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Beautiful. Congrats on importing them. The have a lot of similarities to the Icelandics.

 

[gootziecat]

I'm looking forward to the next imports and more pictures of the whole flock, as well as more personal information about them. While they are a landrace, like the Icelandics, they are their own entity. Once again, sstoneunhenged is to be commended for their efforts.

 

[call ducks]

very nice birds. so the mollted pattern is the main colour, and it comes in Blue/black/splash mollted by the looks of it? these are very nice birds.

 

[gootziecat]

I would be curious how these birds compare as a meat bird. I realize at their cost, no one is thinking about butchering one for the table. Nevertheless, are these considered dual purpose, and if so, do they have fast growth rates?