Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[ki4got]

Oh my garwsh...my run of insanely crazy luck with these birds hasn't gone away. Dozens of that won't hatch, roosters that are completely bonkers, raccoons taking my best birds, but here is the best story yet... And NO, I do not make this stuff up (who would have time?!)

So like 2 days ago, one of my four youngest SFH decided to go on an adventure and bailed from his coop. He had been on the injured list, so I had stashed him in with my bantam Cochin babies (I got a whole mess of cuckoo colored ones! but that is a different story) to recover. He apparently felt well enough to jump out when I turned away to fill their waterer, and I didn't see him. But my six month old roosters spotted him and decided to come see him. He panicked, I went to catch him....and the dogs got in on the action, but made it all worse.

I turned away to send them off, and turned back...and Bad Boy was gone! I thought I was losing my tiny little mind. Looked around...no little rooster...looked under the truck..looked in the bushes...looked in the greenhouse...looked under the deck...looked in all the coops...drove myself near insane looking for the rooster. Looked all day long. Figured he would appear in the morning, but nope, no rooster. Figured maybe he ran far enough some neighbor might find a cute little rooster (he would have to traverse a forest, a creek, another forest and a road to get to another neighbor, but I was hoping). Or...sigh..he was eaten by a coon. Quit making myself nuts and decided he was gone, never to be seen again.

I didn't feel well for 2 days, and I spent most of Thursday and most of Friday on the sofa. I had to get up today, and headed off to work. When I got to work, I noticed something smelled funky when I got out of my car, but I thought it was some rotting garbage from the restaurant near the hospital (they have had some disgusting garbage in the past). When I got in my car this evening to come home, I noticed the smell in the parking lot was horrible. And smelled like a dead body. Gross.

I drove to the feed store and hopped out and noticed the smell was still there. Hrm. I got to looking, and there was a rotten egg on the hood of my car where the windshield wipers lay when inactive. I threw it away, and thought, ok, whew. Bought my feed and headed home.

Got home, and the stench was ..... Indescribable.

I popped the hood to start looking for the source, and that rooster was wedged between the radiator and the engine, dead...very...very...dead. He was not harmed by my car - the car ran perfectly -- but he had died there nonetheless.

We got him out, but the whole yard smells!!! My car reeks!!

OK, I would like this odd stuff to stop. What are the odds of a CHICKEN dying in an engine compartment? I have seen more than one cat injured or killed in such a manner....but a chicken?! Maybe I should go buy a lotto ticket...

He must have panicked when he saw the big boys coming toward him and jumped up into the bottom of the car and kept climbing until he couldn't get out. Stupid bird never peeped or called or I would have rescued him.

You can all laugh. We did, when we were over the shock of it. Utterly bizarre.

Not an experience I wish to ever repeat, extricating a very dead chicken from this very tight space.

ETA: yes. Egg on the hood. Also totally weird. No idea if a hen laid it there or if someone put it there or what. OMGosh.

I can sympathize on the smell... noticed it a few days ago, thought something in the woods died... but as time went along it got stronger and we were able to pinpoint what and where it was...

found the coon's 'stash' of snacks. and presumably from the coon we disposed of last week. either that or he forgot where he put them, but who could miss that stink? LOL

found the missing roosters and 2 of the hens. unfortunately they are out of reach to do anything with, unless we tear up 2 trees and several large raspberry clumps grown over by honeysuckle vine.

on the plus side, (I think?) a couple possums came in for the free meals and both are now disposed of too. thanks are due to my "part time LGD" LOL he caught one who 'played possum' and 'treed' the other on a tall stump.

 

[SunnySkies]

I can sympathize on the smell...  noticed it a few days ago, thought something in the woods died...  but as time went along it got stronger and we were able to pinpoint what and where it was... 

found the coon's 'stash' of snacks. and presumably from the coon we disposed of last week. either that or he forgot where he put them, but who could miss that stink? LOL

found the missing roosters and 2 of the hens. unfortunately they are out of reach to do anything with, unless we tear up 2 trees and several large raspberry clumps grown over by honeysuckle vine.

on the plus side, (I think?)  a couple possums came in for the free meals and both are now disposed of too. thanks are due to my "part time LGD" LOL  he caught one who 'played possum' and 'treed' the other on a tall stump.

