The Lemon Flower chicken breed developed over the last few years as I sought to use what I had and work within my limits when I struggled with reproducing Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner chickens. When this process started, I was not sure how the process was going to unfold. For the first time I share the story as a part of introducing the Lemon Flower chicken breed.
Table of Contents
How The Lemon Flowers Began
Feelings of failure and frustration filled my mind as I went about the chore of feeding chickens. 3 years into ‘raising’ Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiners I had yet to hatch a single chick. What did I know about hatching? About breeding chickens? Was I up to this ‘new experience’ I had taken on 3 years ago? Give me horses and horse illness, problems and work. This I knew as a 30 plus year horse owner. My thoughts recalled a concept I had learned in the last 3 years; taking on a new project or experience was bound to include failure. Well, in the moment, I was feeling it.
I mean! Could these hens even produce a fertile egg? I had been through 3 roosters. Not a single chick had hatched!! Additional frustration feelings of failure overwhelmed me. My body responded by energy leaving my body. Perhaps taking on new projects was NOT the way to improve my health. Maybe if I had continued with horses, I would have overcome my loss of desire to ride, compete and continue chasing my childhood dream. Maybe? Ah, but no turning back now! Onward.
Testing Fertility of the Hens
Wait! I had a plethora of fertile roosters in the Swedish Flower Hen breed. Perhaps I could test the LCN hens’ fertility by crossing the hens on a SFH rooster. If they produced chicks, then the infertility fault would be in the LCN roosters.
There was a nice looking SFH rooster who had been raised outside as a grow out. I often admired him, but had no need for him in any of my current breeding pens. He was available and a nice specimen. I mulled over my thoughts for a week at least. I had conversations with friends over my idea. If I did get chicks, what would I do with them? Perhaps, I could sell them as laying hens to folks who wanted pretty chickens. I mean they were bound to be pretty, right?
The SFH rooster wasted no time at all in breeding the LCN hens after I placed him in their pen. The hens were not laying right then. I also have a protocol of waiting 6 weeks after switching roosters before hatching eggs to ensure integrity of the genetics. In other words, I do not want chicks are from one rooster and they are actually from another. It is my understanding; 6 weeks is a conservative measure. Often breeders will consider 2 to 4 weeks a good wait time when switching roosters.
Fertile Eggs
In time I incubated eggs from the SFH rooster and LCN hens. YES! I had fertile eggs. Now I could blame the LCN roosters for the infertility in the LCN hens. I ended up with 5 chicks, 3 roosters and 2 hens.
These chicks were 50% LCN and 50% SFH. At the time, I had no luck in hatching LCN and no roosters to use. I had picked up 2 pure grow out roosters, but they were not old enough. My pen space was limited so I put the 50/50 hens in with the purebred hens. I kept 2 of the nicest and similar colored 50/50 roosters in a separate pen.
The difference in the eggs of the 50/50 hens and the LCN hens was obvious. The cream colored LCN eggs were oblong, almost in a detrimental fashion and the 50/50 hens had a rounder structure and were definitely darker in appearance. When the grow out roosters, I named Cisco and Clinch were old enough and knowing I could easily tell their eggs apart, I put them in with the 50/50 hens and the pure hens.
Imagine my excitement when the black based 50/50 hen went broody. I happily set her up in a brooder tank and gave her the eggs she was sitting on. Now I am uncertain if any of the eggs she hatched were from the pure hens or not. I can speculate one was based on how she turned out and the type of egg she is producing.
For the beginning of 2022, chick in question is now an adult and in with my known purebred rooster. See last week’s blog post (click below)
My Decision to Continue
Deciding to experiment to see what I would actually get I incubated the crossbreds eggs. They were faster to produce chicks over the purebred. Frustrating!
I am all about using what I have. At the time, I had nice sized, egg producing cross bred chickens who were not perfectly uniform in color but were similar in size who were producing fertile eggs crossed back on Lemon Cuckoo Nierheiner Roosters.
This second generation of my crossbred project was 75% Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner and 25% Swedish Flower Hen
Taking the pullets for the red CB hen I created a pen with one of the 50/50 roosters. The pullets from the black based 50/50 hen I placed with the other 50/50 rooster. My plan was to keep 2 lines going with the 3rd generation.
2021 proved a difficult year for me on a personal level. Chicks did not always get banded or marked. For the record I am honest with customers and communicate if I do not know which pen a bird came from. Depending on their goals, the pen they came from does not matter to them. So, I communicate honestly and allow the customer to decide.
To reduce chore time, I combined the 4 75/25 hens with the 50/50 rooster. The short video below shows the 1 rooster and 4 hens.
In late fall of 2021, I added any female offspring back into the pen. for the winter season. I marked each crossbred hen to know what generation and line they are.
Colors of Lemon Flowers in Developing Generations
Of the original pairings, one 50/50 hen was almost all black, the other was mainly red or ginger. As I created the next generation pens, I grouped them based on what hen they came from and similar color.
Colors of 75% LCN and 25% SFH or Second Generation Cross
The cross of 75% LCN and 25% SFH hens over 50/50 % roosters produced 1 or 2 consistent color patterns. In other words, there were 1 or 2 different colors which showed up. The feather patterns were similar, but the colors appeared 1 of 2 ways.
Generation 4 in creating the Lemon Flower Chickens
The most consistent coloring has shown up in the fourth generation. However, I am optimistically waiting to see what the 4th and 5th generations produce
Introducing Lemon Flowers Chicken Breed Characteristics
The roosters readily show a heavy muscle pattern but demonstrate a willingness to fly and roost. These characteristics are a combination of the 2 orginating breeds. The hens lay consistently and produce a tan, sometimes speckled egg. To date, I have not documented the average number of eggs produced by single hen.
Breeding Goals and Needed Improvements for Lemen Flower Chickens
I would like to see improvement in color uniformity although many hens are quite consistent with in the 3rd generation. I need to document and calculate the average number of eggs a hen lays in a given year. My 2022 goal is to hatch all I can and select the best for next generation pens to continue improving on what I already have.
For 2022 initially I will have 2 pens of Lemon Flowers. The 50/50 rooster over 3rd generation hens and a third-generation rooster over the second-generation hens.
What questions do you have about my developing breed? Leave me a comment below or post on the Lemon Flower Chickens Facebook page. I am not planning to sell many, if any, of this breed until I have worked with them more.
Do you want to learn more about Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiners or Swedish Flower Hens the two originating breeds? Check out the links below:
https://www.dontclipmywings.com/lemon-cuckoo-niederrheiner/
https://www.dontclipmywings.com/swedish-flower-hen/
I am excited to be introducing the Lemon Flower chicken breed. There is a Facebook page to connect and chat about these beautiful chickens. Use the link below to like and follow.
The results are beautiful! Lovely birds.
Thank you. I am looking forward to their further development.