Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[ManueB]

Turkeys dumped their water. I think deliberately so they could dust bathe
View attachment 3628334

That is pretty clever !
They are so strange looking, but they seem to have real personalities from what i’ve seen people post.

It's one or two degrees cooler today and that meant it's actually quite pleasant.
I’m drowning in courgettes. Literally drowning. Usually some of our plants die at this period because it's cooler but with the heat it hasn't been the case. The freezer is full, none of my neighbours want them anymore, the chickens will eat one a day and I feel it's really just to help me, and it's too hot for canning. I’m still picking ten to fifteen everyday. I can't keep up. I think I am 50 courgettes behind. My partner is working everyday this week, so my last hope is that he’ll agree to take them to his colleagues.

Chickens had a pretty active morning but they really slowed down in the afternoon. Petit Blanc terrified Léa again by mating her unwillingly. She tries to run back to Gaston but in the panic she doesn't manage to get through the chicken netting and she gets stuck screaming. When I got to her she was utterly red and panting and I wasn't sure if she was shocked, hurt or angry. Funny how Piou-piou and Merle who are much smaller can frighten Petit Blanc, and Léa is afraid of him.

I called the clinic for Nieva today. The vet asked to send pics by mail which I will try to do this evening, and said maybe it was worth it to bring her again so she would do a debridement herself. Since my partner is working it wouldn't be before next week. I’ll see what she says when she gets the pictures. It's way not as bad as some of the bumblefoot you see on BYC or the internet, but it is very swollen and hot. I think it's now back to how it was when we took her to the vet.
In better news I saw Blanche produce a real poop in the first time for maybe three weeks. She has been passing only green liquid all this time.

Good morning Cocorico!

Pretty pied beau.

Another pot guy!

It's difficult to make him understand that he should not spend my lunchtime sitting on the top of my chair. He’s still not clear on the fact that we are not his specie.

Chipie and Alba

Blanche and kara

Cucumber

Cannelle

Théo is having a hard time once again. Gaston is now driving him away from the chicken yard. He stays in front of our house, but most often there are no hens and he’s lonely.

Blanche

 

[Molpet]

They are so strange looking, but they seem to have real personalities from what i’ve seen people post.

I thought they were ugly before I got some. So I thought it would be easier to harvest.
They are different than chickens and more aware. They also have to learn things chickens know from instincts.
They also cause more problems

 

[GregnLety]

I thought they were ugly before I got some. So I thought it would be easier to harvest.
They are different than chickens and more aware. They also have to learn things chickens know from instincts.
They also cause more problems

I have a mixed flock of turkeys and 2 EE hens. They get along fine and even free range together. They hatched simultaneously and have been together their whole lives.

 

[ManueB]

I sent Nieva’s foot picture to the vet and she said she wanted to see her. It won't be before Tuesday since I don't drive and my partner is working exceptionally every day this week. I hope her foot doesn't get worse in the meantime.

I don't want to start the debate again, because I believe everything has been said on both sides (unless of course you have some new information) but here is how the worming situation has evolved. When my partner saw the vet he asked her for a dewormer in case it got worse. It did, and we treated the whole flock. She just gave us Flubendazole in an other form, flimabo, meant for big flocks or other livestock herds (I had been using a kids med fluben. We treated for five days and again a week later. Well, that did not kill the tapeworms. Almost all the chickens are still pooping live tapeworm segments now. So, they will have to deal with it, because I have no other option. I have stopped watering their yard, I pick poops every two hours, i’m going to add garlic and a small amount of wormwood to their mash on a regular basis, and i’ll do the worm dance to make them go away.
A yucky observation: the wiggling segments are only present in healthy poops, not in diarrhea. Maybe they need solid matter as a carrier ?

On a lighter note I just saw something quite funny. Petit Blanc did a full mating charge with feathers widespread throughout the whole garden to Piou-piou ; but when he got there she turned around and crowed at him...and he turned back running the other way round . He's almost twice her size now ! Piou-piou 's a champ!

Chipie and Cannelle had words. Gaston peacefully interposed himself in the middle, and was successful in separating them.

Morning scenes.

Blanche.

Nougat.

Melisse is now always spending the morning with the adults in the chicken yard.

Alba

Cannelle

Merle

It doesn't really show on this picture but sweet Lulu has yellow earlobes

He would like to try my fancy trail running shoes.

 

[BDutch]

I’m drowning in courgettes. Literally drowning. Usually some of our plants die at this period because it's cooler but with the heat it hasn't been the case.

If you harvest the tiny more tasteful courgettes you don’t have to get drowned in them.

 

[BDutch]

We treated for five days and again a week later. Well, that did not kill the tapeworms. Almost all the chickens are still pooping live tapeworm segments now. So, they will have to deal with it, because I have no other option.

I suppose you haven’t tried diatomaceous earth yet? I understand if you don’t want to try and don’t want to start a discussion on diatom. I know there is no proof its works. With 2% diatom there was no decrease in egg count (from worms) in a study. But there was a positive effect too. The weight of animals with a worm infestation increased after a week.