It's completely ghastly, isn't it. And it's hot enough now to make it really reek!

I'm afraid my ghoulish dogs are going to track the remains

Yay for disposing of more predators!!

 

[SunnySkies]

1 baby so far!

Totally cute!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Well...I don't think anyone else can top THAT story.

 

[HaplessRunner]

How cool is that! How many chicks did you all get from GF
this week?
I also have a few eggs from Bulldogma and KYTinpusher in the bator.
I'm hoping I will get some pullets and a nice roo to keep and go forward
with.
Deltabluez Tess - I also prefer the non crested birds.
We also appear to both love herding border collies. I have had them a long time here
in Texas. I used to compete some in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, but now my dogs just help me
at home. One of my dogs likes to help me put up the chickens every night!
Diane

I have border collie rescue. She was turned into a shelter in NC pregnant. They adopted out her two pups and the Border collie Rescue folks got her last September. I had been looking for a dog had not considered a border collie but found a link to the rescue folks on pet finder. While scanning the profiles of there dogs, I found this one that got along with cats and chickens. So after a few phone calls and e-mail exchanges, we drove four hours to pick her up in south side VA. She is now only two years old.

I have never had a dog bond to me the way this dog has. She is attached to my hip every room I go into, wants to travel with me everywhere, is constantly with me in the yard and with my chickens. Essentially, Mia is my ultra-high maintenance girlfriend. Every time I sit down, she is in my face giving me kisses, wanting to know if I still love her. She helps herd the chickens and when I am in the electric netting fenced area, she is continuously circling the area ensure that everyone stays where they belong. When I am working from home she will come over and hook her nose under my wrist and knock my hand away from the mouse so I can pet her.

All rescue dogs have had unpleasant histories, they usually come in one of three types. One is very aggressive, the next is uncertain behavior, and the last type is very submissive and overly loving. This last type is Mia all the way. I would much rather deal with sometimes too much attention than the other potential issues. She is a beautiful dog and companion.


Mia and I last January.



Mia returning another ball. Her acceleration to go fetch a ball is truly unbelievable!



Tony

 

[ki4got]

Quote: I think sonny's been trying to tell me where they are, I keep telling him go find 'em and he's been heading back into the brush. but I never saw anything till last night. maybe the possums pulled them further out.

 

[DeltaBluezTess]

I have tons of Border Collies and compete in sheepdog trials....in my avatar is Tess, my Border Collie who recently passed. I have a day job but I raise, train and compete in sheepdog trials.



Tess and the spouse...she loves to be in out laps

 

[PugBug]

I thought same too but I asked Jenny at GFF about it very recently. SHE told me that she would get some crested from a non crested only breeding group. I asked her about what % and she said about 25%. I thought that was very odd. In such a case, the trait is behaving like a recessive gene. So, I don't know, I am just repeating what she told me. She said that maybe with SF being a landrace breed, the inheritance of their crests worked differently that what we were accustomed to with other breeds. Again, just telling what she told me.

I'm not surprised by this, from what I've been told by a few folks in Sweden that have both crested & non crested flocks this can happen. I've also been told that it is possible to produce non crested from crested parents. I don't understand how it works, but it's what I've been told... My flock is all crested, the chicks I've hatched from them so far don't appear to have crest, but they are still too young to tell yet I think. I do plan on adding some non crested to mine at some point if I can find some in black & chocolate based.

 

[PugBug]

I'm in South Louisiana, so our heat is also pretty bad. So far my SFH have done fine with it. I do have an open design for my coop/runs which helps a lot- no ventilation problems. The back have of each pen is covered with a tin roof & backs up to the woods so it's shady & cooler. I also have big shallow water dishes they like to step in to cool off as well. When it's their days to free range I have lots of big shade trees they spend time under too- good luck with yours!

 

[PugBug]

I can sympathize on the awful smells- for the past few days it's been really hot & my duck pond water has gotten really nasty smelling. I do have good filtration system & this is the first time I've had a prob. I decided today to drain it, thinking it was mostly the heat (and build up of duck poop)? After getting it down quite a ways I could see something in the bottom in several places, got the net & went 'fishing'- BOY OH BOY 18 rotten duck eggs laying at the bottom! Now that was a nasty mess to clean up! Been wondering why I haven't gotten as many eggs as usual...