Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[BDutch]

and if you believe that, you'll believe anything!
I'd blame the expensive but too-delicate-for-the-job-they're-supposedly-designed-for running shoes!

I’m a bit older and certainly don’t and never had horns, spurs, corns or whatever misery at my feet.

Btw, I think you mean corn eye. Thats the google translation of what my mother had because she walked too much in narrow shoes.

I closed the pop door to the little coop again to break the broodies. The chicks seem to prefer to sleep in the run again over quarreling for a place in the larger coop extension. No rain expected this night.

The roost bar in the run with my Yellow partridge Dutch boy.

Pile or White partridge Dutch girl.

 

[ManueB]

No, s/he still cheeps and sticks close to Polka, who roosts alongside.
Chirk is making slow progress, not helped by Fforest getting into his pen and attacking him a few days ago. But he got 3 lady visitors when he was inside yesterday and he perked right up, even trying to do the wing dance. Female company is definitely the best therapy for him

I wonder also why your mums stay so much longer around the chicks than the two I had here. ( Thought two isn't enough to know if it's a flock thing, or just the individual mammas).

I hope Chirk gets better even if slowly. I'm not surprised girls around help him perk up. Théo, who could have a quiet life if he stopped chasing the hens, just can't seem to hold himself back. I guess it's very hard for a rooster to find himself without any hens !

Are you just taking it day by day for now, or do you have any thoughts on how to deal with him in the long term ?

and if you believe that, you'll believe anything!
I'd blame the expensive but too-delicate-for-the-job-they're-supposedly-designed-for running shoes!

I’m a bit older and certainly don’t and never had horns, spurs, corns or whatever misery at my feet.

Btw, I think you mean corn eye. Thats the google translation of what my mother had because she walked too much in narrow shoes.

Yes, I did believe him, but I may have oversimplified his explanations
Long boring comment.

Spoiler

My question to him was why is this happening now when I am running (literally) ten times less than two years ago. His answer was that all the impacts on the foot and the wear from running, in time and with age, led the toes to retract instead of spreading out normally, as would indeed happen with shoes too small ( I showed him both my running and walking shoes and we agreed they had enough room for my toes). Anyway, this in turn leads the feet to put all the weight on the front medial plantar, leading to too much pressure, and a thickening of skin going under the surface to form something like a little splinter in the long term.

I closed the pop door to the little coop again to break the broodies. The chicks seem to prefer to sleep in the run again over quarreling for a place in the larger coop extension. No rain expected this night.

The roost bar in the run with my Yellow partridge Dutch boy.
View attachment 3588768

Pile or White partridge Dutch girl.
View attachment 3588770

@BDutch they have become even more beautiful during your holiday !
Broodiness definitely seems to be a team thing. Is it because hormones react to other hen's hormones , or a behavioural issue , or both ?
**************
Yesterday evening Cannelle and Nougat stayed again later and the two black ladies did the same. Gaston didn't seem as worried as he was the evening before, and personally I think it's great that they can enjoy a longer evening - I've been wondering all summer why they all went to bed so early! It makes it just a bit more complicated for the chicks who need to eat something and roost while some of the adults are still up, but they manage.

Léa laid again today. And I saw something rather strange : Nieva had fallen asleep with her head tucked under her wing on the roost that leads to the higher nest she uses to lay, and Gaston was sitting next to her making sad sounds. I thought she was feeling ill, but some time later she laid and went about her usual business of crazy butterfly chasing ! So not sure just what she was doing.

This morning Piou-piou however was really not well and limping terribly. Then she went to lay and it took her a long time, but she was much better after. I looked and checked again the whole leg and feet and the only thing I can find is a toe that is swollen- but she doesn't react at all when I touch it, so it doesn't seem painful. I really don't know what to think, if it's just her slight deformity that is now causing pain, if she has a sprain or something broken ( but it doesn't seem likely with no swelling or heat), if I missed Gaston trying to mate with her and hurting her back, or maybe it's something like arthritis... Since it's less hot and someone cancelled an appointment tomorrow afternoon, my partner will take her to the vet clinic. We'll also do analysis for coccidiosis.
The aloe doesn't seem to help much with her irritated skin but it's not causing harm either so I'll keep applying daily.

It seems like some of the chickens are beginning to molt. Blanche has been for quite some time now but she always molt in spring or summer, and not after. Cannelle is beginning to shed feathers, and so is Merle (but maybe it's a post broodiness molt?). I'm not looking forward to that, last year it was rather scary for Cannelle and Nougat.

From 11 to 3 they stay under there. Théo is right under and Gaston is watching in front.

