Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[MaryJanet]

I think every country does- we say it to.
I've been trying to post but my phone isn't letting me .

A chicken day of mixed emotions. Good thing there was such a beautiful sunshine and weather- it has a huge impact on my mood.

First, Merle laid an egg. And after checking for the past days the most inconvenient places, she actually laid it in the coop. She's one of the chickens I'm worried about where they lay as I know she'll go broody sooner than later, so I want to be able to catch her. Not like the first time when she was sitting under a wood stack and I had to catch her with a stick.

Then Chipie had two other "seizures" for lack of a better word. One in the morning, and one just before roosting. I had a better chance to see exactly what she does. Her head tilt backwards like she was looking at something very high in the sky, except it goes too far to be natural. Then she seems to loose control of her legs and she spreads her wing to catch herself from falling back. The first time I caught her on spot ; the second time she escaped and her head went backward again several times, she tried to move away, but her legs kept giving way under her. Then, it's like she looses consciousness for a moment. She just lays on my knees (which is totally impossible in her normal state) trembling with her eyes closed, for about a minute. And then she sort of wakes up, but it takes her another minute to make a sound, and then get moving. When she does, it almost looks like she is normal again. Even if I had seen it before, it was so impressive that both times I wasn't sure she wasn't dying. I'm really not sure what to do apart from adding vitamins to the water daily. When my partner comes home tonight I'll use his phone to search on the internet if I can identify any likely cause.

Blanche and Cannelle were both not great today. In the afternoon I thought it could do them some good to go in the garden with Gaston's team, but it wasn't a totally great idea. They really perked up and seemed to enjoy themselves ; but when I took them back in their yard after 45 mn they seemed utterly exhausted and I think maybe they overdid it. Also, Théo was very unhappy to see that not only Piou-piou and Merle were out with Gaston but also Blanche and Cannelle so he actually jumped the netting to go hang around them in the garden and of course he got wildly chased by Gaston.

And finally tonight because I was a bit afraid for Chipie, who had just recovered from her weird issue, I stayed to watch them roost, which I don't usually, and it was total chaos. Blanche kept attacking any hen that tried to sleep on her side, even if she was two meters away. Théo didn't want to stay next to Piou-piou but he wanted to join Merle in the very back of the coop. So he flew on the main roost just when Gaston was climbing up,and then he panicked and flew to Merle's roost but landed on her and they both fell down in a huge cloud of dust. Then, because Théo wasn't in between Piou-piou and Chipie, Piou-piou attacked Chipie. Chipie then also flew to the main roost, but she wanted to go back to her roost as she always sleep in the exact same place. In the meantime, Merle and Théo had flown back on their roost but Théo was coming very close to Merle and she was really unhappy about it, and he started pecking her and she was stuck against the wall and couldn't get away. In the end Théo ended up going back next to Piou-piou and things calmed down.
I suppose it's like that every evening, which is why I don't watch the last 20 minutes when they roost anymore. I would be too tempted to intervene which I don't think is a good thing.

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View attachment 3739077View attachment 3739079View attachment 3739084View attachment 3739090View attachment 3739092Théo couldn't stand to let all the hens he hopes to keep as his, hang out with Gaston outside the chicken yard.View attachment 3739096

So sorry about Chippie's seizures. How worrying for you.

 

[BDutch]

So sorry about Chippie's seizures. How worrying for you.

Just read in another thread about a more severe case of odd head movements, needing vit E and vit B complex. To take it in a little extra selenium from egg or sardines.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...o-cold-odd-neck-movement-laying-down.1609172/

 

[ManueB]

I am really dumb. My slow internet comes from the fact I've used up all the data on my phone monthly subscription . I actually had a message several days ago that I didn't look at. So it will go back to normal in two days. I'm posting in the morning because it seems to be a bit better.

I hope Chippie's issue is only temporary. Must be quite difficult to watch though

So sorry about Chippie's seizures. How worrying for you.

Just read in another thread about a more severe case of odd head movements, needing vit E and vit B complex. To take it in a little extra selenium from egg or sardines.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...o-cold-odd-neck-movement-laying-down.1609172/

Up to now it really hasn't lasted long, no more than three minutes, so every time I was quickly relieved to see she came back to herself. But since it's so quick, I have no clue if she has been doing it only the four times I've seen her or if it's something happening frequently that I don't see.

My partner didn't let me borrow his phone yesterday evening, but I did manage a superficial search. It seems all strange head movements fall into the "wry neck" aka torticollis category... which doesn't say a lot. As is often the case the symptoms are non-specific and can relate to quite a variety of causes. Vitamin B1 and E deficiency is indeed one possibility like you mention @BDutch that could correspond to Chipie, and also an invisible injury to the head from getting pecked, which happens to her all the time since she keeps picking fights. Other possibilities are disease such as Marek's or Newcastle. Doesn't seem likely as she acts completely healthy part of the day. Poisoning from toxins is also a cause : we don't have a lot of insecticides use around, but there are tons of old tiny pieces of metal buried in the ground that the chickens keep digging up and I suppose she could have eaten one.