From https://shop.bio-ron.com/product/diatomeeenaarde/?pcatID=94
In daily ration
– Chickens 5% of the ration weight
Give daily as a cure for 2 to 3 months / 1 to 2 x a year. (because of the cycle of the intestinal parasites).
Btw: 5% weight is a lot, because the powder is very light.

 

[ManueB]

If you harvest the tiny more tasteful courgettes you don’t have to get drowned in them.

We pick some of them small. My partner's mother and aunts want them to make the petit farcis, typical local recipe.
I prefer them slightly bigger, but smaller than what you would buy in a store still.
And anyway the drowning phase won't last long, as soon as the heat will go down it will stop!

I suppose you haven’t tried diatomaceous earth yet? I understand if you don’t want to try and don’t want to start a discussion on diatom. I know there is no proof its works. With 2% diatom there was no decrease in egg count (from worms) in a study. But there was a positive effect too. The weight of animals with a worm infestation increased after a week.

From https://shop.bio-ron.com/product/diatomeeenaarde/?pcatID=94
In daily ration
– Chickens 5% of the ration weight
Give daily as a cure for 2 to 3 months / 1 to 2 x a year. (because of the cycle of the intestinal parasites).
Btw: 5% weight is a lot, because the powder is very light.

I did not, but at this stage i’m willing to try. I can't dose by percentage of ration because I give types of food with different density (starter in a mash, layer, fermented grain). I think I have seen dosage by individual weight of chickens somewhere. I’ll report a month after I start - let's say that will be a small scale experiment .

Everything I have read on homeopathy shows that from a scientific point of view, it's complete hocus pocus. I once resorted in despair to homeopathy for a small but troubling health issue that hadn't been cured by allopathic medicine for weeks. The issue disappeared definitely. Did it make me believe in homeopathy? I would not say that, as it could totally have been a coincidence. I don't think it was a placebo, because I really did not expect it to work, though apparently placebo can still happen sort of unconsciously.
So, I did try homeopathy again for other small things, seeing how it is totally harmless, and very cheap here. It was never as conclusive , it may have helped for some things.
All that to say I am open to trying things without scientific backup in some cases. In fact, the next time we have a threat of hail, I intend to do the local thing I learned , which is to hang a sickle to a chimney chain to the front of the house , and go in the field holding two crossed sickles telling firmly the hail to leave. No harm trying!
*************
I feared Gaston had really harmed Théo yesterday evening , but in fact he has just a small wound on his crest. He got him in the coop , caught him by the crest and sort of threw him to the floor. I went in then shouting at him to leave him and the respite was enough for Théo to fly out of the coop. But it shows that things are not settled between them. This morning Théo was really scared when I opened the coop, then things went back to normal.

The younger chickens also had trouble at roost time. They went in later than usual so I couldn't see because I was tending Nieva s foot. When I went to lock the coop, I found that the two spotted hens, Annette and Laure, were still trying to get to the roost, but the cockerels and Lulu weren't letting them ! They ended up sleeping where my ex-batts used to sleep when they were young, by the window. It's strange because during the day, Annette is really friendly with Pied beau as Laure with petit blanc, and Lulu and Melisse tend to be more with the adults. They don't have a clear hierarchy apart from the fact that Petit Blanc is a bully hormonal male.

Today was a lovely day but it's now beginning to be really dry and the chickens that are locked in the yard don't find much to forage. There are still some tiny grasshoppers and a bit of green grass. It would be nice if we could get a day of rain.
Nougat is beginning to molt on her back. I hope she doesn't have a hard molt like last year, it was really terrifying. And she’s being a bully worse than ever. She pecks the leghorns and the black girls really hard on the back. They are all afraid of her.

All the chickens seemed well today. Even Blanche looks like she may not die tomorrow. Only thing that worried me is that Gaston makes an ugly wheezing sound when he chases Théo. And this morning he got stuck jumping over the netting and I had to unstuck him. I’m really pondering switching to electrified next year, but if they do something stupid like jump over it it could be worse I guess.

Laure the tree hugger

Hibou lost the stare me down contest

Her wings look like Chinese ink illustrations

Nougat

It looks rough, but it's good news, pin feathers on piou-piou's back !

Léa going for the last grapes

 

[BDutch]

So, I did try homeopathy again for other small things, seeing how it is totally harmless, and very cheap here. It was never as conclusive , it may have helped for some things.

I don't believe in the real homeopathy were the 'medicine' is barely tracable. But I do believe that using herbs and natural ingredients as medicines (the right one and right dose) can cure lots of illnesses. I responded to all kind of herbs / herbal mixes in a good way. But stopped with some because of the side effects.
Herbs are not always harmless and can be poisonous if used in the wrong dose or for too long.

I do hope the diatom will help to control the worm infestation. But I won't give you any kind of guarantee. Maybe nice to know that I use diatom in the sand bath for different parasites and never had a worm problem. I started way back in 2014 with chicks on clean soil that weren't infested with worms. Hatching eggs instead of buying new chickens is a way to lower the risk too.

 

[MaryJanet]

Her wings look like Chinese ink illustrations

Don't they! Just wonderful.

 

[ManueB]

And anyway the drowning phase won't last long, as soon as the heat will go down it will stop!

Be careful what you wish for..
The boar came back tonight and solved my zucchini problem