Petit blanc isn't as big as pied beau but he's catching up these last days.

Merle saw a gallicus hawk.

Pied Beau has a few golden feathers growing !
My partner feels bad about rehoming him to his father. He wouldn't have a good life there. Hopefully we can find a better solution.

Piou-piou on the nest.

 

[Perris]

Are you just taking it day by day for now, or do you have any thoughts on how to deal with him in the long term ?

Day by day, though I am aware that he is getting rather too comfortable with being a house chicken and I'm not sure he'll ever improve enough to outrun his son/sibling Fforest so there's a big question mark.

His answer was that all the impacts on the foot and the wear from running, in time and with age, led the toes to retract instead of spreading out normally, as would indeed happen with shoes too small ( I showed him both my running and walking shoes and we agreed they had enough room for my toes). Anyway, this in turn leads the feet to put all the weight on the front medial plantar, leading to too much pressure, and a thickening of skin going under the surface to form something like a little splinter in the long term.

Hmm. Does that happen to the feet of the Masai, Kenyans and other Africans who seem to be born distance runners and often do it barefoot? On the few occasions I've seen documentaries of them, they seem to have relatively wide feet at all ages.

 

[BDutch]

@BDutch they have become even more beautiful during your holiday !
Broodiness definitely seems to be a team thing. Is it because hormones react to other hen's hormones , or a behavioural issue , or both ?

Thanks …and I don’t know why they all want to sit again as a team. Maybe if they see one hen that isn’t kicked out all the tome, they start to think it is allowed to get broody?

Glad that there seems to be only one broody left this evening (Pearl).

Tonight I made an effort to herd the chicks into the coop to roost because we probably get a lot of rain this night. There was some fussing but eventually most of them settled down in the extended coop. Only 1 Sussex chick and Janice preferred to roost in the small coop. And Pearl was in the nest box until after darker. Picked her up and put her next to Janice.

Black is still looking after the chicks when they free range. She is really a superb mother caring for her baby’s after 12 weeks.

 

[ManueB]

Last evening Nougat looked not well at all, in fact I had to carry her to the coop. I think she had an egg stuck because today she laid a huge but very fragile egg. She seemed better afterwards.

This morning I had a shock coming out of the house, seeing a pile of black and white feathers in front of the chickens place. For a few seconds I thought one of the chicks had been taken by a hawk. Then I realized some of these feathers also had red in them. They were Théo 's feathers and he was quite alive. He didn't let himself being caught, so I couldn't check him until roost time. I'm not sure what I saw. He's not wounded, but it's not clear if he's beginning a fast molt, or if there is a problem. I saw two shaft feathers, but I also saw that his preening gland and the skin around it is extremely irritated, red almost to blood. I didn't see any parasites, but he was very agitated. I will check again tomorrow morning before he leaves the coop.

Piou-piou's visit to the vet was rather reassuring. The radio showed a slight splint of her finger. The vet said we could try clay cataplasm to help with healing. As for her plucking feathers, the vet thinks it's a behavioural problem, she started out of stress when she was wounded and locked in the crate and now it has become a habit. She may still be stressed from being restrained from going into the chicken yard with the other bigger chickens and Gaston.
Looking at the nice poop samples I collected the vet thought coccidiosis very likely so she prescribed a treatment, in case the results are positive. But she said the analysis won't be very significant as the longer one waits to do it, the more chance there are of false negatives, and it's been weeks now. We'll have to decide if we treat or not. She did not prescribe amprolium but a mix of sulfadimethoxin and trimethoprin, which is even more worrying to me. So if the results are positive we'll have to think about what to do. I wouldn't treat if it was just the chickens and us, but we would really like to re-home the cockerels to nice homes.

Running this morning. Lots of wild fires around other valleys, and one started today on one of the mountain just across our valley, I could see smoke far away.

This barn belongs to my partner, it was where some members of the families, usually the younger, spent summer with the animals. Zooming in you can see his place is the only field that isn't mowed for hay all around ! He lets the cows come there at the end of summer when they have nothing left to eat on their parcel just beyond.

He may have become a bit too familiar !

Teenage boys look so ridiculous I can see the mustache and the zits !

 

[Perris]

the wildfires don't come anywhere near you and your stunningly beautiful environment

 

[RoyalChick]

@Perris - I cannot remember whether it was here or another thread that you used the phrase 'ultra-processed foods'.
I had not heard the phrase before, but it made intuitive sense to me in the context so I didn't make any comment.
I just listened to this chap on the radio talking about his book: ULTRA-PROCESSED PEOPLE: The Science Behind Food That Isn’t Food, by Chris van Tulleken
Now I realize you were just more in the know than me - it is all about a food classification scheme called NOVA(?) and about ingredients not known in nature. It has me going through my pantry reading ingredient lists!

