Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[Peep-Chicken]

Hi everyone,

In one of my coops the chicks have been slowly disappearing. The chicks in the other coop are fine. At first I thought that maybe the mother wasn´t doing a good job; now she´s only got one chick left. Today I went out to the coop and discovered a tunnel dug under the broody box. RATS! My husband had told me a couple weeks ago that he saw one get run over by a car on the street nearby, but I never would have thought that they go after chicks. I usually have the food higher up, but since the chicks hatched I have to have chick feed lower, or they wouldn´t be able to reach. And... I put it by the broody box, which probably led the rats right to the chicks. Well I set up traps all around the coop, but haven´t caught a single rat. Since I have two girls in the same coop due to hatch chicks next week, it was time for desperate measures. I read up on this site all about getting rid of rats, but there are about as many opinions as there are posts. Since the traps weren´t working I now put rat poison in the tunnel and covered the entrance with bricks. I found three more entrances nibbled in the walls of the coop, and put poison in there, too, out of reach of the chickens. It was a hard decision; I´m really afraid the chickens might get hold of a dead/dying rat and nibble on it, but it´s a risk I have to take... Hopefully the one chick now has a chance of surviving, and the other 2 future moms will have a chance of raising some nice new Swedish chicks. If I wrote the words I´d like to describe the buggers, I´d probably be banned from this site forever. This also explains why I suddenly have fleas in the coop. I guess bad experiences are also just a part of raising chickens, and I hope I´ve learned from this so that I will react earlier next time, provided the poison works!

Sorry that happened! Good luck getting them. I haven't had rats before, luckily our neighbors have outdoor cats.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

My first SFH ever! Might need to fix toes later. Has slight bloody naval too.

How can I tell if it's crested?

 

[cree57i]

Hi everyone,

In one of my coops the chicks have been slowly disappearing. The chicks in the other coop are fine. At first I thought that maybe the mother wasn´t doing a good job; now she´s only got one chick left. Today I went out to the coop and discovered a tunnel dug under the broody box. RATS! My husband had told me a couple weeks ago that he saw one get run over by a car on the street nearby, but I never would have thought that they go after chicks. I usually have the food higher up, but since the chicks hatched I have to have chick feed lower, or they wouldn´t be able to reach. And... I put it by the broody box, which probably led the rats right to the chicks. Well I set up traps all around the coop, but haven´t caught a single rat. Since I have two girls in the same coop due to hatch chicks next week, it was time for desperate measures. I read up on this site all about getting rid of rats, but there are about as many opinions as there are posts. Since the traps weren´t working I now put rat poison in the tunnel and covered the entrance with bricks. I found three more entrances nibbled in the walls of the coop, and put poison in there, too, out of reach of the chickens. It was a hard decision; I´m really afraid the chickens might get hold of a dead/dying rat and nibble on it, but it´s a risk I have to take... Hopefully the one chick now has a chance of surviving, and the other 2 future moms will have a chance of raising some nice new Swedish chicks. If I wrote the words I´d like to describe the buggers, I´d probably be banned from this site forever. This also explains why I suddenly have fleas in the coop. I guess bad experiences are also just a part of raising chickens, and I hope I´ve learned from this so that I will react earlier next time, provided the poison works!

This is what I found in my broodys box yesterday morning. I guess she was not guilty of eating her eggs. The sharp end of a shovel fixed this problem. It was nearly 4 feet long and had an egg in it. The babies are near to hatch.

 

[Alpine Chicken]

This is what I found in my broodys box yesterday morning. I guess she was not guilty of eating her eggs. The sharp end of a shovel fixed this problem. It was nearly 4 feet long and had an egg in it. The babies are near to hatch.

Wow! At least you were able to catch it in the act. Were you able to save the rest of the eggs?
Quote: Actually, we have a cat, and it does catch a rat every once in a while, but it´s not allowed in the coop (it might also go after the chicks), so not much help there. Congratulations on your new chick. I had one with toes like that in my last hatch but it healed up after taping for a few days really nice. I don´t have crested SFH myself, but if I had to hazard a guess I´d say non-crested.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Wow! At least you were able to catch it in the act. Were you able to save the rest of the eggs?
Actually, we have a cat, and it does catch a rat every once in a while, but it´s not allowed in the coop (it might also go after the chicks), so not much help there. Congratulations on your new chick. I had one with toes like that in my last hatch but it healed up after taping for a few days really nice. I don´t have crested SFH myself, but if I had to hazard a guess I´d say non-crested. 

Okay cool thanks!

Sadly cats can't solve all rat issues.

 

[cree57i]

After i killed the snake there were 7 eggs left in the box. She climbed right back in like nothing had happened!

 

[Peep-Chicken]

After i killed the snake there were 7 eggs left in the box. She climbed right back in like nothing had happened!

That's good to hear, good luck with the hatch.

 

[Melabella]

My first SFH ever!

Might need to fix toes later. Has slight bloody naval too.

How can I tell if it's crested?

Congratulations! Cute baby! Get on those shoes for it's feet sooner than later.. you'd be surprised when done early the success rate is rather good! I couldn't tell my chicks were crested until 3/4 weeks depending on the seriousness of the crest. Some single copied are rather small where as double copy chicks sprout early.

GOod Luck with your little one!
MB

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Congratulations!  Cute baby!  Get on those shoes for it's feet sooner than later.. you'd be surprised when done early the success rate is rather good!  I couldn't tell my chicks were crested until 3/4 weeks depending on the seriousness of the crest. Some single copied are rather small where as double copy chicks sprout early.

GOod Luck with your little one! 
MB

The feet corrected by themselves actually. Never had that happen before but I'm still keeping an eye on them.

I can't wait to see the chicks color! Very interested to see what the wings will look like next week.

Thanks!

 

[Alpine Chicken]

How do you guys deal with all your bigger chicks that still need a source of heat but have grown out of the brooder? I´ve just been keeping mine in the brooder for a longer period of time until they can go outside, but it starts to get messy and cramped when they´re a bit older. I don´t have electricity running out to my coops, so I can´t put them in there, so I bought a large parrot cage and made some adaptations. I´m hoping this will be a decent solution until we move and I have more room:


And here are my latest yougsters checking out their new home, I think the one on the left might be another snoleopard:

The rat problem seems to be getting better. All the poison is gone, and my chickens are still alive. No more chicks have disappeared. I can still hear the nasty buggers crawling around inside the walls, though, so I put out more poison today. Hoping I´ll be rid of them soon, next chicks due to hatch in that coop on Monday!
I´ve also decided to dare to import more SFH hatching eggs. Tried twice last year and not a single egg hatched. All my birds are from the same 2 roos and 5 hens, so I definitely need some new genetic material in my breeding flock. Put 22 German import eggs in the bator today!