I started supplementing her this morning but it's less easy with a defiant chicken like she is. I can't catch her, and if I give her any treat in the yard, she will retreat as soon as other chickens show up. First I thought to put her in the crate which is still in the coop before she came down from her roost, and feed her there, but that was the wrong idea. She got so upset at being locked up she didn't touch the food. Then I had a chance while I was cleaning the coop. At some point all the chickens were outside and she came in, so I locked the coop's door and gave her a small bowl and this time she didn't panic. I had put scrambled egg, whole rice, crushed almonds and walnuts, sardine. She ate almost all of it but she left half of the sardine pieces. Later this morning I watched her carefully, as I thought maybe she is not eating enough to get the nutrients, but I did see her eat quite normally. When she isn't sleeping or having these crisis, she acts like nothing is wrong. I'll try to keep on giving her a small bowl every day, I think after two or three times she'll understand and it will get easier. I'm reluctant to pop a pill in her mouth. She is such a strange little hen. And also since Gaston (the farmer who gave her to us) said she was at least six but he had no clue how old, maybe she is just reaching the end of her life ?

Another thing I worry about is that maybe they have some external parasites again, because I see them preening a lot. I checked several chickens and didn't see anything. Maybe the red mites are already back, since it's so warm ? I'll have a good look in the coop tonight.

I ended up trimming Cannelle's butt this morning. I don't like to do this, because I saw that when I did it for Gaston who had very irritated skin around his butt it actually made things worse, I suppose the feathers protect the skin somewhat. But she has a bad diarrhea and we have tons of flies now. It's so warm I need a hat. With her butt trimmed a bit I don't need to wash it everyday, I can get the poop off with a bit of oil.

And I also decided to deworm Nieva with the Praziquantel. About a third of the flock still have tapeworms but don't show signs of being unwell (Cannelle,Blanche and Chipie dont have them. The chickens who do are Piou-piou, Léa, Annette, Nieva, Merle and Lulu). Nieva is behaving completely normal but her poop have gotten back to being very liquid and yellow almost half the time, her eggs have gotten noticeably smaller, which I think may be due to the worm taking away from her some of the nutrition she needs as a production layer, and besides, I've also seen her passing round worms twice in the last two weeks. The Praziquantel was very efficient for Lilly, who hasn't got tapeworms back yet ; however we had no flies up to now and I'm pretty sure they are the secondary hosts for these two (both Nieva and Lilly love eating flies).
What a yucky post . I'm going to do a short random cultural ramble after that to make up for it . A few morning pics.

Chipie is doing just fine this morning.

 

[ManueB]

RC's cultural weekend made me think that I haven't been to the theater, to a music concert, or to an art exhibit since we've been here. But I watch more films than I used to living in Nice, my partner borrows them from the library and we watch them on a wall screen, and I probably read more fiction. Still, it's been a long time since I really enjoyed any film or books, but I have been lucky this last month so I thought I would share two films and three books I enjoyed.

We watched two classics I hadn't seen before. First, The grapes of wrath which is an adaptation by John Ford of the Steinbeck's novel, made just a year after the book came out, in 1940. It's hard to believe it took only a year to make. It's an incredible film both for the story, the actors, and the beautiful aesthetics. I don't usually like longer films but the two hours for this one were well worth watching. I realised that there was a lot of echoes in a recent 2020 film I also liked, Nomadland. Seems like something haven't changed !
Then we also watched "Birdy" by Alan Parker. My partner says it was a cult film for him as a teen, but we have a few years difference and I never saw it. Like all the films I watched from Alan Parker, I both feel it is overly dramatic and yet it works for me. The two actors are amazing. And the theme of the story is also timeless, and treated in a very original, poetic manner. I don't like war films in general but it's not the main aspect here, so I just didn't look at the few scenes.

Then the books I liked. The three of them are also not completely "great" books, they have flaws, but they still really got me. The first two have the same weaknesses of overdoing it and lacking subtlety but I still loved them both and read them very quickly : "Babel" by RF Kuang and "The new wilderness" by Diane Cook. Babel is an uchronia of the fantasy type, where english colonial domination uses a magic based on linguistics. It's set in Oxford, and while it starts as dark academia, it ends with a revolution. The new wilderness is a very disturbing dystopia about a bunch of people participating in an experiment to live in the only place that's left of complete wilderness in a world where life in the cities have become unbearable. It's a very aggravating book in some ways, the two main female characters are just horrible, but it raises a number of interesting questions about the human specie and the contemporary Occidental world.
And finally I am reading a sort of classic that I've been wanting to read for a long time, the Gormenghast trilogy, by Mervyn Peake, and I love it. I think it had a huge influence on contemporary fantasy, but it's not well known in France at all. It feels a bit like the gothic version of Alice in Wonderland. It is also very well written which makes it hard to put down even if you can't help wondering what the author was smoking when he wrote it.

