Two out of four started laying, and they were the one Gaston has begun mating with about two weeks ago.
We still have very warm and beautiful weather ; last year the pullets were hatched three weeks later and Piou-piou was the first to lay on the 10 of November.
Based on comb development only, I would have thought Laure was ready to lay two weeks ago- but nothing yet ! So I guess it's not a 100% indicator (just like early popping wattles when they were two weeks old chicks didn't make them all boys thankfully!)
I don't see a split either ! It's someone from our village who said that. And I have had two or three people comments on BYC about his comb. I certainly hope it's natural because I would feel bad if we had missed a wound serious enough to reshape completely his comb. Yes, he got pecked several times, and he lost a tiny bit of wattle, but it always seem to make a clean scab and heal quickly.
I like it's shape too, I think it looks like he is wearing a jester hat.
I would say exactly what we told
@knoturavggrl , if he is still limping tomorrow , begin by crating him for 12 hours and assess.
If you pick him off the roost once he is asleep, you can maybe just feel if the leg and foot is swollen / hot to the touch ?
This reminds me that I haven't shared here
@RoyalChick's brilliant idea for bumblefoot, which has changed my life. Well, maybe not, but really made it easier. Once the chicken is over the worse of the infection but the foot is still swollen and/or has a scab, and especially in the case when it's taking time to heal and you have many chickens to deal with, instead of the usual 20 mn soaking with Epsom salts using a corn dressing and vet wrap, we switched to a cuttable to size colloidal dressing, which keeps the wound humid. This means you don't have to soak the foot for long since the dressing will do the job of keeping it moist to draw out the yucky stuff, just wash it, apply betadine (or you can pour it in the bath which is what we did) , towel dry and put the colloidal dressing and a bit of vet wrap just to be sure it doesn't fall off. Way quicker to do, the colloidal dressing can be left on up to three days and the part covered will stay clean, and just as efficient, BUT you need to be sure that you are not dealing with staph infection anymore. I can assure you that when you have four chickens and six feet to tend it's a revolution

. Thanks again RC

.
Picture for a long post. My partner calls Merle petit diable, little devil, and she does look pretty demoniac today.
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