Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[RoyalChick]

Complicated indeed!
Stepmother-in-law would work, though the ‘in-law’ part isn’t accurate.
If you wanted to be accurate you could go with stepmother-‘in-law’, stepmother-in-common-law, or even stepmother-in-life!
My partner’s stepmother is simplest. Or her name!
Sorry, got carried away - I like word puzzles.

 

[ManueB]

Complicated indeed!
Stepmother-in-law would work, though the ‘in-law’ part isn’t accurate.
If you wanted to be accurate you could go with stepmother-‘in-law’, stepmother-in-common-law, or even stepmother-in-life!
My partner’s stepmother is simplest. Or her name!
Sorry, got carried away - I like word puzzles.

My partner calls her "my father's wife"... so for lack of a better word I usually call her "Jean-Marc's father's wife" .
When you think about it it's surprising that we have made the language evolve with social evolution about things like sexual identity/gender, but not those hybrid family status which are so frequent.

 

[RoyalChick]

My partner calls her "my father's wife"... so for lack of a better word I usually call her "Jean-Marc's father's wife" .
When you think about it it's surprising that we have made the language evolve with social evolution about things like sexual identity/gender, but not those hybrid family status which are so frequent.

Yes! That intrigued me too. There are all sorts of sites about etiquette in what are often called blended families but none covered this situation.
I think J-M’s father’s wife is the way to go. Clear and accurate.

 

[ManueB]

We got another afternoon of rain, good regular rain that lasts for hours. We enjoy that, but the chickens not so much. They had a good morning though, and stayed outside under the drizzle until 3.30 when it really started pouring. I locked them in the coop so Gaston could shelter in the run, Piou-piou and Merle stayed with him this time. And they even climbed in "the thing" . It was just a bit hard to get them to roost because we had to get Théo out of the coop so Gaston could get in .

Theo's team- now Chipie has clearly joined them back, even though she's still been bullied by the ex-batts.

This made me really happy : Cannelle dustbathed today for the first time in ages. It was very cautious but still gives me hope.

Léa is spending more time with Chipie now. I'm not sure if she feels more safe inside the chicken zone or if she wants to join the ex-batts.

Gaston and co

Huge and yellow

Chipie has a tail feather missing and I think it's from one of her encounters with Gaston

If looks could kill rooster contest

 

[Perris]

J-M’s father’s wife is the way to go. Clear and accurate.

hmm, you think so? a 3 part label seems a bit of a mouthful to me, and not something I'd be wanting to try to say after a few beers/whiskeys/tipple of your choice

 

[Perris]

This made me really happy : Cannelle dustbathed today for the first time in ages.

that is a very good sign; all fingers and toes crossed for her here!

 

[lightm]

I believe if i have followed family news correctly she means in law vs step.

Yes definitely a language mistake! Thank you for pointing it out to me.
My partner 's parents are divorced and both are married again, I was talking about my partner's father's second wife.
So I'm not sure I should call her my mother in law. Even in french I'm not sure what to call her and my partner's mother second husband !

Thanks! Completely clear now

 

[ManueB]

Temperatures have finally began to drop. It was 4 degrees this morning which is still not quite what it should be but we're getting there. In the afternoon there was a chilly wind - it hasn't snowed yesterday on the mountains around us, but it did higher in the valley. I covered the last remaining butternuts in case it freezes in the morning.
Cannelle wasn't doing as good as yesterday, so I may have gotten hopes up too quickly. She didn't seem to be too bothered by the cold even though she's not fully feathered ; we had maybe 20 minutes of light hail in the afternoon and she was out eating the white stuff.

Brune and Blanche both laid this morning and both Piou-piou and Merle are beginning to be curious about this laying thing. Piou-piou's comb has turned really red; it would be quite incredible if she was the first of the three to lay after her problematic growth.

This afternoon I added a wood board to make a closed space on the floor under the structure my partner built. He wanted to do this but I thought it would hinder a possible escape route. It turns out he was right once again as soon as I had put this all chickens suddenly wanted to see what was behind, and made themselves cozy in that space they hadn't deigned visit before.

Roosting was a pain again. I had to trick Gaston to come inside the coop while Théo was sheltering from the hail in the rain. Then, Théo tried to attack him and I stopped him with a long stick between him and Gastounet. That got him mad and twice he flew past my head straight out of the coop and back on the roost. I tried to calm things down by moving back from them and putting them in the dark and it seemed to work.

Both Chipie and Théo hesitated at one point to go back on their old roost : it would make things so much simpler if they did that, or if Gaston and his gang went there. The roosters would be almost hidden from the sight of one another then, instead of having Gastounet roosting 50 cm above Théo.

After opening the coop I went back to the house and saw these two from my room watching me.

The difference in size and format between Gastounet and Piou-piou is a problem for their mating but she seems to like him a lot and follows him around most of the day now.

Gastounet's gang is destroying the last remaining grapes before the frost

 

[Perris]

Roosting was a pain again

could be worse - at least they're in! One of mine (Fforest) is sleeping out tonight, because I moved the coops a bit too far today and come roost time almost everybody tried to pile into just 2 of the 3 coops, the furthest one being ignored. When I shut the doors to those two and tried to shepherd the remainder into coop 3, it was a bit like herding cats, and though I thought I saw into which bit of which border Fforest slunk to avoid being rounded up, by the time I got back with a torch and gloves, he was nowhere to be found. I imagine he'll be cold tonight, but at least dry, and above all, I hope he evades any predators that come by.

 

[ManueB]

could be worse - at least they're in! One of mine (Fforest) is sleeping out tonight, because I moved the coops a bit too far today and come roost time almost everybody tried to pile into just 2 of the 3 coops, the furthest one being ignored. When I shut the doors to those two and tried to shepherd the remainder into coop 3, it was a bit like herding cats, and though I thought I saw into which bit of which border Fforest slunk to avoid being rounded up, by the time I got back with a torch and gloves, he was nowhere to be found. I imagine he'll be cold tonight, but at least dry, and above all, I hope he evades any predators that come by.

Oh no no no . Please tell me if you find him this morning !
I didn't realize you moved your coops around, I'm sorry if you mentioned it before, would you explain why ?

I know at one point one of the roosters will get thrown out. The leaves are all falling off and it's much less easier to find shelter from the wind now, even during the day.

If I have an emergency before I 've managed to convince my partner to build or buy a coop I can have one of them sleeping in the run, but I need to add more protection from the winds, or in the part of the old house that we use as a barn.