Anyone care to share a good book, film, or music album you would recommend?

Also, I keep forgetting, but if @Lexicon drops by...look what my partner picked up at his aunt's ! She is moving so she has to downsize. Unfortunately he doesn't really like to play games, especially letter games.

And last, I thought I'd share a song, Gino, from my second favourite french band, Les têtes raides. They have been very famous from the middle 80s to 2000 and they have a typical french sound.

 

[Perris]

Thanks for your 'short random cultural ramble' ManueB - entertaining and informative.

I don't do much literature, but I enjoyed Lawrence Durrell's Sicilian Carousel recently. I'm going there later in the year, so it was part of the prep, rather than just sitting down with a good book I'm afraid. I periodically do jigsaws. The last one was fun: Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles. I've got a 2000 piece Bruegel to do when I get a mat big enough to hold it, and one day I'll return to Turner's Fighting Temeraire, which defeated me at first attempt. As a jigsaw it really makes one study a painting far more closely than I think anyone ever does (or could do) in a gallery.

 

[Molpet]

Vitamin B1 and E deficiency is indeed one possibility like you mention @BDutch that could correspond to Chipie, and also an invisible injury to the head from getting pecked, which happens to her all the time since she keeps picking fights.

for me these go into the water . everyone will get a dose but thats ok

 

[MaryJanet]

Nomadland

An excellent film. I saw it with a couple of friends and it kept us talking for an hour or two. I recently saw Poor Things and thought it was magnificent. Here's the dance scene which is a very apt representation of the film's uniqueness but without spoilers.

 

[lightm]

Long live Chippie

I liked Nomadland too.

I recently watched a documentary-type film: Tetris (2023), mostly about the drama on getting distribution rights of the game Tetris (in red Russian of course). I guess it is mostly OK. Not bad.

Then I watched The Untouchables (1987) which I liked better. Some gun fight sequence were well done. Kevin Costner did a good job.

 

[ManueB]

I don't do much literature, but I enjoyed Lawrence Durrell's Sicilian Carousel recently. I'm going there later in the year, so it was part of the prep, rather than just sitting down with a good book I'm afraid.

I'd be curious to know if you like it (the book). My parents told me to read the Alexandria quartet when I was a teen and I loved it. Not sure how I would like it now ?

I periodically do jigsaws. The last one was fun: Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles. I've got a 2000 piece Bruegel to do when I get a mat big enough to hold it, and one day I'll return to Turner's Fighting Temeraire, which defeated me at first attempt. As a jigsaw it really makes one study a painting far more closely than I think anyone ever does (or could do) in a gallery.

I am so impressed ! Yes, I can imagine that it would make you focus on small details that you would not perceive in front of the whole painting, unless they were pointed out to you.
It must be quite aggravating being defeated when I suppose you spent a lot of time on it !

An excellent film. I saw it with a couple of friends and it kept us talking for an hour or two.

I liked Nomadland too.

My partner fell sound asleep after the first ten minutes until the end and now he is convinced we never watched it .

I recently saw Poor Things and thought it was magnificent. Here's the dance scene which is a very apt representation of the film's uniqueness but without spoilers.

Oh, it looks interesting,I like the pitch. But I'll have to wait until the library buys the DVD.

Then I watched The Untouchables (1987) which I liked better. Some gun fight sequence were well done. Kevin Costner did a good job.

I love the untouchables ! I saw it countless times. I'm a sucker for big american gangster, mafia and cop movies, De Palma, Scorsese and Tarantino , very shameful for a dud hippie like me. Fun fact : I know two couples of very different age who called their son Eliot because of that movie.
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Changes. I have realised sometimes during this week, that I am not reaching the goal I had creating this thread. I intended to have everything about my chickens in one place and especially health issues, because I had more than once the need to look back on things that had happened in the past days, weeks or months for a chicken. But a thread like this with lengthy daily description isn't efficient for that. I've been slow to see that what I need is a tool that will allow me to have a separate individual tracking of each chicken's health events. A forum isn't adapted for that ; either a bunch of text files, one for each chicken, or a notebook with individual entries would actually make it a lot easier.

I don't want to end the thread completely because I enjoy posting. It allows me to write in english, get some social interaction around chickens, and in several cases your feedback has been really helpful. But I will certainly not keep it like it was, because it would be redundant and it also takes a lot of time. I am thinking posting less often, keeping contents centered on specific behaviour and chicken keeping. I will also post less pictures, which should be better for BYC servers . I could still do longer, or random posts, once in a while when I have a lot of time.
I'll be trying it out for the next two or three months and see how it works, especially see if I'm rigorous enough to keep health data for each of the 17 chickens.

 

[Molpet]

I'll be trying it out for the next two or three months and see how it works,

Spring will keep everyone busy anyway