 

[Perris]

@Perris - I cannot remember whether it was here or another thread that you used the phrase 'ultra-processed foods'.
I had not heard the phrase before, but it made intuitive sense to me in the context so I didn't make any comment.
I just listened to this chap on the radio talking about his book: ULTRA-PROCESSED PEOPLE: The Science Behind Food That Isn’t Food, by Chris van Tulleken
Now I realize you were just more in the know than me - it is all about a food classification scheme called NOVA(?) and about ingredients not known in nature. It has me going through my pantry reading ingredient lists!

It is this thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-research-debunks-trad-views-on-nutrition.1567953/

Reading ingredients can be quite an eye opener. I like Spector's rule of thumb to beware anything with ingredients that you would find in a laboratory rather than a kitchen. The NOVA classification is much less easy to remember.

 

[ManueB]

the wildfires don't come anywhere near you and your stunningly beautiful environment

The one closest to us was across the river. I'm very glad they put it out this morning after hearing choppers for hours because it was in a place I love- an old abandoned settlement in the mountains called Roua. I don't know if they have fixed the other fires, there was a bit of rain tonight and no wind until now so hopefully it helps.
Fire hazards are actually the real reasons why my partner mows all around the property. When we began coming here years ago apart from the garden just in front of the house most of it was thick brush very difficult to access
Roua.

It is this thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-research-debunks-trad-views-on-nutrition.1567953/

Reading ingredients can be quite an eye opener. I like Spector's rule of thumb to beware anything with ingredients that you would find in a laboratory rather than a kitchen. The NOVA classification is much less easy to remember.

I'm going to sound judgemental when I promise I'm not, but I'm just surprised RC that you (and I suppose therefore other people), don't often read ingredient lists ? Is that what you mean ?
I'm sure you look at the chickens and cat's feed ingredients list thoroughly!
I'm surprised because I thought everyone was doing this now. And with all the apps telling you about additives and degree of processing even if you don't want to read the lists because the characters are small (=my partner) or if you don't like to read (especially if you're under 20) I would have thought it was difficult now to buy food without taking into accounts the ingredients, and the length of the list. Am I wrong ?
**********
And then I wrote a whole post on the chickens day... and it just disappeared! This happens all the time with my poor network connection. So I'll just do a quick summary and post pics as I'm short on time. It was a good day, Piou-piou was better, but I'm still not sure what is going on with Théo : no feathers under his roost this morning but another stack of feathers later in the day where they dustbathe. Nougat was fine and laid a huge beautiful egg as she normally does.

Léa had trouble waking up

Chicks hanging out with the bigs

This never gets old

While I hate the heat it has some advantages

Nougat doing much better

May be turning broody ? She went back in the nest a bit after having laid.

Gaston keeps jumping over the netting after Piou-piou...when he sees me he knows I'll tell him to go back him so he honks a bit and then he does a sweet face

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm going to sound judgemental when I promise I'm not, but I'm just surprised RC that you (and I suppose therefore other people), don't often read ingredient lists ? Is that what you mean ?

Well it turns out there is a whole other level to reading food labels than I was aware of.

First off, most of what I buy I don't read the label because I think of it as plain stuff - meaning it is just the ingredient that I am buying like butter, flour, raisins, olive oil or dried beans, lentils, rice etc.

Yesterday I looked at the label on a pack of raisins I have in the pantry and notice that it contains hydrogenated sunflower oil. It never crossed my mind there was something other than raisins in the bag! I am sure it isn't much - I mean they are just raisins when you tip them out of the bag - but they add some oil presumably to stop them sticking together.

Anything that is more complex of course I read the label - and in general I am put off by products that have lots of additives. But then it gets complicated. E334 for example is an additive. It is Tartaric Acid. That is naturally occurring acid that I am sure many of us have used to make baked goods rise.

So I guess I have got lazy!

But what I now have learned is that some things that sound OK may be less OK than they sound.

Take my bag of raisins. Although I think it is unnecessary to add sunflower oil to stop them sticking, I don't have an immediate aversion to sunflower oil. I cook with it after all. But I glossed over the hydrogenated piece - and according to the 'ultra processed' movement I should be very wary of hydrogenated oils.

So I am still learning - and it is interesting. Yesterday I only ate food that was processed by me. This morning though, I had a handful of raisins!